How To Sew A Round Cushion Cover – IKEA SUNNEA Stool Pad Hack

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I’ve been completely revamping my craft room during our coronavirus quarantine.  The room has gotten a COMPLETE facelift since I got to absorb my husband’s desk space.  Turns out he wanted to move into the kitchen desk space away from my chatty self and my loud machines.  So, it was a win-win for both of us!

One awesome part of my new craft corner is an adjustable sewing table.  It has my DIY ironing board on it as well as my cutting mat.  It’s just perfect!  Because it’s adjustable, I also needed an adjustable stool to go with it!  Enter IKEA’s KULLABERG stool.  At many of its lowest heights, it slides perfectly under my table out of the way when I want to stand and cut, but because it’s adjustable, I can also sit and cut if I want!  I love it!

Unfortunately, because it was a hard stool, my rear end didn’t love it too much after long periods of time.  Turns out, I needed to invest in a cushion.  Luckily, IKEA had the cheap SUNNEA chair pad available, which was comfy enough and portable.  Unfortunately, its available colors were just SO bland!   I needed to fix that!

Using fabric from my younger daughter’s mint, gold, and coral quilt, I decided to sew a round stool cushion cover for the SUNNEA chair pad to give it more personality!  Here’s my tutorial for how to make your own!

Round Chair Cushion Cover Supplies

  • Round chair cushion (I used the IKEA SUNNEA, but many round cushions will work well for this tutorial!)
  • Fabric
  • String or drawstring
  • Sewing machine and accessories
  • Wonder clips or pins
  • Bodkin or safety pin

How to Make A Round Stool Cushion Cover

First, you need to figure out how much fabric you need.  Lay the top of your round cushion on top of the wrong side of your fabric.  Oh, and remove the ridiculous amount of tags (see below for that travesty.)

Add several inches to each side, and cut your fabric out in a circle.  I say several inches because the thickness of your cushion determines this extra amount.  You’ll want to take into account the amount of fabric needed to cover the side of the cushion and also the amount needed to create the casing for the drawstring.  When in doubt, err on the side of extra fabric.  It’s easier to cut away fabric rather than add more!  I added between 2-2.5 inches on each side.

Next, finish the edges of your fabric.  I used my Brother 1034D serger to finish my raw edges, but you can also use the zigzag or overcasting stitch on your sewing machine.  This will keep the edge from unraveling.  Of course, you could fold the edges under and fold again, but it’s the bottom of a chair cover, so I don’t care what it looks like!  And that means I don’t have to get an iron out if I avoid the double crease!

Go ahead now and form your casing.  Fold your fabric over and pin or clip.  I LOVE Wonder Clips for this!  Make sure your casing will be big enough for your drawstring.  Mine was around 1/2″ wide for my 1/4″ drawstring.

Sew just on the inside of the raw edge you folded in, creating the casing.  Leave a small 1″ hole that you’ll use to get the drawstring in.  It’s hard to see, but I sewed on top of the serged edges.

Using a bodkin or safety pin, pass your string through the casing.  If your hole is pretty large, you can sew it up a little more at this stage.  Here’s how small my hole was.

I also tied knots on the ends of the strings to keep them from unraveling.

Put your cushion back in the middle of your cover and tighten the drawstring around the cushion.  Watch in awe as your DIY cushion cover wraps around your cushion.  Tie the string in a pretty bow or knot.  Or, tuck it inside if you don’t want it hanging out.

Make any adjustments needed.  You’re done now!  I hope you learned how to sew a cover for the IKEA SUNNEA and will enjoy sitting on your new stool pad!