The interior of a camper van is pretty much always the same. You cannot decorate it like your home so what it looks like when you buy it is pretty much what it looks like everyday after until you sell it. You can however change the upholstery and curtains to give it a fresh look.  Or in our case for a more practical purpose, the dogs. The problem is though that professionally fitted seating and curtains are not cheap and you can spend quite a few hundred pounds on the materials alone. I prefer the cheaper option and go down the DIY route and save a few quid in the process.

We’ve been back in the UK for a few months, so I’ve had time to do a couple of things to the van. One was a new set of seat covers and the other was some mosquito netting/blinds. Both obviously involve sewing. Now first things first, I am more of a saw it, build it, grease it type of chap and sadly haberdashery is probably at the bottom of my list of skills. “Sew” this was going to be a slow process.  Combined with the fact we don’t have a sewing machine and my patience is a little on the, well lets just say short side.

Lets start with the seat covers. Joanne made some for the seat bottoms a couple of years ago and they have been very good. But, with two dogs now in the van they have started to look a little tired. Plus we wanted change and as well as covers to fit the chair backs as well as the seat.

The last covers were made from fluffy throws. Those fluffy things that you put on your couch or as a bed cover. They are cheap to buy but also have the advantage they wash easily and dry very quickly. Proper material is harder to wash and dry and can be very expensive. The throws Joanne used were also about £15 each so it didn’t cost us a lot the first time.

We looked everywhere for the same thing again but most of the throws are either in horrendous colours, too thin or in some cases quite expensive. As I’m known for being a “tight sod” or as I prefer “economical with the money” I wanted everything for nothing as usual. Finally after looking around for weeks on end I found some that would be suitable in Sainsbury’s of all places.  Large fluffy throws in a steely grey colour at £12 each. A bit like these throws. I wasn’t totally happy with the colour but I grabbed four just in case knowing I could easily return any that would not be used later.

Pinking scissors

On my return from the supermarket a quick conversation followed along the lines of…

“Joanne where’s the sewing kit?”

“Under the stairs”,

“Where’s them scissors that cut with teeth?”

“What scissors with teeth?”

“Them scissors for cutting material so it doesn’t fray”

“In the sewing box obviously, why what are you doing” she hesitantly replied,

“Making the seat covers”

“Just wait I’ll get the sewing machine of Mandy” (her sister)

“No i’ll do them by hand”

All went quiet. Joanne knowing that this could end in me turning green, going into a raging hulk and everything going into the bin five minutes later.

Off to the van I trotted and returned with a couple of the seat sections and began laying the material on the floor and cutting out a suitable shape to cover the seat.

Scissors in one hand and tape measure in another I started. Now bare in mind I only know one type of stitch! I have no idea what it is called and the last time I tried sewing was 35 years ago.  At school and that didn’t go well.

I thought that the first one would be the hardest and slowest too do.  I did the maths and figured I have it done by lunchtime. Things didn’t start well.  The scissors didn’t cut the fluffy material very well.  And, by the time I had made the necessary cuts for things like corners etc a couple of hours had already passed. Lunchtime came and went. Then another eight hours passed and I was still sewing the first one.

The trouble is, I am a perfectionist. Even though I used the pinking scissors to stop the material from fraying, I wasn’t happy. I decided to hem the covers too and it was a slooooow process by hand. The light was failing but I carried on until it was complete. I finally completed the first cover for a seat back. I tried it on and it fit! Joanne nodded in approval, yeah. I was quietly pleased with myself and apart from constantly whinging too myself all day I never lost my temper and only stabbed myself twice. Success!

The following day I started the next one and this too took me all day to finish… and so did the third one. Three covers, three days, not exactly a speedy performance, I must say. I walked to the van and put the newly covered seat sections in place and stood back to admire my work. They all fitted great but there was a slight problem. I called to Joanne to have a look and see what she thought.

Well they looked greyer in the shop!

“You have done a good job there” Joanne said, “they fit really well”,

“I don’t like them, They are not the steely grey colour that I thought, they are more of a steely blue colour, in fact they are basically just blue.” I replied.

At this point Joanne must have thought she didn’t want to upset my feelings and once again said “but they fit really well don’t they”. I stood there gawping at three days work and then replied “We don’t want blue though, we want grey covers to match the rest of the interior, Oh F…k It.  I’ll have too do them again when we find a better colour.” Joanne paused, smiled at me and then we both burst in to laughter.  “Well yes they are a bit on the blue side but are you sure. It’s took you three days already and…” I butted in “No it’s cost £24 up to this point, so I’ll return the rest and cut our losses now” and with that we went back into the house and called it quits.

The following day I returned the unused throws back to the shop.  I got a refund but left the covers I had made still in the van. Then I decided to move on to plan B which was to make some mosquito nets. I wanted some for the bedroom area and some netting to the windscreen. The bedroom area is just to keep the mosquitos out but the windscreen nets serve a different purpose. When we’re away, we hate closing the front windscreen factory fitted blinds. In the summer they block all the light out keeping it cooler and more private but they make it too dark inside.  I thought by putting some nets up they would help reduce the hot sun rays streaming through the windscreen.  The fine fabric would still allow us to see out and still keep things private. The only thing with net curtains though is they do look awfully chintzy and old fashioned. The first pair I bought, did look chintzy but I think that was down to the colour, Snow White.  When I swapped for ivory they looked much better.

Joanne borrowed the sewing machine from her sister.  This time with the intension of making life easier for me and to speed up the whole process. I carefully read the instructions to brush up on my 35 year lapse in using one. However, after three hours all I ended up with was the worlds biggest bird nest of cotton and an inch of wobbly sewing.  So, I stuck to my original plan and continued to doing all the sewing by hand.

The good thing with the voiles/netting is it is far easier and much faster to make than the covers.  I could just use that iron on stuff that sticks material together. The nets we choose would also be used in the bedroom area to replace the factory curtains.  Thus acting as a mosquito net (little sods) rather than a privacy curtain, which we never use. We bought nets or should I say voiles, as they seem too be called these days. I bought them long enough so I could just cut in half.  The top section would be used in the front windscreen (factory header) and the bottom section would be used for the bedroom.

Windscreen nets

At this point we now have some smart looking nets that luckily don’t look that chintzy or old fashioned. Plus a third of the seats covered in the wrong colour….A couple of days past and a few visits in and out of the van and we sort of started to like the seat covers. They seemed to get better with time, so we made a decision. You guessed it.  I ended going back into Sainsbury’s and bought the ones I had returned a few days earlier.

Over the following couple of days after more struggling with the scissors and a few stabbed fingers, slowly cover after cover made their way into the motorhome. In total, I had to make two seats for the cab area, two double seats and two double backs for the main seating area.  A base and back for another single seat. Two more small sections for the trimmings on the sides and top of the main seat.

How do they look?

Well decide for yourselves. Personally we’re happy with the outcome. They are not going to last as long as a professional made set of covers but to be honest, the dogs will probably spoil them before they fall apart.  Would I do it again? Well yes, but this time I would only start once we were 100% happy on the colour.  After all it is a lot of time and effort involved.

Would we recommend anyone else do it?

Absolutely, whether you want a fresh look to your interior or more for practical reasons. It isn’t difficult. It is just very time consuming though.  But if you can use a sewing machine, what took me days could be achieved in just a couple of hours. If a non sewing person like myself can do it then so can anyone else.

What was the cost?

We ended up using three throws in total. So including things like cotton and the elasticised bungie I used (I have a big roll in the garage) the total cost was less than £40 for the covers. It was about £18 for the netting, iron on stuff and a length of wire for the screen. A total of under £60 for a different look in the van and no more mosquitos in bed at night. That adds up to a lot less than a professional made set but if you have the spare time it is a huge saving. Here’s the links to the raw materials

• Fluffy Throws
• Elastic Bungie
• Pinking Scissors
• Voiles
• Iron On
• Good Cotton
• Curtain Wire

Our bumble verdict: Easy enough for anyone to do, just remember to buy a box of plasters for the finger pricks.