Blueberry, Basil & Goat Cheese Pie
April 3, 2012
The Birth of Hudson Maverick
November 8, 2012Creating a Slipcover {DIY Tutorial}
Well, I’ve been MIA for a while now… that’s what happens when you’re 7 months pregnant, a stay at home mom to an 18 month old, have major construction going on at your house, AND am preparing crafts of all sorts for the new space and the new baby. Life is hectic. Oh, and my dear husband had shoulder surgery. Holy Moly, right?? Yeah, my thoughts exactly!
Despite all of the crazy, I was able to get a big craft done for the soon-to-be playroom that I’ve been wanting to try out for a while; a slip cover for a mini chair. I scored an awesome deal on Craigslist for a children’s upholstered chair – $10!! Score for sure. The chair was a bleak tan microsuede chair that just didn’t go with what I imagined the overall room decor to be. Thankfully, I had a ton of fabric on hand to choose from to create a slip-cover.
Since I didn’t want to make this project expensive and buy a ton of fabric, I really wanted to use what I had on hand. Since this is going in the playroom I wanted to keep it gender neutral so I opted for the green damask, plus, that’s what I had a few yards of on hand. I didn’t have a pattern for this I had no idea the exact yardage I would need so I had to just eye it to figure out if I had enough. Altogether I probably used 2 yards of 44″ wide fabric. I started by cutting rough pieces of the fabric for the different parts of the chair. You can see below I did the arms & the seat with the overhang first. I knew I would eventually trim the pieces to make them more precise so I didn’t really worry about the preciseness the first cut. Each piece got pinned together as I went along to ensure that nothing shifted.
I cut and pinned all of the pieces together and made sure that it was nice and snug and perfectly aligned. I probably should have noted this in the beginning, but be sure to cut and pin the fabric inside out since that’s how you’ll sew it.
The pinned slip-cover will look something like this. It’ll be a bit tricky (and painful – helloooo pin pricks!) to get the slip-cover off so be very careful removing it. Once you have the cover removed you can begin sewing it. I had no rhyme or reason to sewing this so I just started at the bottom and sewed all of the seams, removing the pins as I went. I wanted the slip-cover nice and taught so I used a 3/4″ seam all around. Once the seams were sewed I trimmed them and than pressed them to make them lay flatter and less bulky. I turned the cover right-side-out and ironed the seams once more so they were all nice and crisp. Spray Starch works WONDERS.
I slipped the cover back on the chair so that I could check the fit. There were a couple of areas that needed some slight tailoring so I pinned & sewed accordingly. You can see in the photo above how the one side is a bit loose – so I fixed that. Once I was done with the tailoring I put the cover back on to double-check my work. I had planned on putting a very cute whimsical trim on the chair as I did the matching ottoman. However, after a couple of hours I noticed that my dear daughter liked to pluck the hanging pom-poms off of the trim & feed them to the dogs. Needless to say, the chair is still trimless!!!
Pictured above is the ottoman with the old trim that coordinated with Poppy’s room as it is now. However, I wanted something bright and colorful for when these two pieces get moved upstairs into the new playroom.
I had hot-glued the old black & white trim on so I just gently pulled that off to prepare for the new trim.I don’t like staple-gunning the trim on because I don’t like seeing the staples and its more difficult to remove. But, that is an option if you’d prefer to do it that way. With the new trim I used hot-glue, also. I always start in a corner and glue it on at the height I like than go in by inch gluing the trim down and trying really hard to not burn myself more than half a dozen times! The ottoman turned out SO cute and I hope once it’s up in the playroom I can finished the trim on the chair and can keep Poppy’s little hands off of the pom-poms!
Overall, the slip-cover really was quite easy. Far easier than I anticipated. The chair took me about 5 solid hours allowing me to get it done in one days nap-times. Two things would have made the project even easier; Having the correct amount of fabric and having the short pins for pinning it all together. Since I used the fabric I had on hand and guessed as to how much I needed, I got VERY lucky and had just enough. And by just enough, I mean there were literally tiny itty bitty scraps left over and no scrap being bigger than 2″x2″. It got a bit hairy at one point because I cut & pinned one arm right side out which essentially made it backwards. With a little trickery, I managed to piece it together and make it work. But now I know for future slip-covers to always have extra fabric for the “oopsie” areas. What I love about this being a slip-cover vs having it professionally upholstered (which I considered) is that this can be easily removed and washed over and over again. Since
this little chair & ottoman will be going in the reading area of the playroom I know it’ll get milk, juice, snacks, or lord knows what else on it and I won’t be worried about it being forever ruined. What a relief in a child-friendly area. Since I had so much success with this project, I have decided to take on a slip-cover for the chair in Poppy’s room… I’m crazy, I know!
Enjoy!!
xo
ER
this little chair & ottoman will be going in the reading area of the playroom I know it’ll get milk, juice, snacks, or lord knows what else on it and I won’t be worried about it being forever ruined. What a relief in a child-friendly area. Since I had so much success with this project, I have decided to take on a slip-cover for the chair in Poppy’s room… I’m crazy, I know!
Enjoy!!
xo
ER
14 Comments
I love it!
your slipcover is amazing.but I have a question. My chair arms sit back about three inches of from the front of the.chair I really don’t know how to do this. Can you help me? Kathryn
Hi Kathryn. Would pleats or elastic make it easier perhaps? It is hard to say without a photo for reference.
Beautiful Job Momma (You are my hero)
GRAZIE A TE ED ALLA TUA SPIEGAZIONE MOLTO CHIARA E COMPRENSIBILE SONO RIUSCITA A REALIZZARE UNO SPLENDIDO COPRIPOLTRONA PER LA VECCHIA POLTRONA APPARTENUTA A MIO PADRE E CHE IO AMO TANTO
I don’t have a website but I know everybody thanks you for your pattern and I want to try but my sewing machine hasn’t been used in 40 years so I will have to see if it still works. Ha. Ha.
Desearía tener un patrón para darme idea de cuánto Necesito comprar para dos sillones de una plaza.
Love the slipcover
That looks great. I’ve been sewing for many years but always found on slip covers a problem with figuring out those inside back corners that need to be tucked in. Any advice on that?
awesome idea and it looked perfect. i will try it thanks
Great post tthank you
Perso déjà fait la même chose sur un canapé à trois places +les deux fauteuils avec du tissus velours côtelé celà ma pris une semaine très dure mais je suit arriver celà demande beaucoup de patience
Is there a zipper in the back of the slipcovers
Hi Martha. No, there is no zipper. It is a simple slip cover that slides right over.