New Slipcover for Hubby’s Favorite Chair Complete!

One thing I did during Thanksgiving break is slipcover my hubby’s new chair. We bought this chair 9 years ago (actually, just before we moved to California), and the fun citrus print set the color scheme of the family room. Fast forward 9 years, the chair structure has held up really well, but the fabric, well see for yourself: Yup, it’s time had come! So, I dyed some heavy canvas a lovely gold color I’m calling persimmon, from the Autumn Splendor palette I’ve been working on. I dyed this full immersion in the washing machine, there is still some visual texture, but much much less than what I get when I dye LWI: After making piping, I set to work. I first cut out blocks of fabric and pin it to the chair. Then I pin these pieces together along the seamlines and trim.

Once it’s all trimmed, I unpin one side, this is where the zipper will be inserted. Then I lugged the whole thing over to the sewing machine and started stitching, pulling out the pins when I get to them. Whenever I wanted a seam to have piping, I would just unpin a couple of pins at a time, insert the piping in and keep going.

I will say it was great that the chair fit in my sewing room, that makes it a lot easier to be able to go back and form between the chair and the sewing machine. And having the bed risers meant I didn’t have to bend down quite so far, which was awesome.

Eventually, it was done!

Here it is back in it’s rightful place, complete with a perfect pillow:

Sorry for the color shifts, I was not in the mood to keep re-setting white balance, I wanted to get this slipcover OVER! This last picture is the closest to what it really looks like.

Signed, sealed, delivered!  Please note: I may make this sound easy & fun…it’s not. The tough thing is that it’s A) painful, because there has to be pins EVERYWHERE and I end up sticking myself often and B) it’s stressfull because there’s a limited amount of fabric, and if you make a mistake you may be out of luck. I could have dyed more, but dyeing this canvas is a real pain because it’s so heavy!

Anyway, it’s done! hooray!   And honestly, if you choose the right fabric (non-directional, small or no print) so you don’t have to worry about getting things to line up, it’s not THAT hard, and most definitely less expensive than either paying somebody else or buying a new piece of furniture! 😉

I love my new pillow, I’ll tell you more about them soon!

5 Responses

  1. A tip I learned in a slip-cover-making workshop was to start with a muslin. That way, you are making pattern pieces that you can later lay out on your fabric (less stress about waste or running out). After you test the fit by basting the muslin pieces together, you can take it apart and use it as a lining for your slipcover or save it for the next time you re-decorate.

    1. Yep, I know you can do that, I just don’t want to take the time!!!! I wasn’t all that worried this time with my single color fabric that I could have dyed more of, but wanted to point the issue out to people. And also remind myself that I DON’T like making slipcovers, so when somebody else asks me to make out I will remember to say NO! 😉

  2. You did a great job! My Mom used to reupholster furniture “for fun” and I know how much work it is and that’s why I will never do it! I stop ad upholstered headboards and other flat items. 🙂

  3. Wow! Awesome! It didn’t look or sound easy!

    My grandmother (who bought my first sewing machine and taught me to use it) made curtains and slip covers for a living!