A slipcover story

Something that we haven't spent a lot of money on since we have been married is furniture. Furniture can cost a lot and we didn't really have a lot available to spend. But we have been very blessed with having used furniture given to us or finding stuff second hand. Not long ago our living room was looking in pretty sorry shape however, when my family came to visit they would groan as they sat on the couch, as it wasn't very comfortable and the couch and chairs were just looking frayed (see picture on right) and dirty.

It was time to figure something out. After much thought and shopping we did decide to buy a brand new couch. That took a ton of discussion. Ken and I basically like the same colors but the style we liked was quite different. So we compromised and found something that both of us are happy with. (A bit bigger than I prefer and a bit smaller and less cushy than he preferred.) It was an additional blessing that the one we ended up chosing was a hide-a-bed.
When getting the couch we kind of looked at chairs but I didn't really want a matching set (partly because then I think it just looks like you transplanted a showroom setting in your house) and also because the expense added up really quickly! Ken didn't like the idea of bringing a new couch home to sit with very old and rather ugly other chairs. The solution: Make slipcovers!

I had made a slipcover previously for this chair but last year my dear daughter (picture above) took a permanet marker to it, right in the middle of the back (not the back back ,but you know, the front back) and so I had taken it off (as purple doesn't look all the great on beige) and put it aside thinking I would just use the good fabric some other way.

I thought I would buy new fabric (possibly in dark green or a green and brown print) but when I went to the store I came up with nothing! Now what?
I did have some dark green fabric on hand that would have worked nicely but I didn't have nearly enough. So after some playing around I decided to have a layered look. I have green on the back (with green and tan plaid on the edges that is leftover from the curtians) and then again on the arms (to cover up some marker there) all of the fabric I stiched firmly in place. The chair doesn't look quite like one I would chose at the store, but it does look better and I think it might look kind of country style, which is kind off what I am aiming for. I also got done with using completely what I already had, which is very nice!

Our rocker was done in blue (which was a color we were getting out of this room) and had some stains, I have some more fabric (actually the slipcovers I had made for a chair that we decided to get rid of) which I was able to peice together to make some slipcovers for this rocker. This project was fairly easy and the lines are not very complicated.

I decided to do a strip of the green and plaid around to tie it in with the other chair (and to cover up some piecing that I had needed to do) and so this is a closup of the fabrics and the bow that I decided to have in the back.

I had a lot of fun working on this project. I find it so very fun to make my home a more pleasent place to be while using what I already have!

I have a little (pretty little) of the fabric leftover (all 3 of them) and I was trying to think of some way to use them in the room. Do you have any ideas? I thought about maybe a strip of the plaid around the bottom of the lampshades, or around the bottom of the chair slipcover or using the fabric to make a small quilted piece for on the piano or making a bow on a wreath or something. What do you think?

Here are some links if you would like to try making slipcovers for your furniture:

• Very basic instructions.
• More detailed.
• A nice video telling and showing how.
  
  
  
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