The other day several of us had fun tackling a slipcover project. A chair and couch had been donated for use at the church building that weren't all that pretty, so Mom went searching for fabric and was able to find some that matched really well with the church building's colors at a thrift store for a pretty good deal. So we arranged a day and Mom, Mary and I, with some help from Keren and Becky, got to work.Here is the chair that we covered up:
It wasn't in very bad condition, it just really didn't match the color scheme!
Here is the couch. As you can see it had some stain issues.
We decided to tackle the couch first. We had 6 yards of 58 " wide fabric. We weren't sure if it would work or not. (the couch was an extra long at 7 feet) We did some very careful measuring and figured out just how much we would need. We used another fabric to put under the cushions and on the bottom side of the cushions. We also had to do a little piecing in the back. In the end I don't think we had any scraps bigger than 2"x2" left over.
Here is Mary at work on cutting out.
Here am I pinning pieces together.
Mom busy putting zippers in the cushion covers.
The part I found the most challenging was fitting the arm pieces with the front and back.
A tip I had learned from another blogger was to put sections on wrong side out and then pin the seams while they were in place. this worked pretty well!
At last it was ready to try on. Would it fit good? It did!
Hooray! I new looking and clean couch! (The lighting is rather weird in this picture however.)The next day Mom, Keren and I came back to work on the chair.
Again we did a lot of careful measuring and this time we actually made pattern pieces for most of it as they were a little more precise than the couch.The picture above shows again how the inside out pinning worked.
And the finished product! It was fun on Sunday to see people enjoying sitting around on comfortable seats during fellowship time. (Before we made slipcovers they had been relegated to the basement.)This is linked to Do It Yourself Day at A soft place to land.
Also linked to Trash to Treasure at Reinvented.
I'm so glad you posted this! I have a goodwill chair just dying to be covered! I've been dragging my feet, but I really do want it to get done, so thanks for more motivation. They both look amazing!
ReplyDeleteCan you share what resources etc you learned how to do this with? My furniture is all very old, although most of it is in okay shape still, but I really don't like pink, LOL! My chair is the worst and needs cleaning or covering. I am intimidated to do this though. Once done, can you wash the slipcover parts or would that be just as much work all over again to get it back together?
ReplyDeleteI think you guys did an awesome job. They looked really good when you where finished. I like it when people re-use.
ReplyDeleteI love them both! I'm not sure I am brave enough to tackle this type project. Ya'll did a great job.
ReplyDeleteWow! You are so creative! The chairs look great! I would love to get an old couch and spice it up with new fabric!
ReplyDeletebtw, I recently made sweet potato kimchi pancakes because it's kimchi season in Korea right now, and I thought of your blog entry on kimchi! http://www.jessicasdinnerparty.com/2009/11/sweet-potato-kimchi-pancakes/
Wow! You are so creative! The chairs look great! I would love to get an old couch and spice it up with new fabric!
ReplyDeletebtw, I recently made sweet potato kimchi pancakes because it's kimchi season in Korea right now, and I thought of your blog entry on kimchi! http://www.jessicasdinnerparty.com/2009/11/sweet-potato-kimchi-pancakes/
Hi Abbi, Ya'll did a wonderful job on this set! I am amazed! I've always wanted to slipcover some pieces, but haven't gotten up the nerve yet! :) The fabrics were really pretty, too!
ReplyDeleteThanks for visiting me over at my blog and for the encouraging comments! Hope you'll be back some time! :) ~Rhonda
Great job! I have never tackled anything this big. I remember my mom sewing and upholstering an old couch we had years ago, but I was little. Nice transformation!
ReplyDeleteThanks so much everybody! This sort of things always seems overwhelming before you start (at least to me) but then if you jump in and just work at (and especially if you have helpers!) it ends up not being as hard as it looked.
ReplyDeleteSo I am encouraging the rest of you with those projects -don't be overwhelmed - just do it! :-)
Nola- In the past I have googled "making slipcovers" and found some help. This time we felt confident enough to just tackle the job. It helps to look it over very carefully and just try to copy how it was upholstered in the first place. However we wanted the slipcover to be able to come off (so yes we can easily slip it off to wash it.) so I had to make it a bit looser around the arms then the original furniture is.
If I remember I will do a post with more details and instructions when I have a little more time.
How great that you were able to tackle this project as a group! Makes is far less daunting. Nice job on both pieces. Visiting from Funky Junk interiors slipcover theme party.
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