The Making of a Slip Cover

     This past weekend I had a burst of energy and decided to make a slip cover for my living room chair. If you follow my blog you know that we just got a new sectional from IKEA {that I am totally in love with!} and I wanted to change out my LR chair. Its a great chair and is modern in style but the leaves are a bit too busy for me.

The new couch is a linen-y color which goes perfectly with drop cloth fabric. Using a canvas drop cloth is an economical way to make curtains, pillows and even a slip cover!

Let me preface my weak tutorial by saying that I'm not a seamstress and I've never done this type of a slip cover before. So I am going to show you what I did. I'm a visual learner and have to figure some things out by trial and error.

If you want to use drop cloth fabric {that you can find at Lowe's, Home Depot, or any other home improvement store} always wash it first. Out of the package it is stiff but once its washed it becomes soft and more pliable/workable.

Here's how I started:

Basically what we want to accomplish is an inside out slip cover that we will pin completely in place before we pull it off and sew it up.

• I first took my fabric and wrapped it around the back of my chair, inside out! Using straight pins pin it around the top and sides. {This is the largest section of the chair to cover which is why I started here first.}

• Next I cut out the inside back of the chair and pinned it to the outside back piece.

I used the chalk to more clearly mark where I needed to sew. Once you pull the slipcover off it because a mess of fabric and pins and you forget where you need to stitch. This was a HUGE time saver.

• My third piece was the outline of the seat of my chair.

Once this piece is cut pin it to the back piece.

• The fourth and final piece is the front piece. It goes across the front of the chair and up the arms. This was the trickiest part for me. {and it may or may not have involved some seam ripping and re-sewing~a few times} 

     Once it is all pinned you gently pull it off your chair and sew it together. I just used a basic sewing machine, regular white thread and had my stitch size setting at 1 {keeping it small will make it more durable}. 

To make it a little more clear, with my fancy computer imaging I will show you the pieces I cut. This also includes what I needed for the cushion.

•      The cushion was a bit easier. This involved a top and a bottom piece then my side piece. They sewed together like a box kind of......I will admit that I left it open on the bottom back seam and didn't finish it. You could add a velcro enclosure if you want. I didn't have any on hand yet. 

This was pinned together the same way as the chair cover.

     Its not fancy but its a slip cover. {They aren't supposed to be fancy, right?} I love that it blends well with the couch and I can pull it off and wash it any time! Yippee for that!

     If you are wondering what kind of time this takes, for me it was about a 3 hour project not including the washing of the fabric. Not too bad!

Thanks for stopping by!





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