Slipcover for Chair

So...the other day I mentioned the white slipcovers, and how the drop cloth one that I purchased for the chair (and intended to make into a fitted cover) was driving me crazy and NEEDED to get made into a fitted cover asap.  

How's that for a run-on sentence?

Well, I did it.  

And I love it.  It's kinda wonky looking in parts...because DUDE it's tricky to sew that much material...but I still love it.  

Trust me, when I tell you, that I am the last person that should be presenting a tutorial of any kind.  So consider this a tutorial on the tutorials I used.  

Here goes. 

If this were an actual tutorial I would have taken better pictures...thank goodness this is a tutorial on tutorials because craptastic pictures will do!  This is the chair covered in the "drop cloth" style cover...it was a ton of material and I tucked it around the chair to make it as fitted as possible.  Most of the excess material I shoved under the seat cushion, which made the chair hard as cement to sit on.   Good times.

I talk more about where I got the covers in this post (in case you're wondering.)

First I went to the thrift store and bought two old bed sheets to use as a template.  And then I washed them.  In 1000 degree water.  

Anyways, I found this picture on Pinterest and I used it as my visual.  Because I'm like that.

Source: thenester.com via Sarah on Pinterest

This is my version:

I followed the seaming of the upholstery already on my chair.  I wanted the seaming to be in the right places so that it didn't pull too tight on certain seams when we sat down...thus ripping them.  And I made notes to myself in permanent marker.


For the next steps, I utterly failed at taking a single picture, which is unfortunate because you could have seen my kids walking all over the material and me trying to KEEP THEM OFF. What I did was take the slipcover that I purchased, and laid it out on my living room floor.  It took up the entire floor.  And then I took the sample pieces on the chair (above picture) unpinned them and laid them out on the slipcover material, like a giant puzzle.  I had just enough material.  Then I cut around the pieces.


And then I pinned the pieces around the chair, wrong sides facing down or in, or whatever.  The slip cover is basically inside out at this point.


Like so:

Next, I took a needle with black thread and basted (big huge stitches) where I had pinned.  


Side note:  On the sample bed-sheet version, I didn't baste it.  I took it off and attempted to sew it with just pins.  Not only did I get stuck with pins, I couldn't figure out what was what once I tried to shove that heavy material under the needle of the sewing machine.


Basting was so much easier to follow, definitely worth it.


Sewing it together proved to be the trickiest part, because it's just a lot of material, and at some points on the arms, there are three different sections of material coming together...and did I mention 100% Cotton Duck is THICK?!?


But, it was definitely worth it.  And I'd do it again.  It took me part of an evening and then the next morning to finish it.  

Ta da!

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