Opulent Cottage

How to Slipcover a Slipper Chair, Part Two: Making a Pleated Slipcover Skirt

Remember when I started a tutorial on slipcovering my slipper chairs? And I only posted the first part? And some of you have patiently waited for me to get my act together and post Part Two?

Today's the day! (Finally. Sorry. I have procrastination issues.)

Part One is here, if you haven't seen it. I had started with the base of the chairs, and now it's time to move on to how I made the pleated skirt.

I decided to go with Miss Mustard Seed's advice and just use the prehemmed edge of the drop cloth for my skirt hem. So after measuring the length needed (and adding 2 inches for wiggle room), I figured the width of fabric I would need to go around the sides and front of the chair. 5 pleats at 5.5 inches for each side, and 5 pleats at 5 inches for the front. I added two inches to each side for the seam (where the skirt meets the fabric on the back) and 4 inches for the inside of each pleat. Total for me, 140 inches. 

I took the skirt fabric straight to the ironing board to iron in each pleat. Because of the width of the fabric, I did have to make a seam, so again, I added plenty of extra so that seam could be hidden inside a pleat. If you're working with 45 or 54 inch wide fabric you will most certainly have to seam it in several places.

Next I laid the  fabric flat on the ironing board, and used a small ruler to measure each pleat. You can pin each pleat if that makes it easier to keep it square on the ironing board. I wanted really crisp pleats, so I pressed really hard and ironed at the highet heat the fabric would tolerate. If you choose to do this, be sure to keep your iron moving at all times, so that it doesn't scorch. If you're not sure about how hot you can go, practice on a scrap of your fabric. We don't want any burns! And remember when you iron in the first pleat, to leave the extra 2 inches at the end for your seam. (So my first pleat was actually 7-1/2 inches. You'll see how I sewed it into the back piece in a minute.)

Just a one inch pleat is all that's needed.

Once each pleat was ironed in, I pinned it securely at the top and moved on to the next area. Here it is, hanging from the edge of the ironing board as I continued to put the pleats in the rest of the width of the skirt. 

It was tremendously helpful to run a line of stitching at the top, marking the exact hem length:  

 

So that when I sewed the skirt to the seat panel, I already had a perfectly measured line of stitching to follow.  

To attach the decking to the slipcover back, I pinned the seam, turned the slipcover inside out, and marked the seam with blue tailor's chalk. You can see here that I could have used a little more "wiggle room" on the decking. It really will make your project easier to have extra in the seam allowances, rather than not quite enough.

Because I'm not pleating across the back, I attached the skirt to the back like so. It took a little creative pinning and stitching to get the two to line up, which is why I saved the back panel hem for last. 

 

 

I'm thrilled with the result! Is it perfect? No way! But I spent $15 on a drop cloths, a couple dollars on cording, and a few hours of my time, and look what I got -- a brand new chair! In the future, should I choose to make another slipcover with a different fabric, I can merely tear this one apart and have a ready made pattern. 

 

 

Sewing the slipcover for chair base really only took about 5 hours, including planning, measuring, cutting and break times :) The cushion added another 1-1/2 hours. The second one went a lot faster than the first, because I knew what I was doing. Covering these chairs in this sturdy, neutral fabric has accomplished everything I wanted it to. Each season's decor will flow so well in our home with this lovely ivory as a backdrop to pillows, throws, and accessories.

Again, Part One can be found on this post. Please email me if you have questions, and I'll try to help. This truly was so much simpler than I thought it would be. If I can do it, you can too!

And if you think you spied some new items in the background, you're right! I have a really great Canton find to share with you all tomorrow.

I'm joining Yvonne for Tutorial Tips and Tidbits at StoneGable, Gina's Transformation Thursday at The Shabby Creek Cottage, Courtney's Feathered Nest Friday at French Country Cottage, Cindy's Show and Tell Friday at My Romantic Home

How to Slipcover a Slipper Chair, Tutorial Part One

Thank you all so much for the rave reviews on our newly slipcovered slipper chairs! As promised, here's Part One of my tutorial on how to make a simple skirted slipcover.

Remember, this is what I started with. Too many years sitting in front of our west-facing living room windows had left these chairs faded and tattered.

I'm making my slipcovers with prewashed and pre-bleached Finish Factor canvas drop cloths from Lowe's. You can read about how I pretreated them here. To start, I took a few minutes to pre-plan the layout for cutting, as I hoped to waste as little fabric as possible. If you are buying yardage for your slipcovers, I would really encourage you to make a paper pattern (or use an old sheet) to help determine the amount of fabric you'll need. For this project I'm sort of winging it, due to the inexpensive nature of this fabric. I have done several projects with these drop cloths, and had a few extra remnant pieces already. If I was working with client fabric, or more costly fabric, I would definitely have made a complete pattern first, or traced each pattern piece onto the fabric with tailor's chalk.

 

To start, I traced a crude outline of the side of the rolled back of the chair. Yep, that's leftover butcher paper. Told you I'm a waste not, want not kind of crafter. This piece is only going halfway down the side of the chair, lining up with the seat, as the pleated skirt will attach to it later in the process.

 

 

Cut it out, adding a rough 1 inch seam allowance. Rule #1 when making slipcovers:  leave plenty of extra fabric allowance when cutting! You will be able to trim any excess away later, but you sure can't make it grow back if you cut it a little small. 

 

 

Cut your first piece, then, if your fabric has a right side, flip your pattern over to cut the second piece. 

 

 

Next up is piping. You don't have to add piping, and if you don't want to make it, you can use purchased piping. I happened to have leftover cording, and remants of the canvas, so I chose to make mine. I won't go into detail here, but you can find instructions on making piping all over the internet. 

Pin the side piece to the chair, and fit the piping all around, pinning it to the fabric as you go. Good thing I had a plentiful seam allowance, because I was really close in a couple of spots.

Unpin your side piece from the chair, then sew on the piping. Use your zipper foot so that you can get as close as possible to the piping seam. Pin it back to the chair again to measure for the center panel.

 

Mine was 26 inches across, and 58 inches up and over the top, to the floor. I cut a large piece, 28 inches by 64 inches. Remember, cut extra! This allows for a 2 inch hem at the bottom of the back of the chair, also.

 

Now you will need to pin it all together -- inside out. Once again, I temporarily pinned the side pieces on,

 

 

and laid the center piece over, pinning it to the side where it meets the piping.

This is the first time that you will have to make a judgement call about exactly how snug, or loose, you want your slipcover to be. Be prepared to have to pin and repin several times! If you can't get it off of the chair, it's too tight. Loosen it, using a little less of your extra seam allowance from the center panel. See how I have pinned along the stitch line of the piping? You'll still want to make sure that you pin along that line, because this is where you will sew it together. 

 

Carefully remove your fabric, and baste it all together. I used a long 4.5 stitch on my Pfaff sewing machine (not sure what that translates to for American made sewing machines). I say baste because it's likely that you will want to remove and restitch at least part of your slipcover once you try it back on the chair. Sew the seam with the side piece facing up, as it allows to go along the same line of stitching that you sewed the piping on with. (If you're not using piping, this won't be important.)

 

Turn right side out, and wiggle it back onto the chair. Go slowly! Don't force it too quickly and risk tearing your seams. Here's my first attempt -- not too bad! 

 

But see these puckered stitches? They're not that bad, but I really wanted to have a smooth seam. I fixed these, then restitched the seam to secure it. Now we're done with the main part of the chair!

 

 

I'm going to break this up into several steps, partly so that this doesn't become the world's longest, most exhausting blog post :) and also because I forgot to take a couple of photos, and I'm going to have to finish the second chair and re-photograph some of the steps! Good thing I have two chairs, haha.

For Part Two, I'll show how the skirt comes together. I know it looks like it could be complicated, but it's just so easy, you won't believe it.

I hope this makes sense! If you have any questions, email me at andrea(dot)haywood(at)sbcglobal(dot) net, and I'll be happy to try to answer them. It's my hope that soon, we'll be seeing photos of your new slipcovers! I'll be back soon with Part Two.

Update: Part Two can be found here

Joining:

Diann's Thrifty Things Friday at The Thrifty Groove

Debra's Vintage Inspiration Friday at Common Ground

Courtney's Feathered Nest Friday at French Country Cottage

Heather and Vanessa's Inspiration Friday At The Picket Fence

Karen's What Have You Redone at Redoux

Honey's Potpourri Friday at 2805

Sherry's Home Sweet Home at The Charm of Home

Cindy's Show and Tell Friday at My Romantic Home

Furniture Feature Friday at Miss Mustard Seed

Jen's Weekend Wrap Up at Tatertots and Jello

Donna's Saturday Nite Special at Funky Junk Interiors

Roeshel's DIY Project Parade at DIY Show Off

Stephanie's Sunday Showcase at Under the Table and Dreaming

Susan's Metamorphosis Monday at Between Naps on the Porch

Tisha's Show and Tell Monday at Delectable Home

Beth's Tutorials and Tips Tuesday at Home Stories A to Z

Sarah's Before and After Monday at Thrifty Decor Chick

 

Our New Slipper Chair Slipcovers

When I first spoke of doing new slipper chair slipcovers, several of you emailed me, in horror, that I would consider covering our red chairs in a neutral color (you can see them here). Trust me, I haven't completely lost my mind! There's really a plan behind this madness.

 

Here's little history on the chairs. They came to me in 1997 when a friend pulled up in front of our house unannounced, carried them in, and said "I bought these chairs at a sample sale today. You need them. They're your color. And by the way you owe me 80 bucks." Seriously, I got both of these for just $80. 

 

They had really brightly striped cushions, and the red cotton that you still see below was on the base. I lived with them for a while, then decided that I was done with the stripe. I bought what I thought was enough fabric to slipcover both chairs, but never got any farther than the cushions, as I had not gotten enough fabric. Of course, when I went back for more,  it was sold out. These two fabrics matched at that point, so it was okay. But too many years sitting in west-facing windows led to this

They're gross. Seriously faded, and filthy. Aren't you glad I never showed this before ? :) 15 years of kids, animals, and family living will do that. It's really time for an update! When I realized that I had pinned white slipcovers over and over again, I knew I was ready to make the change. 

What a difference! I love them!

And again, this neutral base gives me more opportunity to change my pillows and accessories on a seasonal basis. They look great with the Christmas plaid pillows

And the Pottery Barn knock off sweater pillow (from a $2 thrift store sweater!)

 

Ticking stripes and toile would be an option, too.

How fun will it be this spring to make some vintage tablecloth pillows! I have wanted those forever, but they would never have worked with the old fabric. I can't say enought about how crazy I am about this fabric, the washed and bleached canvas drop cloths. This entire chair was done with a two-pack of drop cloths, purchased for $15. I was initially concerned that they wouldn't be light enough, but once on the chair, they appear lighter than the fabric actually is. It's a great cross between white and ivory. I really could not have chosen a worse time of day to take these photos, but I hope you get the idea.

Ugh, now the rest of the room looks horrible! I think I just created a few more projects for myself  :)

 

And while I do have a good amount of sewing experience, I truly feel that even those of you with just basic sewing skills could do this. I photographed the entire process, and hope to complete an organized tutorial in the next few days. Once you all see how simple it really was, I hope you'll be tackling your own slipcovers.

 

Thanks so much for coming by to see my new slipcover! I'll finish the second one tomorrow, then you all will probably get bombarded with more photos of these chairs than you ever thought possible.

 

News Flash! Part One of the Slipcover Tutorial is up, you can find it here!

 

I'm joining:

Diann's Thrifty Things Friday at The Thrifty Groove

Debra's Vintage Inspiration Friday at Common Ground

Farmhouse Friday at Laurie Anna's

Courtney's Feathered Nest Friday at French Country Cottage

Heather and Vanessa's Inspiration Friday At The Picket Fence

Karen's What Have You Redone at Redoux

Honey's Potpourri Friday at 2805

Sherry's Home Sweet Home at The Charm of Home

Cindy's Show and Tell Friday at My Romantic Home

Furniture Feature Friday at Miss Mustard Seed

Jen's Weekend Wrap Up at Tatertots and Jello

Donna's Saturday Nite Special at Funky Junk Interiors

Tisha's Show and Tell Monday at Delectable Home

Susan's Metamorphosis Monday at Between Naps on the Porch

Kim's Wow Us Wednesday at Savvy Southern Style

Paula and Patti's What's It Wednesday at Ivy and Elephants

Judy's Winter Blues Wednesday at DIY By Design

Sherry's Open House Party at No Minimalist Here