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

 

Comments

[Honey]

Great tutorial with easy to follow instructions! Thank you for sharing at Potpourri Friday!

[Willow]

Wow I Love the tutorial. Thank you for sharing.

[kay Simpson]

Been looking for an easy way to do this to my sewing chair. Can the dropcloths be died with something like RIT Dye?
Kay

[Terry Moore]

this is so exciting to see. Thanks for the tutorial.

[Toodie]

Can I just say right now that I LOVE YOU????? I have seen tutorials that explain, but I LOVE LOVE LOVE how you SHOWED us. Thank you for taking the time! You have now made my mind up for me to redo what I had purchased fabric for and was too chicken to do. LOL Thanks a million! THAT CHAIR IS AWESOME!

[Roeshel]

Beautiful job and great tutorial!

[Kim @ vintagepretties]

You make it look so easy! What a great tutorial.

[Robin]

Thanks for noting the brand / where the drop cloths were purchased. I've been Pinning drop cloth projects and purchased some thinking I'd give it a try, but they just had a horrible stink and the texture was unpleasant too ... maybe I'll check out the type you used. And I'll definitely be back for part II of this great post!

[Suzy @ Worthing Court]

This is a great tutorial - concise and easy to understand. I've been afraid to tackle a slipcover, but I have GOT to put my big girl panties on and give it a whirl! Looking forward to part 2!

[mrs c.]

great tutorial - can't wait for the next instalment.
cheryl xox.

[Karen]

Thank you so much for sharing this, I am featuring it tomorrow at my party!

[Debra@CommonGround]

wow, great job! I'm such a klutz at this type of thing. Your tutorial is so helpful, I'm going to have to study this, thanks so much for linking up to VIF!

[katie @ on the banks of squaw creek]

This is amazing. I LOVE box pleats! I reupholstered 1 of 2 matching chairs, decided it was too hard, and never finished the 2nd!

[Tisha @ Delectable Home]

Nice tutorial. I love how these turned out! Thanks for linking up.

[Michelle]

Thank you for sharing these instructions!

[Sallie]

I love this tutorial! I am finally not afraid to give it a try. No pressure, but is there a part 2 yet? If so, can you put up a link? If not, I'll try to figure it out by myself. I think the top part looks like the hardest, so thank you!

[Chair Covers for Wedding]

Chair Cover is important that you use as a decoration to have to slipcover a slipper chair. Having beautifully decorated chairs adds to the grand look to your occasion.

[Upholstery]

So informative things are provided here, I am really happy to read this post, I was just I agree with you. You should continue to write new comments. Thank you

[Brea]

Your instructions are so amazing! The best tutorial I've come across in a very long time. I just purchases two red slipper chairs with the ideal that I would have them recovered.The cost to expensive, my next thought was to make slipcovers myself granted I haven't sewn in a very long time. So we weill see......Brea

[bonnie borgman]

Great instructions! Just finished mine and am patting myself on my back!!

[Sunny]

What size piping did you use? I love the way yours looks and I don't want to get one too big or small.