I've never worked with a piece of fabric this large before. It took me forever just to unwrap it from the bolt!
So rule number one is always wash your fabric first. You wouldn't want your slipcover skrinking once you had already sewed it together! When I slipcovered my chair I just estimated and cut my 10 yards of fabric into several big chunks that would fit in my washing machine. Afterwards, I wasn't really happy with the result. I felt like it was an inefficient use of my fabric and I had a lot of waste.
So this time I have decided to make all my cuts first (leaving room for a little shrinkage, of course) and then wash it.
First I cut about and 1 to 1-1/2 inches of the entire length of my fabric. This strip will be for my piping.
I really didn't want to measure and mark 1-1/2" for the whole 15 yard strip. So I just "eyeballed" it as I went. You can see in the picture below that every couple of feet I would hold up the beginning of my fabric strip to the piece I was cutting to make sure I was still cutting the right width.
Have you ever tried to take a picture with your left hand while you are cutting with scissors in your right hand? It's not as easy as it looks.
Then I did the same for my skirt, except it was about an 8" wide strip. I plan on cutting the rest of my pieces with pinking shears (I just bought a pair yesterday). That should help cut down on the fraying when I wash my pieces.
All this cutting got me excited for this project so I decided to go ahead and pin my skirt on the couch just to get an idea of how it was going to look.
I'm going to do a box pleat on each corner of my skirt. I am so excited to see how this comes together.
It's going to be sooo much better than the current, ugly, brownish couch!
Hope you all are having a wonderful Memorial Day!
More slipcover progress coming soon.....
Hey! I've been keeping up with your adventures in slipcovering, and I'm seriously impressed. I may need to take a class from you :) I have two chairs that desperately need new upholstery. Anyways, I saw this on design sponge today, and thought you might be interested too--https://spruceaustin.com/shop/dvds-and-tool-kits/instructional-video-1/
ReplyDeleteAre you familiar with Spruce @ all? Hope you're doing great!!
Oh, I'll be watching your posts closely now. I've just recently decided that slipcovering my sofa was going to be the solution to my "troubles" with my current living room. My problem though, is that my sofa is leather. I think it can still be done if I add foam and such to keep it from slipping. :) Here cheering you on!
ReplyDeleteHey Kristen! Ha! I don't think I am even close to being talented enough to give you a class. I'm still learning myself, but it's been fun. I haven't done any re-upholstering, but if you are interested in slipcovering them I would be happy to help you! It would be a fun project to do with a friend!
ReplyDeleteHi Leslie! Thanks for your comment! I don't even think you would need foam to slip a leather couch. Because when you make your own its custom fitted to your couch so I don't think it would slip once you have it on. I have a leather chair that I am dying to slipcover, but I haven't convinced my husband yet. My suggestion is to check out Miss Mustard Seed's video tutorial on slips. I am going to try to give as much detail as I can in my posts, but seeing someone work on it live through a video is really helpful!
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