slipcover adventures.....the final reveal!

It's finally finished!

Pay no attention to the pillows. They are just random ones gathered from other rooms of the house. I am still searching for the perfect pillow fabric.

I have to say I am really happy with how this slipcover turned out. I have learned so much in the last few months about sewing, cutting, piping and hemming. It's been all trial and error and experimentation, but I've really enjoyed the process. I know I have a lot more to learn. This is only my second slipcover, so I can only imagine that I will learn more and more as I continue to work on new projects.

If you are a beginner sewer and nervous about slipcovering, don't be! You will make mistakes, but they can all be fixed. Your seam ripper might become your best friend, but that's OK. ;)

Here's the back. My favorite part of my chair slipcover was the bows in the back so I decided to do that again with the couch. LOVE!

I feel like I should remind you what this ugly ol' thing looked like before...

If you missed any of my slipcover posts you can find them here:

getting started, back & seat, arms, arm fronts & skirt, cushions. 

Thanks for following along for my slipcover adventures! I hope you learned something along the way and I hope you try your very own slipcover soon! If you do, I would love to see your results or help you if you have questions!


Linking up with Shuanna

and Marian
 

more slipcover adventures (and a whole bunch of pictures)

Sorry it's been several days since I gave you an update on the slipcover. I've been spending every second of my free time trying to finish it up and just haven't had  time to edit and upload the pictures.

But here, we go. The last post covered the arms and the seat. All that is left for the body of my slipcover is the front of the arms and the skirt.

Since I decided to pipe around my arm fronts, the first step is making your piping. Super easy. You just need cording and a 2" wide strip of your fabric. The length depends on how much piping you will need. I ended up using about 20 yards for this couch (including arm fronts, skirt and cushions). Just place your cording in the middle of your strip of fabric and fold the two ends of your fabric together then run it through the machine. It's a little boring to sew a straight line for 20 yards, but it's easy, mindless work.

Once you have your piping, then you can start the arm fronts. As usual, make sure your fabric is inside out (wrong side facing the furniture) and start pinning. If you use piping, your piping should go in between your two pieces of fabric. Think of it as making a sandwich. And making sure the raw edge of your piping is going in the same direction as the raw edges of your other pieces. Pin along the curves and as you get to the bottom of your arm you will transition to pinning the arm front to the seat of your couch/chair (instead of to the body of the arm).

If this all sounds confusing, I apologize. It's not exactly easy to type these instructions. If you are a visual person, like me, check out Miss Mustard Seeds video series. It makes so much more sense when you can watch someone doing it.

And here is the best tip I will probably ever give you. It will save you countless hours of frustration and seam ripping. Buy yourself a piping foot for your machine!! I didn't even know they existed when I slipcovered my chair. I used my zipper foot because that's what was recommended to me. It was a horribly, frustrating experience that resulted in a lot of seam ripping and some piped arms that still bug me every time I look at them. Miss Mustard Seed uses her zipper foot and it seems to work for her because her piping looks beautiful, but I am not nearly as talented and for me the zipper foot was not working. So if you are more of a beginner in sewing, spend the $12 and purchase the piping foot. I would have paid 5x that for the convenience it brought me!



Here is the finished result with the piped arms. They aren't perfect. But I am happy with them and they are a million times better than the piped arms I did on my first slipcover!

Here's a close up. Ignore the wrinkles. I don't believe in ironing. I figure the wrinkles will eventually fall out. ;)

So, onto the skirt. This was my first skirt attempt. I did not add a skirt when I slipcovered my chair. And I decided I wanted to add pleats on the corners for this one (never done those either) so it was all a big experiment for me, but that's half the fun, right?!

The picture below shows the skirt all pinned (and of course everything is inside out).

It's hard to see the pleat on the corner because it's inside out, but if you look closely you can see the little rectangle on the corner. I pinned and sewed the pleats first before I pinned the whole skirt.

Here's a close up of the finished skirt and one of the corner pleats. Again, nothing perfect here. But I like it. Who wants perfect anyways? ;)



I don't get all precise about measuring the length of the skirt. I hem my edge first and then as I'm pinning the skirt I just eyeball the length at the bottom and pin accordingly. Again, perfection is not my goal.



If you want perfection, I think reupholstering is the way to go. Slipcovers are never going to be perfectly fitted and 100% precise. For me, that's part of the appeal.

So the  body of my slipcover is done! All I have left is the 2 cushions.





I finished one cushion last night and hopefully the other will be done by tonight. So the final reveal is coming soon! Stay tuned.....

Adventures in Slipcovering - The Finale!

I have finally finished my first slipcover!

Can you believe that is even the same chair? I was sort of shocked when I did the side-by-side comparison!

This has definitely been my biggest project undertaking thus far. Thank goodness for Miss Mustard Seed! I feel forever indebted to her and and her video tutorials!

My Mom and my washable, blue, fabric marker deserve a shout out too - couldn't have completed this project without them either!

My previous slipcover posts were only pictures of my prototype made with canvas drop cloth. So here are a few pictures during the process of making the real deal. * Just a note. Sorry most of the photos aren't that great. I snapped them very quickly as I was working on this project. Since I have a toddler at home I was usually working after bedtime so the lighting was never great.

Here is the beginning. Just laying out the fabric and cutting the pieces.

Here's where the blue fabric marker came in handy. I had a hard time pinning in some areas, especially the little crevices and around curves. For the crevices, I would push each piece of my fabric into the crease and draw a line with the marker. Then I would match up the two pieces and pin along the my blue line. On the cushions I used my marker to mark all the rounded corners because I found it impossible to make a straight pin form a rounded corner. How Miss Mustard Seed does this without a fabric marker I have no idea. She is magical.

See the faint blue lines below? And it washes right out when you wash the slip cover. Or if you dab some water on it.

Here is a close up of the front arm piece. It's the only piece on the body of the chair that I piped. Piping and I have a love-hate relationship. I didn't have to use my seam ripper once during this project until I got to the piping. Ugghhh. I am glad I only piped the arms and the cushions. Any more piping and I would have thrown the whole chair and the slipcover through my dining room window.

Here is the completed body of the slipcover. I was pretty happy with the body. I am so glad I did a prototype first. I really learned a lot and this second time around my seams met much smoother and whole body just looked more neat and clean.

I did not do a prototype for my cushions for several reasons. One - I didn't have enough drop cloth and two - I have sewn pillows and I thought sewing cushion covers would be similar. Well, I guess they would have been without that darn piping! Looking back I wish I would have done a prototype. I think if I had I would have decided to cut the size of my cushions down slightly before making my real slipcover.

Below is a picture with the top cushion. It's just fits a little too tight on the sides. I knew it was a tight fit when I cut the foam, but I thought the covers would pull the foam in a little making a perfect fit. I was wrong. My cushion looks much taller than the old one too. However I swear I traced the old cushion exactly so I don't know how that happened.

Here it is. Finally complete - both cushions piped, skirted hemmed, all done.

This is not a perfect slipcover, by any means. There are a lot of mistakes. A LOT. And if I look at some of the details up close I see all the imperfections. But if I stand back and look at the big picture I am pretty pleased. Especially considering this is my first slipcover and really my first big sewing project. Before this, I was the girl who sewed so infrequently that I had to get my manual out every time I hemmed a pair of pants to remind myself how to thread the machine. :)

The color of the fabric looks more pale in these pictures than it is in true life. At least on my computer.

If you are a first time slipcover maker and you decide to go with a patterned fabric, this is the one to go with. It's very forgiving when it comes to matching. I really didn't match up the pattern on any of my pieces and I don't feel like you can tell.

I am really happy with the back. I love the bows. I decided to go with this option because I thought it would make for a better fit and would be easier to take on and off when I have to wash it. And with a wild toddler in my home I definitely plan on washing it a lot.

The picture below is probably the most accurate, as far as color. Still not perfect, but better than the rest.

And just for fun....the before and after one more time. :)


Next slipcovering project......my couch! Wish me luck!

Linking up with Miss Mustard Seed, of course!!

Adventures in Slipcovering Part III - The Prototype

So....I have not revealed the fabric that I am using for my slipcover yet because I thought it would be a fun surprise. But I will say this - it was a custom order and it took quite a few calls and about a month to get a hold of it. Needless to say, if I mess it up (and the chances are high since this is my first slip) I would be really upset and it would not be easy to replace.

So, I spent $13 on a giant canvas drop cloth and went to town on a prototype to get some practice first! Here are pictures of the prototype progress.

I really can't continue this post without mentioning Marian from Miss Mustard Seed, for many reasons.
1) I don't think I would have been brave enough to start this project without her amazing slipcover "webinar" series she did (you can get it right on her website for free).
2) She gave me the awesome idea to try first with a cheapo canvas drop cloth.
3) I just think she is generally awesome. If you haven't checked out her blog then you are truly depriving yourself. Go check her out now! You won't regret it!

And just so you know I wasn't lying about my love for Miss Mustard Seed and her slip tutorial, here is a picture of my little set up. Chair in living room (so jealous of all of you with craft rooms), lap top with in viewing distance so I can watch above mentioned tutorials while I work.

Very beginning stages. All fabric is cut and the pinning is about to begin.

I skipped a lot of steps here because if I showed them all it would be a zillion pictures and my post would never compare to MMS's tutorial.

So instead I have skipped to this picture where I have sewn the top half of the slip - the back, the front, the arms and the sides. This is actually the first sewing project I have ever done that I actually enjoyed. I really did have fun with it.

Here is everything above plus I attached the seat to the rest.

And here is everything plus the front "apron" as she calls it. Don't mind that ugly floral pattern peeking through. That wasn't supposed to happen but I ran out of canvas drop cloth so that was as long as I could make it. My real slipcover will cover all of the floral - promise ;)

And here is it with the cushion pieces added on so you can see exactly which parts are going to show once the cushions are in place. I also didn't have enough canvas to cover the cushions, but I've done a lot of pillow sewing so I think I will be Ok on those without a prototype.

Overall I am really pleased with the finished prototype. It is not perfect by any means, but I am OK with that. And it's actually much better than I thought it would be so that is just icing on the cake!

What do you think? Are you excited to see what the real fabric will be? Have you ever used drop cloth for a slipcover before? Did you check out Miss Mustard Seed? Did you love her as much as I do??

Linking up with A Beach Cottage for Good Life Wednesdays
and with none other than

Do Not Try This At Home

No, seriously. Listen to the experts and only slipcover furniture with good cushions.

There is a word that comes to mind when I think of the project below, but it isn't fit to print so I'll refrain.

The first part wasn't too bad. I just traced an outline of the old cushions on my pieces of foam.

A few moments after this photo was taken, there was a double massacre of foam in my living room.

My mom recommended using a large serrated knife. It worked.......eventually. And with a lot of elbow grease involved. Foam is not as easy to cut as one would think. It was a painstakingly slow process.

If you would like your living room to look like a foam bomb went off, I suggest you try this project. :)

There was a lot of this going on. Me hiking my leg up on one side to hold the foam so I could cut with one hand and use the other hand to hold the piece I was cutting. A helper would have been nice, but I don't trust my 18 month old with large knives just yet.

Here's how they came out. Despite how annoying these were to cut, I feel like they came out pretty good considering I had no clue what I was doing.

I bet that Henckle Eversharp isn't quite as sharp anymore.

Anyone else ever worked with foam? Do you swear to never do it again?