Two garage attendants are talking about the svelte Mini Cooper Coupe I’ve just parked. One says he likes it, the other laughs.“Are you kidding? That’s a chick car.” The first man’s face falls.Slipcovers are a great way to revamp a chair or sofa without the cost and time of reupholstering or buying a new piece of furniture.
Changing the look of even just one chair in a room can have a big impact on the whole space. I like to have white slipcovers on hand for my chairs because they’re versatile and I can easily add to them.
If you are unable to sew your own solid-colored slipcover, hire someone else to do it or see whether you can find a slipcover for sale that would fit your furniture.
Here’s how to get started.
Gather:
•Plain slipcover
•Coordinating fabrics
•Scissors
•Pins
•Sewing needle
•Embroidery floss
•Sewing machine (optional)
Create:
1. Tie your slipcover onto a chair or sofa.
2. Cut circles, leaves or other shapes in different sizes out of your coordinating fabrics.
3. Pin the fabric shapes onto your slipcover, rearranging them until your layout is evenly spaced.
4. Untie the slipcover with pinned shapes and take it off the furniture.
5. Using a needle and thread or a sewing machine, sew ¼ inch in from the outer edges of fabric shapes. If you’re sewing by hand, use a simple over-and-under running stitch.
The edges may fray a little – this adds to the charm and one-of-a-kind look of your slipcover.
The fabrics I used on my chair are from my new linen collection, Sunshine, with Free Spirit Fabrics.
I sewed the shapes on by hand using brightly colored embroidery floss. That way, if I ever want to change my slipcover design in the future, I can easily cut the thread, pull the shapes off and start over with a new idea.
