Thanks! I have tried to find ready made ones! But each couch has one cushion that is 74 inches long and I think 29 inches deep. Then the back pillows are actually wedge shaped. They're not standard sizes.

I was quoted about 180 for each couch with the welting, and 75 for the chair, so add in almost 200 for fabric and that's 635 dollars. I actually saw a sofa and a loveseat for LESS than that at Value City Furniture (which will probably fall apart...but). Or I could go the IKEA route or I saw a slipcovered couch on JC Penny for 399.

It's for a little beach house, so I doesn't have to be fabulous quality. But I thought I could do this really cheaply and they would be cool too. Now I'm kind of doubting it.

I have a question (sorry for the hijack - back to the OP in a second) - WHY does welting have to be cut on the bias? I am looking to make some cushion covers and was hoping to make welting for them, but am wondering about the reason for cutting on the bias. The fabric I have is a quilted velvet and if I cut on the bias, the quilting's going to look weird. Just wondering....

OK, back to the OP. I think you should just go for it. Upholstery weight is probably wider and may be a little sturdier too. But you could probably get away with the apparel weight as well - may be best, since it's less up front investment if you're not happy with the finished product. I will say that a friend of mine recently recovered her $1 flea-market couch - like yours, it was a midcentury thing with big long basic cushions. She had never sewn before but dove right in, and while the finished product is less-than-professional, it's more than adequate for her basement rec room and she's very proud of it (as she should be - it looks a million times better than before she recovered). So I say just go for it. You can always pay to have them recovered later if you want (and BTW, your couch is probably much better quality than the JCP/Ikea/Value City stuff and will be worth recovering again long after those have gone to the dumpster).

Good luck!

Welting is cut on the bias so that it's flexible enough to go around corners. You'll need to go around the corners of the cushion with one long piece of welting. You cut bias strips and sew them together.. then assemble it with the cording. There are techniques for doing this that make it easier.

If you've never slipcovered, it's not rocket science, but like any skill, takes practice. You can certainly find a how-to book at your local library. One that I've used is "Make it with Style: Slipcovers".

Good luck with your project.

I agree, welting is cut on the bias for flexibility , but it will also wear better. Years ago my mom made slip covers out of denim, and I'm sure it was apparel weight. Think about the knees of children's jeans and picture that on the slipcovers. I would use upholstery weight.

I once reupholstered a sofa with apparel weight blue jean denim. It held up very well.

Just remember you should wash & dry it before cutting. (I actually threw the yardage into our pool (low chlorine day) to get the excess blue dye out of it.

Denim furniture is comfortable, but it does wear and soften like jeans. If one section is sat on more often, it will 'wear' in that area.

So, I decided not to do denim and not to do the project myself! :) I think I'm going to go with these sun n shade fabrics from waverly.

For the sofas

For the chair

I had originally wanted to go with blue, but I was really taken with the yellow and the green together. I still might change my mind. All of the bright colors are gorgeous.

I am going to mix and match the yellow and green on the sofas-doing one side in yellow and one in green and two wedge cushions in yellow and two in green. My walls will be white.

I think it will be worth the money to have it done right and it should be very bold and POP!

I'm just not sure what color to do the cording. Yellow? Green? White? Blue?

I think you'll be happy you had someone else make the slipcovers! It's alot of work, and I've found doing a tough project like that is fun when doing one, but when you have to then go and make another sofa and then a chair, it loses it's fun quotient quickly!

Those are some bright colors and your plan sounds like they'll be alot of fun.

Have you thought about doing a duck cloth or off white slipcover? You can easily wash them if they get dirty and then use the bright green and yellow colors for pillows or get a bright area rug? Then if you get tired of the yellow/green you can get new pillows in whatever color appeals to you at the time.

Just another idea to throw into the kettle!

LOL. I think maybe you think they're too bright? :)

I did consider that, but the wood is dark and the style is very modern. I should take a picture, but they're sitting in the garage. I think the light colors will pop with the dark wood and then I don't have to paint the wood, which I really don't want to do.

My inspiration is this woman:
http://www.janecoslick.com/designs2.html

...who does these super bright little cottages with all white walls.

It's true...if I get sick of those colors I'm kind of stuck. But on the other hand if I'm going to pay for the custom recovering I kind of want them to be totally fabulous and crazy.

Well, I'm a fairly conservative decorator, so please don't take my opinion as gospel!

But, if you look at her website, she has a lot of white to balance out her bright colors. I did see the denmin sofa with the wild patterned pillows - I really liked that.

But what is cool about her designs is she uses alot of different colors but ones that coordinate well. If you had a print like she has done for the one chair on her website - a really kooky print for your chair and then used bright colors for the sofas that would work. Or, do the sofas in white or the denim and pick a crazy beach patterned fabric for the chair and and use a stripe or another print for pillows.