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have you made slipcovers?

17 years ago

i have simplicity home pattern # 9529. just aquired (another) hand me down piece of furniture. great couch, but white leather - absolutely not my decor. looking for advice on slipcovering, please. thanks, mol in ri

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Comments (5)

kathi_mdgd
17 years ago
I've made some,but didn't use a commercial pattern.Just laid my fabric on the chair and marked around it,then cut out ,after adding a seam allowance.

I'd suggest you go to the library and check out"singer sewing for the Home book,the one with slipcovers in it.Or google making/sewing slipcovers. HTH
Kathi
pathfinder81601
17 years ago
I made slipcovers as a professional for 30 years and I would not advise slipcovering over leather or vinyl. First, it would be very difficult to make the slipcover. Second, it would be almost impossible to keep your slipcover in place after it is finished. It would be a shame to do all of that work and then have it slipping and sliding all of the time. Sorry to be a DebbieDowner, but that's my professional opinion. It takes about 20 yards of fabric to slipcover a sofa and I'd hate to see you use all of that fabric and then not be able to enjoy it. My advice would be to buy the cheapest readymade slipcover that you can find and try it out to see if you can live with the constant straightening of the cover. You can use those little corkscrew-like slipcover pins to help hold fabric in place, but they would likely tear the leather and make the problem worse. Could you sell that sofa and get one that's covered in a woven fabric? Or maybe trade it at a secondhand store? We bought several sofas and chairs for our home at Goodwill, slipcovered them, and everyone asks where we got them. Call someone in your area, a home dec store with inhouse seamstresses, and ask if they slipcover over leather! Probably not.
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Comments (17)
Prewash & dry the fabric a couple times, it can continue to shrink after just one time. When you iron the fabric try not to stretch it, i.e. don't iron across the bias. When I wash many yards of fabric I place the ironing board next to the bed so the excess can rest on the bed and not on the floor. Go with lighter weight fabric not heavy upholstery. If you have the time make a trial one first out of cheap muslin fabric before you proceed to more expensive fabric. For your first attempt at slipcovers maybe you shouldn't even attempt welting, that can make the layers so thick at the corners your machine may go out of alignment trying to sew it all together. I haven't made slipcovers but I've made quilted handbags with welting and it ruined my machine, even after service it's still not back to normal and I'll have to bring it back for more extensive and expensive repairs. You don't need to use a serger but you should at least overlock the seams with your sewing machine. I just had a pair of chair slipcovers made and the seamstress didn't use a serger or bother to overlock and the first time I washed it the seams unraveled something awful. I spent 2 hours angrily trimming them with scissors. Now I have to overlock it myself if I want to wash these again. The fabric (100% hemp) was heavy and prone to unravel. The other mistake she made was to make the slipcover too tight. I ripped seams trying to get it back on the chair. I hope you're comfortable sewing zippers too, a good slipcover will have a zipper. Nicole, your slipcovers look amazing! You must be an experience sewer. I'd like to try my hand at slipcovers one day but I think I'll start with an ottoman cover. ;-)
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Comments (10)
Of course, you should also pre-shrink your fabric before you cut it if you intend to wash the slipcover (and even if you don't then preshrink with steam.) I would never make a slipcover without this step even if I intended to dry-clean it for most of its life. Eventually, I know I'd want to wash it and still have it fit even at that late stage. Make sure any lining material that you plan to use (like for skirts or pleats) has the same, or less stringent fabric-care characteristics. Pre-shrink, or wash it, as well. I'd also wash scraps of both to discover if one, or more colors run. Regarding piping, if you are going to pipe the slipcover, I recommend removing the existing piping if there is some on the upholstery now. Two layers of piping can make the piece look odd, plus the under-layer bump tends to soil very easily. You can cut it off with a carefully-wielded mat knife. Piping is easy to make: particularly if you use bias strips of the fabric or contrast fabric. (Of course occasionally you can buy pre-made piping in a shade you'd like, but I haven't always been happy with it, quality-wise.) I always make a new, linen, tight cover for anything I'm going slipcover. This can serve as the model for the slipcover, or not, as you prefer. If you don't make a permanent cover of the muslin or linen, then keep it rolled up so the next time you can easily make another slipcover for this chair. Just write on every piece which item it is for, and which way the fabric grain should run. If the padding, webbing or upholstery need perking up, the time to do this is before you invest time in making the slipcover. I sometimes make twice as many seat cushion covers since I have pets and they aren't good at keeping off. Then alternate them in use to keep them looking roughly like the rest of the cover. If you can't manage zippers, you can buy gripper tape or use velcro, or in some cases ties. And keep in mind that slipcovers aren't supposed to look taut like upholstery. The look is usually slight loose. I always need to remind myself of this once I've finished a slipcover project as I am so critical of my own sewing. Oh, and if your fabric doesn't have a clear, undisputed overall pattern to it, do you self a favor and before you cut it run contrasting basting threads at intervals parallel to the selvedge so you never lose track of which way is with the grain and which would be a railroad placement. Try to look at a good book on slip covers before you plan your project. There are some "rules" about where to place design elements for a large pattern, like a floral, in relation to seat back, arms, seat, etc. It's worthwhile reviewing the "correct" options, even if you decide afterward to to do it another way. There are subtle things that we're used to seeing, some so subtle they don't occur to you unless you inadvertently do it wrong. Better to have that mental conversation with yourself before you pick up the...
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Not sure I understand "wholesale type store" but anyway their are good quality fabric dyes and poor quality fabric dyes and also the process in dyeing will make a difference. Most likely you got the latter. Theirs not much you can do, except try a little bit of bleach on an area of the slipcover thats not seen. Anytime you try to clean something with a cleaner you should always test in a inconspicuous place.
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Molly Adams
Original Author
17 years ago
kathy and pathfinder-thanks for good advice. i have been reading lots of books about slipcovering and have learned a lot. so glad to get professional advice about leather couch - i would have been terminally discouraged if i went to $$ and time of making a cover that won't work! great advice, i'm going to try to sell it and do something different. again, thanks a bunch.
pathfinder81601
17 years ago
Good decision, mollyjanea.

My dear favorite daughter-in-law has a huge hand-me-down sofa that she wanted slipcovered and I offered to make it for her at no charge. She went shopping for fabrics and the ones she liked were mostly in the $20 range, which is very reasonable.

It would have cost between $400 and $500 just for the fabric, not to mention the miles of weltcord, skirt lining, etc. She brought over the fabric samples that she collected and asked what I thought. I told her that I would pass the sofa on to someone else and just buy a brand new one. She seemed relieved to hear my reply. She wondered if I would be offended if she bought new furniture instead of having the slipcover made. I want her to have the best bang for her buck and that ruled out custom slipcovers.

If you had a woven fabric on your sofa and had a good source for inexpensive fabric, I'd say go with slipcovers. I wish you the best of luck. Whatever your outcome, I hope that you enjoy your finished product for many years to come.

And don't forget to protect with Scotchgard!
User
17 years ago
I can reupholster furniture and have done quite a few pieces. I have to admit, I'd rather have root canal than do it ever again, but that's me.

I can sew and have made a few slipcovers. Also not so much fun.

When my blue loveseat suddenly found itself living in a sage living room, I considered my options--reupholster, make slipcovers or replace. Hmmmm, not such delightful choices.

I decided to try a purchased slipcover from Pottery Barn. Brand new in the package from Ebay I thought I'd found the easy solution to my problem. That is, till I unfolded 400 yards of heavy fabric and started following the directions.

About an hour later, there we were (DH had to be recruited to help): tugging and tucking and referring back to the 2 sentence directions. No matter how much I adjust, tuck, fold, pull, buckle (yes, there are buckles, too), tie and readjust, it still looks like a laundry basket of clothing after someone sits down on it.

Am I doomed to attempt slipcovers from this massive piece of sage duck? Or, worse yet, reupholster? It makes me tired thinking about it.

Maybe I can live without a loveseat in the living room after all.

Yeah, that's it. Problem solved.

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