Slipcover Progress + tips

Last night my husband was on call, so I took the opportunity to watch a girl movie and destroy the living room with my slipcover project. I thought I was going to hate this project. I was 90% sure it would involve tears (not to count my chickens, still could). But so far so good. I finished one of the arms/wing.

One tip I have learned so far is to go by the seams and pleats that the chair already has. I had plans to delete the little pleats on the wing to give it a more modern look, but once I pinned everything on there I realized it was not happening.

I plan on attempting to add Velcro to the underside of the slipcover and face of the chair to get the underside of the arm to cling tightly to the chair. In this photo I have it loosely pinned. I think I am going to re-do the front face of the arm and add piping. See the original piping showing through? I didn't really hit right on the old seam line and that is bugging me.

Here was the key to getting the pieces to fit correctly before I sewed them.

There were about 3 or 4 versions of each of these before I got the right shape. I used some left over drapery liner, but I think most people use muslin for a template. I have seen a few tutorials where they use their finish fabric right from the get go. I would have had some major issues if I would have gone that route (tears).

And lastly, this is how I figured out how much fabric to order and how to cut it once it got here.

I measured each panel of the chair, according to how the existing pieces were broken up, and rounded everything off into a rectangle. Most of the Internet sites say that wing chairs take 7 yards to cover. I am doing it in 5. I am using white cotton duck. I got 5 yards for $34 after using one of these coupons, which is way cheaper than a store bought slipcover. I reasearched what was best to use for slipcovers and everything was pretty much cotton duck or denim. I opted for the duck, but I am not loving the wrinkle factor. Hopefully I can give them a good iron and starch when I'm finished to clean them up a bit.

This is the most planning I have ever done for a sewing. I am determined to not let this one go into my long list of failed project.

Hope you had a nice weekend!