Slipcovered Chairs

{Otherwise titled, “The Patience-Building Project”…}

Let me introduce you to our Red Chairs.

There they are, all ready to be a part of the Summer Living Room Makeover (part 1 is here).

They were my grandparents’ and were given to us after they passed away.  To say they have great meaning to me is an understatement.  They originally were harvest gold velvet.  Then my grandma had them reupholstered dusty rose.  A few years ago, we had them reupholstered red.  I know.  What was I thinking??!  Although I really do like red, they are a bit bold…  I can only blame myself…:)

I thought that perhaps I could pull off the red and blue if I could find some fabric to tie them together.  Alas, I found no fabric that turned my crank…

So…I thought I’d quickly sew some simple slipcovers.  {Silly. Silly. Me. Remember, I’m not much of a seamstress!}

I wish I could give you a super easy breezy tutorial…but I can’t.  I didn’t find it easy.  Or breezy.

I pinned.

I cut.  I prayed.  I sewed.  I ran out of thread.  I ran out of pins.  I ripped.   I sewed again.  Til finally, it was done.

Then I needed to do the second one…

And finally…they’re both done!  Hallelujah!

Here they are again, before…

And here they are now (with the table that was also my grandparents’)…

***

Funny thing.

Last night…after I was all finished,  I discovered something…

I was perusing Miss Mustard Seed’s blog.   {One of my most favorite inspirational blogs.}.  As I clicked on an archive of older posts, I discovered this…

Oh…so beautiful!  And right beside it I was a whole series of tutorials on slipcovering!

Now, why didn’t I see that 2 weeks ago???

***

If you are contemplating slipcovering, I’d say…, “go for it!”  ~  Here’s a few of my {novice} tips…

1.  Make sure you have enough pins.  {12 is not enough!}

2.  Make sure your fabric scissors still cut fabric.  {Mine don’t.  My substitute sharp ones are teeny tiny.  They were a pain to use in this situation…}

3.  Read the tutorials first!  tee hee.

4.  I used washed and dried painters drop cloth and some fabric I had leftover from a project years ago.  Using not-very-expensive fabric for my first project made me a bit braver.

5.  I was so scared to actually cut the fabric for fear I would cut it wrong.  Eventually, just take a deep breath and cut.  It will be o.k.

6.  My favorite part was those pleaty ruffle things!  I just love making those…

7.  Most important!!!  Put your patience on!  If you aren’t trying to rush yourself (like I was…), it will probably be a lot more fun.

Now that it’s all said and done, I’m glad I did it.  However, on a rainy day this winter, I’d like to redo the cushion covers with piping.

Of course, I’ll be reading the tutorial first!

Linking to:  Home Stories from A to Z, Simply Designing, My Junk Drawer