DIY: How To Make a Chair Cover / Slip Cover Tutorial

Welcome!

Making chair covers/ slip covers  became popular in a recent year. It's an easy and relatively inexpensive way of changing decor. And it's not time consuming - it would probably take you about an hour to make one cover and cost $10 (one yard of fabric).  There are different ways to make slip cover, this one is pretty basic.

I would like to start my first tutorial with a little introduction. Like many of us, I dreamed of my own sewing studio. So this fall I started a big project of turning small room is our house into my studio (our daughter calls this room - attic...well, because it leads to an attic). My space needed chairs. And since I couldn't find exactly what I needed (on a budget), I've purchased basic dining room chairs and made covers for them. So let's begin.

After:

Before:

1. You are going to need one yard of fabric, I suggest investing in a good upholstery fabric.

2. Adding a cushion is optional. I suggest securing
cushion with ties:

3. Start with the backrest. Fold fabric over the backrest. On a wrong side of the fabric, pin backrest and back of the backrest together (it should be snug, but not to tight for you to take slip cover on and off).
On a back of the backrest measure a desired length (on a picture you can see it's kind of just hangs low, I did cut it shorter in a process), on a front - it should touch the seat but don't forget about seam allowance. Make seams on both sides. Iron.

4.  Have you ever made totes or bags? To make a beautiful corner on a top of the backrest, I did a simple "bottom of the bag"-like corner:

 Inside looking like this:

Outside looking like this:

5. Next - seat. Again, working with the wrong side of the fabric, pin a piece to form a seat. Don't forget seam allowance. Attach it to the back. Iron. ( I would like to stress the importance of ironing every seam as you go, one of my golden rules when I sew):

6. I consider this the most important and hardest part: attaching the piece that would go around the legs - the "skirt". Working on a wrong side of the fabric, pin "skirt" from one side of the backrest (remember, we left backrest length untouched) to another and all around the seat. Looking like this: 

7. Last step I consider the easiest: hem "skirt" and back. Double fold fabric all the way around and sew. If  "skirt" doesn't "hug" chair legs as snug as you would want, I suggest inserting elastic into the hem but very loosely, giving it just little stretch.

I hope my tutorial helped you in your project. I absolutely love my new chair, and made a second slip cover in a different fabric. 

My studio is still under construction...

Please, don't hesitate to ask any questions.