Chair slipcovers

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Felinessa
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Chair slipcovers

Post by Felinessa »

I just bought a great antique-looking kitchen table with 5 chairs. I love the set, but I don't like the chair pads, so I've been shopping around for slipcovers. The problem is that I only want seat slipcovers, not the whole shebang, and the ones I found online are whole covers and pretty expensive (35 bucks and up for one, which is out of grad student price range :wah:).

Does anyone know how to make a set without a sewing machine? Where could I find patterns that would involve just cutting the fabric and making little strings to tie around the legs?
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Rapunzel
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Chair slipcovers

Post by Rapunzel »

Wow . . . I've just read your profile and your interests and music taste are VERY similar to mine - although you wrote it better! :p hehehe ;)

For your chairs you could either just buy new seatcovers or find a length of material the width of the chairs and drape it from the back feet, up and over the chair top, down to the seat, across the seat and down to the floor at the front. Then get a piece of light material such as taffeta or voile and tie it around the chair, just above the seat and make a huge fancy bow at the back of the chair.

You could even use different materials on each chair for an eclectic look! ;)

Let me ask Jeeves for some pics! :)
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Rapunzel
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Chair slipcovers

Post by Rapunzel »

This kind of thing:



These are a bit weddingy but you get the idea! And you could use coloured/patterned material instead of white. And brightly coloured organza bows.

Just a thought anyway. Hope it helps! :D
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Felinessa
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Chair slipcovers

Post by Felinessa »

Lol, I love Harry Potter too :p

You have an excellent idea there for whole chair covers. I think I might try it for Christmas!!

But the ones I'm hunting for would cover just the seat, because I like the wood of the frame. This is what I'm imagining (I hope the file attaches).

Attached files
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valerie
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Chair slipcovers

Post by valerie »

Turn your chairs over. There will probably be four places where there

are screws holding the seat on. Undo it and you can put new material

over and stretch tight and attach to the bottom with staples. If you

don't have one already, you might be able to borrow one or they aren't

too terribly expensive. (ACK I mean staple gun!!)



A lot of fabric stores have especially nice upholstery fabric. I've done

this several times with excellent results and even did the piano

bench.



You might check out Martha Stewart's website and do a search, I'm sure

I've seen her do a demo on it before.



It's really easier than it sounds, you have to make small tucks around

corners but I didn't know anything about it the first time I did one and it

came out fine.



:-6
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valerie
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Chair slipcovers

Post by valerie »

Forgot to add: Depending on the condition of the padding in your

chairs you might want to replace that, too, and can be done at the

same time. The fabric store will have the foam padding and you place

it against the backing and put the new fabric over and staple and

voila! :p



Nobody will see the bottom of your dining room chairs (unless you invite

Nomie the mad vacuumer over ;) ) but if you want, you can take

another piece of fabric (muslin is fine) hem it (iron on seam binding will

do) and then glue over the top to hide the staples.



Sheesh maybe I should do a video of my own...



:D
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Felinessa
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Chair slipcovers

Post by Felinessa »

Excellent ideas. Thank you so all much. I'm contemplating asking someone to make them for me because, even if it sounds simple, I'm hopeless at making things myself :wah:
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Nomad
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Chair slipcovers

Post by Nomad »

valerie wrote: Turn your chairs over. There will probably be four places where there

are screws holding the seat on. Undo it and you can put new material

over and stretch tight and attach to the bottom with staples. If you

don't have one already, you might be able to borrow one or they aren't

too terribly expensive. (ACK I mean staple gun!!)



A lot of fabric stores have especially nice upholstery fabric. I've done

this several times with excellent results and even did the piano

bench.



You might check out Martha Stewart's website and do a search, I'm sure

I've seen her do a demo on it before.



It's really easier than it sounds, you have to make small tucks around

corners but I didn't know anything about it the first time I did one and it

came out fine.



:-6






Martha Stewart is a criminal Val. Why spread that evil seed ?
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Crème brûlée
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Chair slipcovers

Post by Crème brûlée »

Felinessa wrote: Excellent ideas. Thank you so all much. I'm contemplating asking someone to make them for me because, even if it sounds simple, I'm hopeless at making things myself :wah:


It is pretty easy, infact it is kind of fun. I have done this twice and the little tucks and everything do not make that big of deal because you will find yourself working with it to make it work. You may want to get material that doesn't have a particular pattern to match up, keep it simple and have fun with it. (play your music):-6

Good luck, now get busy!
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