About 2-3 years ago, as part of the ongoing effort to adult-ize our furniture situation we got a pair of inexpensive Tullsta armchairs from IKEA during a sale:
I chose this one specifically because you can buy different coloured, fitted slipcovers for it. Not that I wanted to use the IKEA slipcovers, but getting one and picking it apart gave me a ready-made pattern to make my own.
I bought fabric and even cut the slipcovers out shortly thereafter.
And then it all sat in a bag until this past spring. I had been meaning to make them up numerous times, but never had anything I quite liked enough for piping – which I knew I really wanted to do. However, this past spring I realized I finally had just the thing – the leftover fabric from making the piping for my loveseat slipcover!
We were also having a houseguest for a weekend in…..was it May? and that made it seem like the perfect time to finally get these done. Here’s the result:
The most serendipitous part of this is that the fabric colour – chosen 3 or so years ago for a completely different room – works really well with the colouring of our current sitting room/parlour/drawing room (seriously, I’m convinced this rooms was used as an actual “withdrawing room” in the evenings back when the house was built in 1908; there are pocket doors in the doorway behind the chairs in the above photo).
A couple details:
There’s a zipper in that piped vertical seam
And I decided to finish the bottom edges with elastic so they’d hug the bottoms of the chairs. I really didn’t feel like making a skirt-type-thing.
I also made contrast/co-ordinating cushion covers that I just love! The below photo is of the back of one of them – I spent a ridiculous amount of time working out the pattern matching of the side of the cushion you don’t see. Everyone has their little OCD quirks, right??
What’s kinda funny is the we’ve since got another loveseat-type-piece that’s actually now where the chairs were – and it’s in a print that’s similar to the cushion covers!
Do you do home décor sewing or are you all about the clothes?
The Modern Mantua-Maker 
Marvellous!! Just unpicking old covers to create a template for cushions for a wicker outdoor setting. Perfect post with spooky perfect timing:)
PS Totally different topic but thought you might adore this piece. It describes an eccentric american Dennis Severs who rescued a Georgian house and his legacy lies on today in this house which is a museum.
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Thanks for sharing these videos! I’d heard about this house – and actually passed by it once while in London for several months in 2012/13 – and kind of wanted to check it out, but didn’t understand how it worked or how to actually get into it, lol. It’s a bit of an odd idea but quite an interesting one! Perhaps I’ll try harder to see it when I’m next in London (whenever that is!). Thanks again!
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It’s fun to see other people’s home dec projects! The slip covers look great and are a lovely color. I can totally relate to the OCD pattern matching where no one can see it… 🙂
Best,
Quinn
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Thank you! I like seeing other people’s home dec projects too – and often like to steal their ideas! Lol
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I do home dec under duress, and it surely shows. I do lovely pillows (with piping and that pattern matching across the button-back) for my sister, but officially no, I’d prefer not to. I had a pal whose mother was the JC Penney’s curtain lady for years, and she didn’t sew a damn thing for anyone she didn’t get paid for (including her children). She had some hair raising work stories that made me realize that is a job I never want. Sewing wedding dresses would be easier.
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Oh lord, yes, having been in the wedding dress business in the past and also more tangentially involved with home dec sewing I can just imagine! I only *very* occasionally do *any* sewing for other people (I’m an unabashedly selfish sewist!), home décor included.
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I’ve done a slip cover for a chair before, a lot of pinfitting for mine though and the fastening is velcro. It worked though, that’s the main thing!
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That it works absolutely is the main thing, well done! I’ve usually done pin-fitting for slipcovers myself, not that I’ve done so very many of them in the past. It is quite handy having a pattern, though, so that I can make more in the future. My goal is to eventually have a set for each season! (Whether that actually ever materializes is a whole other story, lol).
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Ok so I’m 5
Yes late on your post… but I have to ask… do you have a diy slipcover tutorial on the loveseat?? I have the same. Exact. One! Mine is navy blue with nail-heads around the front of arms and apron. Would love to do this instead of attempting to reupholster. Your sofa looks amazing! As do the chairs. I was originally searching for a diy slipcover for my tub chair but now I want to do it all! I bought the loveseat at a thrift store for $40. So exciting!!! Thanks:)
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