This is a long post, get ready!. The whole cutting and sewing process only took about 2 hours, but prep work included buying the curtain then washing it in hot water and drying it in the dryer to make sure it wouldn't shrink down in future. I used a single curtain panel that was marked down to $9.99, and I had a $5 coupon to knock a few more bucks off the price. Ihis hot pink/purple color was not hanging up along with the others on display, but there were lots of packages sitting on the shelf behind the curtains -- it always pays to dig around a little.
Enough with the preliminaries -- let's talk slipper chair slipcover!
Here is the blue slipper chair I found on the loading dock. I took it because I like slipper chairs and this one looked wide and comfortable. When I found it there were only 3 working legs so I replaced the legs (described in another post). Laying over the back of the chair is my curtain panel, washed and ready for action.
I don't really like the look of those legs with the chair, so I planned for my cover to hang down almost to the ground. If your slipper chair cover doesn't need to cover the legs you can probably get away with using far less fabric.
Step 1. Measure pieces and draw lines on fabric for cutting and 'fake' seams.
Since the chalk lines are a little hard to see in the above photo I've added another photo with lines showing where my cuts (white lines) and fake seams (blue lines) were. I also tried to lay out my pieces to take advantage of the existing seams on the bottom and sides of the curtain. Oh, you've already done the hemming for me? Thank you!
Ok, what the heck is a fake seam? I realized that I didn't need to cut fabric only to re-attach it.
Instead I could just fold it and sew a line so that it would be symmetrical with the seam on the other side.
Since the fabric is one continuous piece I'm referring to it as a fake seam. There might be an official sewing term for this practice, if so, feel free to tell me in the comments.
Step 2. Cut (measure twice and don't forget about your seam allowance, cut once)
Here is what my large center piece looked like after the others were cut away.
Step 3. Sew the fake seam between the seat bottom and the seat back.
Afterwards it will look like this.
Step 4. Wrap around the uncut side bottom and pin to the seam bottom. The blue lines and arrows show placement of the fake seams - one horizontal between seat bottom and back, and one vertical at the front corner of the chair.
Step 5. Pin and sew the other side bottom. This will be an upside-down L-shaped seam, running along the front corner and then horizontal to the point where the seat bottom and back meet. I don't have a photo of this step, but here is a picture of what it should look like after the front and bottom side pieces are sewn together.
Side view.
Step 6. After your front seams are satisfactory you can pin on the 'tall sides' and sew them. On this chair moving from the bottom to the top the seam was first vertical, then slanted towards the back, and then gently curved across the top. Your slipper chair will likely be different.
I didn't get it sewn right on the first try, so don't worry if you have to rip out the seam and start again. That's why we have seam rippers. In my case some of the fabric got oddly bunched up near the curved top part of the seam.....sew beware!
Step 7. Add the back fabric. In my case I knew the chair back would be facing a wall, so it didn't matter what I used. Also I wanted to experiment with this beige microfiber fabric that I salvaged from a couch that was being discarded. The beige microsuede is heavier than the hot pink cotton curtain fabric but it seemed to work out fine. I overlapped the two pieces on the back so that the entire chair would be covered. I also considered adding some decorative ribbon for tying the back together but it wasn't necessary. The picture below shows the entire cover turned right-side-out and on the chair...in some really unflattering kitchen lighting.
Step 8. Move finished chair and cover out of ugly kitchen lighting and into the living room! Here are some snaps of the chair in its place of glory. I might still make a pillow with some of the leftover fabric, can you figure out a good way to incorporate curtain grommets into a pillow?
Styled with a wool pillow and a super-soft blanket....
Or with just a simple square pillow to play on its rather square-ish shape.
Living room seating area featuring two free chairs, a free chest of drawers, and some free framed artwork peeping down from the top.
That's the end of the DIY Slipper Chair Slipcover Tutorial, made using one curtain panel and some extra fabric I had laying around.
Happy Freestyling!