Slipcovers with Canvas Drop Cloths

Recently, my friend Jenny splurged on some new living room furniture--a couch and loveseat in the shabby chic style. But she didn't like the way her old leather chairs looked with the new furniture. The leather chairs were too sleek, dark and streamlined in comparison.

Right after they bought the new furniture, in the way that life often goes, Jenny's husband was laid off from his job. Now on a tight budget, she knew home decor projects were low on the list of priorities--but she hated the disconnect between the leather chairs and the new furniture.

After doing a little online research, Jenny came across this blog, about making slipcovers with painting drop cloths. She spent about $25 total on 3 packages of drop cloths, then went through the laborious process of washing and bleaching (it needs to soak in your washer for about 6 hours).

I made the slipcovers for her, with matching piping and skirted bottoms, to match her new furniture. We were both very pleased with the result. They brighten up the whole room and match her new furniture much better than the leather.

The canvas was pretty easy to work with, but it is a fairly loose weave and therefore frays easily. I overlocked all the seams to keep the fraying in check. It will be interesting to see how well it holds up over time. Jenny has 3 kids and 2 dogs. Coupled with the fact that Jenny is a fastidious housekeeper, she will probably be washing these slipcovers on a regular basis. Because Jenny was on a tight budget, and also since she's a close friend of mine and I didn't charge her very much for my labor, it made sense for her situation. However, overall, unless it's a DIY job, I'd recommend that people spend the money on higher quality fabric. You could still keep your budget fairly low, probably less than $100, and get some heavy duty cotton twill or white denim that would last a lot longer--and save you money in the long run.

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Victorian Chair Reupholstery Project

I was all geared up to do a tutorial on reupholstering three Victorian chairs, but after I finished the project and delivered the chairs to my customer, I realized that I had been woefully inadequate about documenting the process with my camera! So this will have to be more of a show-and-tell, rather than a true tutorial. Want to call me a lame blogger? Go ahead, I am.

I even forgot to take a good "before" photo, so you can't even see how they used to look. Pathetic. (Now you agree with me about the lame blogger thing, right?) But here's a picture of one of the chairs after I stripped it. It used to be have very old-fashioned gold velvet fabric, which can be glimpsed on the floor behind the chair.

Because these chairs were quite old and still had the original upholstery, the fabric was held on by tacks instead of staples. Tacks are NOT fun to remove, especially when trying to remove them without damaging the wood. Cabana's got her big old head in the photo. She's used to be the subject of 99% of my photos, so she doesn't realize she was actually in the way this time.

Speaking of tacks, here are the tools required for this project--a staple gun, staples, tack remover, and staple remover. I would like to invest in an electric staple gun someday, but for now, I just use a manual. It does the trick, and I'm not as worried about shooting staples into my fingers or eyeballs, or some other gruesome scenario. The tack remover can be purchased at Joann for just a few dollars. The staple remover is known in the reupholstery business as a Berry, which is actually the brand name, and is only sold through upholstery suppliers. Not pictured but also required for this project--a hot glue gun.

I applied gimp trim using the hot glue gun. It was surprisingly fast and easy, though it was the ONLY part of this project that was fast or easy. Initially, I tried to make a double welt cord instead of gimp trim, but it ended up being much too heavy and bulky for this project.

Here's a close up of the gimp trim. It covers up the tacks and raw edges. Pretty, huh?

And voila, here are the three finished chairs. At least I remembered the "after" photograph. My customer was pleased with them, and I was pleased to have them finished and out of my house! For a reupholstery project that required absolutely NO sewing, these chairs were more work than I had imagined. It was my first time working with chairs of this style, though, so next time, I'll know what to expect. AND I'll remember to take more photos of the process.

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