I would like to preface this post by saying that this is indeed a shanty slipcover.  That’s how I roll.  So… For those of you that are here to learn the “professional” way you can just read this for your own humor 🙂

I showed you guys my brown corduroy rocker that I slipcovered for Ellyot’s room.  Here is a quick reminder…

My cute brown chair started green.  This was an awesome gift from my in-laws who weren’t using it anymore.  I gladly took it off their hands.

I kept it green for a long time.  I decided that when I had the money I would have it recovered.  Then I had an epiphany one day (late in my pregnancy when the nesting began).

I decided that if I could make the slipcover decent from an old sheet, I could then rip the seams and use it as a pattern.

I started with an old sheet.  I wanted minimal sewing so I tried draping the fabric in a way that kept as few seems as possible.  Once I found a good fit, I would take a pencil and mark where I would cut.  I actually cut the fabric most times while it was still on the chair.

This is where I cut the arms and attached them to the back and bottom of the seat.  I did a my longest straight stitch on all my seams so I could easily rip them.

And the front part of the arms…

I pinned these on and penciled where I wanted my stitch line to be.  I also used the pencil to write the location of each piece.  I knew when I ripped it all apart I would be lost trying to figure out where things went back.

Each time I would need to make a seem I would take the whole cover off, make the seam and then put it back on the chair.  If it was a bit janky, I would pull it off and fix my stitches.  I knew if I did this to the sheet I would have a much better outcome with the final cover.

I finished both of my arms and started on the back.

I pinned a large part of the sheet to the back of the chair and marked all my stitches with a pencil.

 

 

Now I was ready to rip and cut my corduroy.  I made sure my lines were going in the right direction.  I just did it in the same order I made the pattern.  Here are the arms.

For the arms I wanted to make a thick piping to add in my seams.  Piping is super easy to make.  Most machines come with a foot to make it and if you can straight stitch… You can make piping! 🙂

You just cut strips of fabric to cover filler cord.  I made my piping…

And sewed it into the seam of the arms.  This part isn’t hard but time consuming for sure.  You have to be precise which isn’t exactly my forte.

That was my very basic how-to.  After I pieced all the pieces together, I added a small skirt by measuring and then covered the cushion.

My very final step was to bust out the hot glue gun.  I knew I wouldn’t be using the green fabric ever again so I wasn’t afraid to mess it up a bit.  I also know that hot glue covers a world of mistakes so I got to gluing.  Anywhere I saw that wasn’t perfect got a dab of glue and you can’t even tell.  And, it’s held up perfectly.  I have three kids that like to use it as a trampoline and that glue has held up to even that 🙂 Don’t knock it ’til you try it!

Hope this was at least a little help!  I know it’s not totally descriptive but again… That’s how I roll!

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11 Comments

  1. SO DARN CUTE! You are really talented to have done this all yourself! I’m not brave to even attempt something like this. I love the corduroy!