Furniture Fixer: Why Upholster? Slipcover!

Please welcome new BackGarage guest poster Carolynne Reina. Carolynne will be writing and inspiring us on DIY fixes for your furnishings in her column Furniture Fixer.  You can read her full bio at the end of this post.

Have a chair that’s looking a little sad?  Maybe the cat got at it, or maybe Great Aunt Matilda bequeathed her prized chair to you – except her decorating scheme involved lots of mauve chintz with a giant rainbow-colored peony pattern?  Fear not: you can do something about it!

Except what to do?  Reupholstering can be expensive — to have a professional strip a frame and rebuild can cost you as much, if not more, than buying a new chair, especially if the chair wasn’t worth much to begin with.

Enter the savior of the decorating world: the slipcover.  Slipcovers are awesome for many reasons:

• You can rescue any chair if the frame of the chair is in good condition (not loose or saggy or uncomfortable to sit in) without the expense of reupholstering.
• They are easily removed for machine washing or dry cleaning (depends on the fabric selected, of course).
• You can do multiple looks with one piece of furniture. Want a summer look and a winter look in one room?  Use multiple slipcovers. You could even have one for each month! (Okay, maybe not – you don’t want to run the risk of having “theme furniture” like some people have “theme sweaters.”)

The chair above is a desk chair that a client did not want to invest in reupholstering.  But the frame was solid, so instead of discarding her chair she chose a fabric that matched her room and created a slipcover.  (Hot tip: By making a short skirt rather than one that skimmed the floor, we were able to paint the legs to match her desk AND we kept it from looking like a restaurant dining room chair.)

If you decide to rescue a piece of furniture with a slipcover, avoid those prepackaged covers you find for $50 in Target.  They’re generic — designed to wrap almost any sofa or chair design — so they end up looking sloppy, either with too much fabric around the arms or not enough around the back.

If you want a slipcover you should go one of two ways:

• Make it yourself.  If you are handy with a sewing machine, making fitted slipcovers are very much like dressmaking.  (So don’t attempt this route if you are a novice!)

• Hire someone.  Again, not every upholsterer can make a slipcover and make it look good.  Do research first: can they show you examples of past work or give references of past clients?  Look to see if stitching is sloppy or if the pattern matches at the seams or not.  Detail is key — don’t get overcharged for sloppy work.

If you’re interested in creating your own slipcovers and need to go from a beginner to a pro, consider classes at a place like The Needle Shop where you can learn basic sewing and upholstery techniques.  In the end you’ll save yourself money and some of your favorite furniture.

Good luck and happy slipcovering!

Carolynne Reina is a Chicago-based, alley scouring, dumpster-diving, vintage furniture fanatic who writes about faux finishes, repair & restoration in her spare time. Read her blog at Madcap-Design.Blogspot.Com.