The story of the Ugly Chair.

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There once was an ugly chair that landed on the curb when our old neighbors moved out. The chair was ugly, dirty, and no one claimed him. He was destined for the dump. Enter ME. I spotted this ugly chair and seen potential in it's rounded back and lightly worn cushioning. I help the ugly chair make it's way to my front porch where he was scrubbed, vacuumed, and disinfected. Enter my husband, and his disbelief that I've brought home yet another curb side find.
I was determined to make this chair a little less ugly so that I could bring it in the house without catching too much grief. It remained on the porch covered with a sheet while I contemplated recovering it for weeks, but every upholstery tutorial I ran across looked complicated. Now Enter Trixie, our new puppy, who quickly became an "outside dog" after chewing up my favorite dress shoes. Trixie decided to pull the sheet off the chair and chew a big hole in it. *Sigh* As I was getting ready to throw away the sheet, I thought: Hey! I might as try to make a slip cover from this fabric. After all... if it was a project fail, I hadn't really wasted any supplies. So off I went... on a crafty slipcover adventure.
Wew! This project took so much longer than I planned. I had never made a slip cover, had no clue where to start, and the chair had an odd shape to pattern. I traced off each section of fabric from the chair and made my own pattern. I wanted the cover to fit kind of tight around the chair so I only left about an inch seam allowance... bad idea! 3 hours in to the project, just when I was seeing light at the end of the tunnel, I put the finished cover on the chair, just to see that it was too small! *sigh* I decided to split the cover down the center and add in some accent fabric. I love that Micheal Miller fabric and had enough in my stash to add an accent stripe as well as trim the T cushion and make a pillow. As for the back of the chair... I added a pleated panel that ties like a drape with coordinating ribbon from the accent pillow. Sorry there's no picture of the back of the chair. And just for those who are wondering why I choose the blue ribbon ties... it's hard to tell from the photos, but there is a touch of blue in the Micheal Miller fabric, and I'm also incorporating the blue in to some of my spring wall art. (=
The chair and cover looked a lot better before yesterday when Trixie struck again and managed to sneak inside the house to put her muddy little paws all over my new slip cover. *huff* I pulled the cover off and threw it in the washer. The fabric puckered at the seams when I washed it and I had to mend a few places. *Note: I recommended pre washing BOTH fabrics that you plan to slip cover with. SO you don't end up in a pickle when you wash your finished project.
Live and learn... so I've got a few puckers in my fabric... it's ok. I still think the "Ugly Chair" has a pretty good new life.
The chair is by no means perfect, and there are tons of projects out there that look a 100x better than this, but for a first attempt at slip covering, I'm proud of the results. AND... it just so happens that the new chair is one of the doubtful husband's favorite new spots. ( =

RIP Ugly Chair & Welcome my cute comfy chair. ( =

Have you ever made slip covers? How about re-upholstery projects?

I would love to see your projects. Link us up below: