ok so i posted not to long ago about an iso for slipcovers.. and noted that i do have a sofa slipcover but i keep looking at it and its sooo frumpy looking ... its made for a more rounded sofa or one with actual shape

we have old furniture, very dated for that fact and the arms on the side are almost cushion level ... im not sure how to really bring them up nicely in order to make the slip cover work much better .... and NICER

im wondering if this is something that ill have to tackle myself since we are keeping this furniture and i really want to cover them up to make the living room look brighter, and nicer and more uptodate like everything else in it .....

is it hard? i see em sew them a lot on trading spaces ect... BUT im sure a lot is done off camera and there probably is a lot of swearing LOL or trouble with doing them??? im not looking for a piped edge or nothing just something simple .. EASY and will not fall apart at edges right away at least

im guessing these will be just as expensive to make as buying premade ones ....

my one thought of making higher arms was buying round foam pieces at joanns or something and getting just cheap muslin and making a wrap and stapling the fabric to the couch then over the foam and to the otherside of the couch in order to keep the foam in place and this may work to help with the slipcover fit?? anyone done that?? and it would add a somewhat pillow to the arms unlike what we have now ( hard lightly padded arm rest with solid wood in it )

i really cant afford to do much in this dept but i really want to do something

i get intimidated easily just so you know by sewing projects LOL the thought of doing this myself does intimidate me.... so any ideas thoughts are appreciated ;o)

id like to do this soon partially cuz my parents are coming down after caden is born and id just like to feel more proud of where i live and how we live ...

thanks

Jody, I amde one and it took about 3 hours one night. :)

I got 12 yds of upholstery chenille off of ebay for like $19.50 shipped. :) AWESOME deal. I also had 2 yds of a coordinating tapestry chenille to do one side of each of the cushions.

Basically, I wrapped the couch with the 12 yds of fabric. I used pins to mark where I was going to sew. Then I removed it from the couch, and sewed along the pins. I slipped it back on.

I think what mades a big difference in not looking frumpy is the fittedness of the cover - and also that the cushions are done separately. I just made covers for the cushions from the fabric and the coordinating fabric. It was pretty simple, just laid the old covers on top of the new fabric and cut them out.

HTH!

did you use zippers on new cushion covers? lol im intimidated by thought of sewing zippers ... i use velcro whenever possible LOL and i didnt think of doing individual covers for cushions but i can see where that would look a lot nicer

right now the one slipcover i got at a yardsale for $5.00 looks like a huge sheet stuffed into corners and its just sad looking LOLthough i love that i dont see the 'old' fabric ... it looks messy with it being so big looking and the messy appearence kinda is a turn off ...

our sofa like i noted has low arm sides, and it sits lower i think then most sofas so the front also puddles a lil on the floor ... i think overall it would look a lot nicer for a more custom look

thinking maybe a fold over type cover could work and would require no zipper and no velcro LOL kinda like a pillow sham with it meeting in the back slightly overlapping? lol

im so pityful

I did use zippers... the ones from the old covers! lol I removed them and applied them to the new cover like they were done on the old one. It really wasn't all that hard. Just stright stitches - and the zippers will be at the back of the couch anyways, so it's not like it will be seen. ;)

You can do it!

off hand since you are the only one thats responded....

is your 12yds what it took for a sofa?? im searching ebay for deals and all i want are natural colors but i cant find a good deal like you did darnit

not sure how to estimate how much each would take

3 cushion sofa
2 cushion loveseat
1 cushion chair obviously lol

is there a site that you know of off hand that could help determine yardage??

My Hancock's had a chart with pictures to estimate yardage. You might also look at www.phoenixtextiles.com I think I saw a yardage estimator there... maybe under the home dec area?

My couch is 74" long.

I did get an awesome deal. TKME4ARD, Angela, got like 15 yds for $30 from the same seller. I wish I could remember his username. Doa search for upholstery chenille and look for some of the sellers. You might find a bunch if you look in their stores.

OR... sometimes JoAnn's and Hancock's have 40-50% off decorator fabrics. you might be able to find something for about $10-$12/yd and then use the discount... still more, but better than $10-$12 a yard!

Oh, and make sure when you wrap the furniture, you wrap the right side of the fabric TWARDS the couch, so the pinns are in the wrong side of hte fabric. :) I had half of mine pinned and realized I had done it backwards! lol