DIY Custom Slipcover

A couple of years ago, I found an ugly armchair at Goodwill for only $25!

Yessss, I thought to myself, it was in near perfect condition, didn't have any offensive odors, and it was a rocker! With a quick, white slipcover it would work wonderfully in the baby's nursery.

(The wall color is the same in both pics...funny how lighting changes things. Also, please excuse the chandelier chain hanging from the ceiling-our electrician is a flake and never returned to finish his job)

Only, for the past couple of years it has stood out like a sore thumb, uncovered, and maroon!

Back in my early days of sewing, I once attempted to make a slipcover and it was a complete nightmare. I wasted fabric, cursed, and threw the chair away!

I was sooooo nervous about trying again, but I have been sewing a lot lately, so I mustered up the courage, searched blog land for tips, and got to it.

The first part was actually the most fun for me. I loved the whole draping, cutting, and pinning process. It was like a huge fabric puzzle. A great piece of advice that I found online was to hand baste along my pins before heading to the sewing machine. This was super time consuming, but in my opinion, well worth it. I stabbed myself much less than usual :-)

Another time consuming step was making my own cording to sew into the seams. However, I really believe it makes the whole thing look much more professional. I didn't have enough fabric left over for the knife pleats to go around the entire chair, so I just did the front and about half of the sides. At first, this really bothered me, I felt like they had to go all of the way around the chair, but then I realized that it was my project and there was nothing that said it had to be any certain way.

Far from perfect, but I still LOVE it! Do you have any DIY slipcovers to share? Add a link in the comments, I would love to see them!

PS-I used my Joann's coupon and bought the light weight, white denim for my project. I'm linking up at Faded Charm's, White Wednesday!