It’s been a minute since I had my sewing machines out.  I had to reacquaint myself with winding the bobbins and getting the needles properly threaded, but I slowly figured it out.  The funny thing is that I needed to wear reading glasses over my contacts to thread the needles this time.  As an aside, I started writing this blog when I was in my early thirties and both of my boys were in diapers.  Now, they are in college, I’m wearing readers to thread a sewing machine, and I just noticed streaks of white in my blonde hair around my temples a few months ago.  How did all of this happen?  Oi, back to sewing.

It was my parents getting new chairs for the living room that kicked off this sewing project.  The chairs they were replacing were still in great condition, but they were ready for a refresh.  We would put their old recliner in the basement to round out a seating area we’re planning to have down there at some point.  The smaller wing chair recliner would go to Jeff’s office.  The comfy wingback with a reclining back and matching ottoman would go into our living room.  It was much more comfortable than the secondhand recliner I bought on Facebook Marketplace and slipcovered a few years ago.  It was a nice chair, but there was something wrong with the mechanism, so you’d have to hold it in just the right spot, or it would close.

It’s really silly to have a chair like that in the main sitting area of your house, but it was passable, and I’d spent a lot of time and effort to make a custom slipcover for it, so I wasn’t eager to replace it.  (You can read about that slipcover project HERE.)

The chair my parents gave us was burgundy, and when Marshall (my oldest) saw it in the room, he said, “You’re going to cover that, right?  It doesn’t really match.”  Oh, how well he knows me!  I still have plenty of hemp sheets on hand to make a cover for it, but I felt like it needed fabric with a pattern and bit more structure.  I started ordering fabric samples while I pondered how I would make the slipcover.  It was going to be tricky because of the reclining back and the overall shape of the chair.  It’s a little more overstuffed than chairs I usually select, but it’s also what makes it more comfortable!

I ordered several different samples, but immediately fell in love with THIS woven jacquard fabric by Lisa Teal.  The colors are spot on, and the pattern, to me, looks German-ish.  It was going to be a challenge to work in a stripe, though, and make a slipcover with a thick upholstery fabric.  Those elements would either work to my advantage and make the cover look sharp and professional, or they would be my undoing.

I ordered ten yards, which would be enough to cover the chair and ottoman and, hopefully, eek out a couple of matching pillows.

Here’s your first look at the chair.  I didn’t take an official “before” picture of it, but it’s a slipcover, so I’ll probably remove it, backtrack, and take the before picture as a comparison.  The chair has a traditional shape to it with the wings, but the overstuffed pillow back makes it a little frumpy.  Again, that is what makes it comfortable.  My hope is that the cover and a quilt folded over the back will camouflage that detail.

My mom and Rosa Jo came over Saturday afternoon to help.  My mom’s presence is always a good motivator for me to make a big dent in a project like this.  She irons, trims threads, and sews easy, straight seams.  I take care of the cutting, construction, pinning, and sewing that involves curves and multiple seams coming together.

The stripes were a challenge and I questioned my choice several times as I worked on getting everything lined up.

I have to make a little comment about Rosa Jo.  First of all, my mom absolutely loves her.  She kept telling her how sweet and smart and good she is.  I’m so happy my mom has such a perfect sidekick after the loss of Sebastian.  Second, she does so well at my house now.  We’ve reached the point where we’re not worried about her eating the cats or the cats taking her eye out.  She settled in as we worked, making herself right at home.

Mom and I were able to get the cushion and the bottom half of the cover mostly finished on Saturday until I ran out of steam.  I got to a point when I knew I was going to do poor work if I continued, so we cleaned up and called it done for the day. I worked on the top half and back of the chair Sunday afternoon, and it’s now about 95% done.

I have left some of the seams around the bottom of the wings and where the seat and back meet unfinished because, honestly, I’m not sure how to finish them off.  I just tucked them in for now, and I’ll watch how the fabric reacts as we sit on it and recline the back.  I might end up stapling some of the fabric in place, hemming the edges so they don’t fray, or adding ties or Velcro to hold them in place.  It’s definitely the trickiest slipcover project I’ve ever worked on.  But, after upholstering a tufted sofa (you can read about that HERE), I learned that I can do hard things.

I’ve also learned after working on hundreds and hundreds of pieces of furniture, including slipcover and upholster projects, that I can work on a piece slowly, in my own time, and let it evolve as I puzzle it out.

I still need to make a simple slipcover for the ottoman, which should be easy, so the machines and sewing mess are still out while I decide what to do.

The fabric came in a 55″ width, which is shorter than typical decorator-width fabric, so I’m guessing I’ll need to order a couple more yards to make pillows. As I added up the cost of the fabric and the emotional toll of slipcovering an old recliner that has me a little stumped, I wondered why I didn’t just buy a new chair.  Of course, I am still saving quite a bit of money, but I know that this is just what I do.  I like putting my creative stamp on things that are in my orbit.  This chair has come into my orbit, so it gets the Miss Mustard Seed treatment.

I’ll share the reveal soon…

If you’re interested in making a slipcover, I suggest starting with a non-moving piece of furniture.  You can find my five-part video slipcover tutorial series for beginners HERE.  (The link is for part 5, and you can find parts 1 – 4 linked in the post.)  You can find more upholstery, slipcover, and sewing tutorials HERE.