Join Me

Share your slipcover embellishments. What have you done new this year ?

I will be blogging my own efforts, quilting, painting, crazy seam placement, underwear done weirder than ever.

You got pictures ? Let's get them together in one place. slipcoverlady@juno.com

Anything will work here. Let's have some fun while business is slow anyway.

Slipcover Summit 2009

group on Thursday

Frank helped out while Mara was recovering

Home Decor Sewing Week

Living in the Northwest or want to plan a trip to the Northwest? It's Home Decor Sewing Week at Home Fashions U NW July 24th - 29th in Everett Washington.

click here for classes

Judit and I ...

...have been busy inventing and documenting strange cushions. Mouse over the post title, this is a link to the Cushion How To Blog which this week features a photo series instructions for the cushion pictured at left.

This pair of cushions made from scratch replaces attached backs on a rounded back sofa. Judit and I have been making photo instructional series of this and other peculiar cushions.

Invitations to Cushion How To blog available for the asking slipcoverlady@juno.com This is a continuing series, free to all who wish to visit.

I would enjoy teaching those things I have learned most recently at the Summit next year. This weeks featured cushion, the segmented and hinged cushion more reliably stands tall with the assistance of some hidden pellon bucram.

So much easier of course to cover a loose cushion than an attached back when slipcovering, but once we pulled the existing cushion out of the attached back upholstery casing it refused to stand tall and bend as required.

Look for zippers in your attached cushions, just pull the cushion out and cover it separately...that usually works without this fancy solution. This solution was about bending into the curve of the rounded back.

Using up scrap foam and playing with strange ideas for cushions which solve unusual problems, many of those are bendables. More exciting Cushion How To photos series to come !

learning new things

Having some fun today, remembering old jobs while I get new photos to update my website. Downloaded Picasa, trying to assemble folders ( for the first time ) and add descriptions to pictures. Have lots of new jobs going on, and a better camera to make them look good.

My hips are done and working perfectly again, can I brag that I feel 45 ? Does that sound right ? ( Ha ). Looking forward to challenging work and being as busy as I can be. Two years idle was quite enough !

Winners of Slipcover Design Contest 2009 are:

Slipcover Design Contest 2009 had 9 remarkable participants who submitted fantastically beautiful slipcovers.

Votes were compiled this year from Online Votes and also at the Slipcover Summit.

55 votes were cast and we had 3 Winners:

1st Place Winner: Krystal Close

KrystalsDesign.com in Mars, PA.

2nd Place Winner: Debra Fowler

Deb Fowler Designs of Sun City West, AZ

3rd Place Winner: Teal Major

CustomSlipcovers.net Berkeley, CA.

Vote for the BEST Slipcover Design 2009

It is time for you to vote.

This is a secret ballot -- PLEASE DO NOT POST YOUR VOTE IN THE COMMENTS SECTION!

Voting starts on June 22rd and ends June 26th at 12:00 noon.

To cast your ballot, please submit your top choices.

1st Place, Contestant ___ 2nd place, Contestant ___

Send your choice to slipcovernetwork@gmail.com.

Slipcover Design Contestant A

The special design feature is the lack of detail. It was important to keep the look of this contemporary chair as it was when it was new. The only detail is the invert pleat in the center of the back which hides the zipper.

The gold with red dot multi-purpose fabric is from Green House Design was used with a coordinating red and gold dot fabric for the lumbar pillow.

How to Vote:

It is time for you to vote. This is a secret ballot -- PLEASE DO NOT POST YOUR VOTE IN THE COMMENTS SECTION! Voting starts on June 22nd and ends June 26th at 12:00 noon.

To cast your ballot, please submit your top choices.

1st Place, Contestant ___ 2nd place, Contestant ___

Send your choice to slipcovernetwork@gmail.com.

Slipcover Design Contestant B

My client hired me to slipcover their 4 modern dining room chairs using Robert Allen’s Blue Paisley in an upholstered weight. The customer had already purchased her fabric prior to hiring me. To save on fabric we decided to use a small coordinating braid instead of making self piping. The challenge for me was sewing the tiny braid with only a ¼” flange onto the fabric. The braid is very stiff to work with. It took hours to go over each curve especially around the small areas of the front and back arms. I had to sew over top of the braid because the ¼” flange onto the fabric would slip out as I was sewing. I broke several needles on this job.

Also, the chairs are very delicate and the fabric very bulky. I did a lot of trimming and clipping to get the fabric to lay flat especially around the small tuck-ins of the chair. The end results are 4 beautiful dining room chairs. Outlining the chairs with the small coordinating braid looks lovely with the paisley fabric. The braid pulls the colors out of the fabric.

How to Vote:


It is time for you to vote. This is a secret ballot -- PLEASE DO NOT POST YOUR VOTE IN THE COMMENTS SECTION!

Voting starts on June 22nd and ends June 26th at 12:00 noon.

To cast your ballot, please submit your top choices.

1st Place, Contestant ___ 2nd place, Contestant ___

Send your choice to slipcovernetwork@gmail.com.

Slipcover Design Contestant C

The camel back sofa was a challenge. My clients wanted a slipcover for their sofa using their own fabric – 100% polyester indoor/outdoor fabric. They wanted their slipcover tight fitting – to look like it’s been upholstered. The problem area was the extreme curved back, concaved front arms, and of course working with slightly stiff fabric. To avoid puckering on the hump of the sofa, I brought the outside back up higher to meet the inside back avoiding the upholster line. With a lot of pinning, clipping, redoing a couple of times, I finally got the fabric to lay flat on the curve. For the front arms, I pressed a firm adhesive interface (washable) onto the back of the arm pieces. This works great. The interface is stiff enough to hold the fabric arm pieces in place. No puckers or twisting of the fabric.

Also, the stiff skirt was also challenging. My clients wanted a spaced boxed pleat skirt with 3” pleats and 2” wide spaces. What was challenging was to have the pleats look the same visually because mathematically the pleats and spaces never added up equally on all sides of the furniture. I worked each section of the furniture one piece at a time. With a little here and a little more there, I finally worked it out. Finally, I used a ¼” welt for all my slipcovers, but I found the ¼” looked bulky on the camel back. Instead I used a 1/8” welt, and it seemed to blend in nicely with the furniture, especially when using welt to separate the inside back pieces. My clients are thrilled with the end results.

How to Vote:

It is time for you to vote. This is a secret ballot -- PLEASE DO NOT POST YOUR VOTE IN THE COMMENTS SECTION! Voting starts on June 22nd and ends June 26th at 12:00 noon.

To cast your ballot, please submit your top choices.

1st Place, Contestant ___ 2nd place, Contestant ___

Send your choice to slipcovernetwork@gmail.com.

Slipcover Design Contestant D

Wingback Slipcover

This slipcover was done with “Balance” in Lemon Cream color from J. Ennis Fabrics located in Indianapolis. Great fabric to work with since it has a white backing – no show through from the original fabric pattern even though it is a lavender and blue stripe.

The “wings” were very curvy, so it was not possible to get them perfectly flat. The front of the arms came out and down giving the extra room needed to forgo a zipper but still have it nice and snug.

I used Angie’s totally awesome skirt application – what a timesaver!!! Kudos also to Kim for her self-facing zipper application for the cushion!!!

How to Vote:

It is time for you to vote. This is a secret ballot -- PLEASE DO NOT POST YOUR VOTE IN THE COMMENTS SECTION! Voting starts on June 22nd and ends June 26th at 12:00 noon.

To cast your ballot, please submit your top choices.

1st Place, Contestant ___ 2nd place, Contestant ___

Send your choice to slipcovernetwork@gmail.com.

Slipcover Design Contestant E

I used the pinning method for all my slipcover fabrication. This allows me to work on site, and the client does not have to live without their furniture. Cutting each side to size on site, then pinning each pleat in place in order to have each section fit properly achieved this look.

While in the workroom, I sewed each section together as usual. Because of the fabric thickness, I did not use welt. Once everything was sewn together, I then covered buttons and placed them in line with the pleats to allow the pleats to be open but tacked together. The bottom was banded and then tacked together again at each pleat to again allow the pleats to stay in place but yet open between the button and the band.

It is unfortunately, but I did this job several years ago, and I am unable to identify the fabric or banding used.

How to Vote: It is time for you to vote. This is a secret ballot -- PLEASE DO NOT POST YOUR VOTE IN THE COMMENTS SECTION! Voting starts on June 22nd and ends June 26th at 12:00 noon.

To cast your ballot, please submit your top choices.

1st Place, Contestant ___ 2nd place, Contestant ___

Send your choice to slipcovernetwork@gmail.com.

Slipcover Design Contestant F

Fabric – “Waverly” Home Décor 100% cotton. Base of the chair was twill fabric. Welting was made from fabric used on corners of inverted pleats. I made the covered button from twill fabric.

How to Vote:

It is time for you to vote. This is a secret ballot -- PLEASE DO NOT POST YOUR VOTE IN THE COMMENTS SECTION!

Voting starts on June 22nd and ends June 26th at 12:00 noon.

To cast your ballot, please submit your top choices.

1st Place, Contestant ___ 2nd place, Contestant ___

Send your choice to slipcovernetwork@gmail.com.

Slipcover Design Contestant G

I made this slipcover with a printed woven cotton fabric, with an 18” repeat. The pattern runs one way to the right. The large pink flower had to be centered on each different surface of the chair, including top and bottom of the cushion, as well as the deck. The fabric also had a red flower that ran throughout, so to hide it in the top of the arm covers, I spliced pieces of the branch, so it would flow continuously and not have the red interfering with the overall color scheme. The fronts of the arms match each other, even though they both run the same direction, due to the one way pattern across the fabric.

The large pink flower also had to be centered on the skirt pieces, as any other combination broke up the theme, and didn’t flow well.

How to Vote:

It is time for you to vote. This is a secret ballot -- PLEASE DO NOT POST YOUR VOTE IN THE COMMENTS SECTION!

Voting starts on June 22nd and ends June 26th at 12:00 noon.

To cast your ballot, please submit your top choices.

1st Place, Contestant ___ 2nd place, Contestant ___

Send your choice to slipcovernetwork@gmail.com.

Slipcover Design Contestant H

The body of this slipcover is made from fabric designed by a local Berkeley company, Laura & Kirin; it is 100% woven cotton. My client wanted to use more than one fabric on the chair. We found a small plaid and solid linen from Fabricut. The linen is on one side of each cushion and the underside of the skirts. The plaid is the unfilled cording.

I like to keep the design details of the furniture I am slipcovering, and this chair has a sweet detail on the front arms. The contrast cord enhances this detail nicely.

How to Vote:

It is time for you to vote. This is a secret ballot -- PLEASE DO NOT POST YOUR VOTE IN THE COMMENTS SECTION!

Voting starts on June 22nd and ends June 26th at 12:00 noon.

To cast your ballot, please submit your top choices.

1st Place, Contestant ___ 2nd place, Contestant ___

Send your choice to slipcovernetwork@gmail.com.

Slipcover Design Contestant I (letter I)

The customer wanted to keep the attached back cushion in place, but neither she nor I wanted to just cover over all the back. So that left a more complicated application. I made the slipcover as I would do upholstery. The difference would be leaving the attached cushion back open (in a square) in the back to slip over cushions. Everything then laid out nicely. It really is easy to remove and put on for cleaning or different look. Of course, there was the constant matching. This piece is the focal point as you walk into the house. Both the customer and I were thrilled with the results.

How to Vote:

It is time for you to vote. This is a secret ballot -- PLEASE DO NOT POST YOUR VOTE IN THE COMMENTS SECTION!

Voting starts on June 22rd and ends June 26th at 12:00 noon.

To cast your ballot, please submit your top choices.

1st Place, Contestant ___ 2nd place, Contestant ___

Send your choice to slipcovernetwork@gmail.com.

Creative Way to Order Fabric with WAA

Consider becoming having a trial membership with WAA. When you join Slipcover Network we will give you complimentary 3 months with WAA. Listen to our interview with Mary Ann of WAA on Home Fashions U Blog Talk Radio today June 17th.