my sewing mount everest... check!

we inherited an armchair from M's grandpa.

it's pretty cute, very 1960s mod, in a fun red.  comfortable too.

buuut, i'm kind of aiming for a more nautical, pottery barn look for our home, so i decided to slipcover it.   it's a practical thing to do anyway.

so with a couple trips to joann fabrics, i got going.  well, in the beginning i mostly just sat and stared at the chair, wondering how on earth i would make the cover.  should i make a template?  i would need some pretty big tracing paper.  from a bed sheet?  sounds like double the work.  hm.

i ended up winging it, starting with the easiest steps to the most challenging.

i figured i could use one main panel to wrap the front and back of the backrest.  the most challenging pieces to both dimension and sew were the arms and sides of the chair.  

so, i created the main panel for the backrest, lined it with piping (when i'm more gutsy, i'll wrap the piping in a contrasting fabric) and draped it on the chair.

i then cut the panel around the arms and added another panel to wrap the seat and arms.  sewing the two panels together was tricky, you need to see what you're doing on the correct side, but the seam should be on the back.  got it figured out.

then i added a panel for the very front of the chair, aka the front of the arms and below the seat.  i pinned all of my made panels onto the chair and started to form and cut the side panels around it, pinning the sides to the rest of the cover.  sewed all of it, added some dust panels at the bottom and had the main cover done.

lastly, i made the cushion cover.  everything is dimensioned big so that i can easily take the cover off for cleaning.  i'm pretty happy with how it turned out, slipcovers are daunting!  but it feels good to get a finished project and i now plan to cover our dining room chairs.  sometime.in.the.near.future.when.i.muster.the.effort.

and a couple more images of the recently finished quilt:

turns out, i love to sew!  even when it makes me think a bit :)