Something About Slipcovers

Years ago we wanted to have slipcovers made for our dining room chairs which were then upholstered in solid black fabric.  The tailor referred to a slipcover as a bespoke suit of clothing custom made for our chairs. So it seemed, as the butter yellow cotton duck covers with scalloped edges and tiny self-covered buttons down the back rivaled any dress in my closet.

Cris Briger of Casa Gusto says slipcovering a piece of furniture can change its personality. This is a chair in her Palm Beach home. The striped slipcovered seat does give an air of lightness to the chair; like a striped beach umbrella fluttering beneath the delicately aged, swirling patterns of the needlepoint flowers. Each is made more interesting by the other.

This chair is in her dining room. Note the continued use of stipes on the slipcover; this time with a fascinating criss-cross back.

These chairs are in a dining room featured in Michael S. Smith: Elements of Style. The wide bands of pale blue and white fabric pop against the dark spindly wood of the chair backs.

In the 17^th and 18^th centuries slipcovers were made for fine wooden furniture, upholstered furniture, beds, and sometimes even carpets. Furniture and the fabric used to cover it was costly and people wanted to protect both from dust, sunlight, perspiration, and the like. It seems as if they only removed the covers on occasion. A scene from Pride and Prejudice (the 2005 film) comes to mind.  Mr. Bingley was leaving the house he leased in the country to return to London. As soon as the carriage cleared the drive the servants began to cover everything including tables and chandeliers.

Above is a photo of Suzanne Rheinstein’s home in Hancock Park in the Wilshire area of Los Angeles, California. She writes of inheriting beautiful furniture from her husband’s parents and refers to these full covers as summer slipcovers. It’s interesting to see how the wood on the curved settee and chairs remains in view. This is another type of slipcover designed around the decorative wood on furniture.

You can see something similar in the red and white ticking covers in the home of antiquarian Bill Gardner featured in Milieu magazine’s issue highlighting slipcovers (Fall, 2022).

Here in the same issue is a monogrammed slipcover. The color combination of wheat and cream, the crisply tailored yet rumpled linen fabric, as well as the well-placed monogram make this a favorite of mine.

It was the photos of Hanna Seabrook’s home featured in Frederic (Volume IX) that first attracted me to the magazine. The curated look and tonal qualities in the dining room are strengthened with the deep tan slip covers on painted chairs.

It is usually in photos of houses in other countries where you will see the gloriously loose and somewhat rumpled slipcovers on couches, usually with a dog curled up and a fire in the hearth. This striking room is one of 15 in Romantic Irish Homes by Robert O’ Byrne.

(decordeprovence.blogspot.com)

(trouvais.com)

Here are some incredibly appealing linen slipcovers in photos from homes in the Provence region of France.

The rush rug and blue and white checked gingham slip covered chair seat give this room filled with antiques and monumental paintings featured in World of Interiors a sense of warmth and approachability as well as an element of surprise.

Studying these photos and others like them gave me the courage to try making a slipcover.

My “subject” would be a mahogany reproduction chair with a seat covered in blue black taffeta with brass nailhead upholstery tacks forming a scallop pattern around the bottom of the seat.

We want to preserve the upholstery on the seat as it was the first of many created for us by a master upholsterer in Houston. When we moved to an open plan loft we wanted to recover the furniture we had to create a more cohesive look. We had not had much luck in finding someone to help us. My husband had the idea of using this chair as a test case. When we saw the completed chair we knew we had found an artist.

To begin, a piece of tissue paper for making patterns was placed on the chair seat and the seat was outlined and cut out adding 5/8” for seaming. A compass was used to draw scallops on a piece of cardboard which was then used as a pattern for the base of the slipcover.

A conte pencil was used to draw the scallop outline on the fabric which is a pre-washed painter’s drop cloth. To make more scallops, simply repeat the design.

Figuring out how to make the slipcover was a bit of a challenge. It isn’t perfect, but it makes me happy and, in my mind, has the rumpled, not exactly perfect fit so appealing to slipcovers in design.

Yes, the chair has a new, looser look; a bit of change in personality with its bespoke super slipcover! If you have a sewing machine you might enjoy doing one yourself. Remember to accept all rumples.