Armchair slipcover

OK I've managed to peg out washing today and these little fellas are starting to show their faces.......

 


 .......so I'm feeling very Spring like, helped along with a generous dollop of sunshine onThursday morning and the fact that I actually went out without my coat yesterday!

Hello, my dear followers. Life has been busy, as it is for us all, but I'm still enjoying the wonderful world of Key Stage One, even though one of my pupils did ask me the other day "Mrs Lovis, why have you put your dressing gown on?" as I donned what I thought was my best cardigan in an effort to provide an extra layer of warmth in my classroom. Out of the mouths of babes....... :)

Lots happened since my last post. Obviously been busy with the job (Mr Ofsted is breathing down our necks -Oh Joy) Had a birthday. Yay! Attended a speed awareness course (naughty!), became a Great Aunt, been horribly ill, but not done much sewing until this half term, when I've been desperately trying to finish off a couple of long overdue projects so that I can put my design head back on again.

But first let me share with you what is probably the most perfect birthday present ever.
Just look at this gorgeous hand made card and matching gift tag.......!

Lets have a closer look.

and look what it was announcing.......

Big squeal! A sewing stamp set, which I haven't stopped stroking yet......


.....and then even bigger joy....just look at all of this......fabric!!!!

Regular readers of my blog will know Vicky, a fellow blogger and also my buddy. She had cleverly thought I could make use of the leftover bits of fabric she had. I was touched by the thoughtfulness of this present and wondered how exquisite her fabric choices have been. Such a great idea for a fabric freak like me. Thank you Vicky.

The birth of my niece's beautiful baby daughter has made me come over all babylike and I've been scouring shops for wool and have a few little fabric ideas which I hope to bring to reality in the not too distant future (who am I kidding!)

Let me show you the slip cover I made. If you're a follower you'll know that one of the things I made before Christmas was a roman blind and window seat cushion for a lovely lady who wanted to give her teenage daughter's bedroom a bit of a makeover. Don't have any pics I'm afraid as it was all very Hush Hush and I haven't had a chance to go round and take a few snaps since Christmas.

But what she also asked me for was a slipcover for a winged armchair.  As far as I'm concerned slipcovers are definitely not for the faint hearted. But a casual slip cover was what was required and before I could stop the words tumbling out of my mouth I heard myself saying "OK then,I'll give it a go." 

With great trepidation I started this project feeling a little (LOT!!) out of my comfort zone
and then I remembered the marvellous Miss Mustard Seed or as I like to call her now, 'my new best friend.' You simply must visit her amazing blog. Here is the link to the video tutorials I used for my chair. They were my saviour. Of all the incredibly useful things she said the thing that stuck most in my mind was 'Just think of it as making a dress for your chair'.  'Yes', I thought, 'I get that', and so with pins in my mouth and fabric rectangles at the ready, I started to make 'the dress' for the chair.

This is the result. I'm not expecting a round of rapturous applause but it has certainly whetted my appetite to do more slipcovers although I wouldn't recommend starting with a winged arncahir.

Joining the arms to the wings was the worst bit. I added a couple of ties on the back to keep everything in place......

.......using cotton twill tape. (I think I probably love this as much as I love my linen thread)

The cushion added the final embellishment and was made using some of the fabric I had left over from the roman blind.

I'm quite excited at the moment as my eldest son is due back from his school ski trip this afternoon. I can't wait to hear what he's been up to, although I expect I'll get the mum rated version :)  I think that's probably all for now. I'm off to pay long overdue visits to your lovely blogs and catch up on all your news.

Thanks for stopping by.
EDITED TO ADD: Have decided to enter this into Wendy's Handmade Monday so why not pop over and see what that talented bunch have been up to :)