Friday, August 9, 2013

8.9.13 DIY Friday

DIY Computer Chair Slip Covers

Being that school is going to start soon, here is a DIY for jazzing up an old computer chair with some slip covers. 

What You'll Need
-an old computer chair
-measuring tape
-fabric (depends on the size of your chair, but I used probably around a yard and a half)
-1/4" flat elastic
-pins
-needle and thread or a sewing machine

Here's the beautiful fabric I used for this project: 

It was at Hancock fabric for $9/yard, which is a little more than I usually like to spend on fabric, but I've used it for this project, and a very very cute apron. 

Step 1: Clean off your chair as well as you can. The one I used was our old computer chair that was sitting in the dog room, so the dog hair was nearly impossible to get out. This is what it looked like after I cleaned. That's right, after

Now you understand why I wanted to cover this messy monstrosity up. 

Step 2: Using your measuring tape, measure the seat and backrest of your computer chair. This will determine the dimensions of your slipcovers. Remember you'll have to start your measurements from under the seat, so the slipcover will stay on. Don't measure the whole seat because that would be a waste of fabric. Start 6 or more inches under the seat and run the measuring tape up and across the seat to 6 or more inches under the seat on the other side. Do the same for the backrest. Also remember to leave an inch or two for sewing in the elastic. The dimensions for mine were: 
                          Seat-26"x26"
                          Backrest-15"x 24"

Hint: to make the curviture of the corners the same, use the left over fabric from the first curve cut for the rest of the curves. Like this: 


Step 3: When I did step three, I just pinned the fabric over where I was going to sew, leaving enough room to string the elastic through after I was done sewing. This was a mistake. It took forever, and I actually had to cut it up just to make it work. So on my second seat cover, I first pinned the elastic to the fabric, and then folded the fabric over on top of the elastic, pinned it down and sewed it. I left a little opening where my elastic started and where it ended so I could tie them together. 

Step 4: Make sure you anchor one end of the elastic down. Pull on the other end, cinching up the fabric so it will hold onto the seat of the chair. I kept cinching until it was tight enough to hold onto the chair, but not too tight so it wouldn't fit over the seat. Once you have the desired amount of tight-ness (no that's not a word, yes I know there's a plethora of words I could have used that would be linguistically correct, but I just didn't feel like using them), tie the two ends of elastic together and snip off any excess. The nice thing about this method is that it's a) much faster and more efficient, and b) you don't waste any elastic



Step 5: Enjoy your new chair! This is what my chair looked like after------------------------------------>

Much better! And on stage left, you see one of the suspects for all the dog hair on the chair.

Anyway, the reason I chose to use elastic instead of simply reupholstering the chair is for several reasons:

1. It was much easier to do and took much less work, and I like less work

2. If the cover gets dirty, I can easily take it off and throw it in the washing machine


3. I can easily change the look of the chair in the future by making a new cover. 

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