Pages

Thursday, August 29, 2013

Ways you will use Math after school–Making a slipcover

At first I thought I could just use a picture and take measurements on my chair and come up with a perfect slipcover on my own.

Then McCall’s patterns were 70 cents, and they happened to have a slipcover pattern that I could modify for my own use.  I was sold.

I didn’t think it would be a walk in the park, but I thought it would be manageable.  I spent hours and hours taking measurements and modifying the pattern pieces, then cutting out the fabric itself.  I followed the directions and kept trying on the slipcover as I went.  Even with taking measurements, I was having to adjust quite a few things as I sewed, especially around curves.  I was also finding that I didn’t really make all of my adjustments correctly.

But in the end here is what I came up with.

IMG_2126

From the front it actually looks quite good.  From the back…it’s a disaster.

IMG_2123

Notice the weird gaping part in the middle back.  That is were common sense comes in.  I cut all the pieces exact to fit.  When I went to slip the cover on, I realized one huge fatal flaw.  I could not get the skinner bottom piece of the upper chair back over the wider upper portion of the chair back.

So I had to cut a slit in the slipcover and sew in some extra fabric.  Eventually I plan to sew on some buttons so I can close it up and it will look better.

IMG_2124

Another problem is that the back must have taller proportions that the front, because if you look closely the skirt slopes up towards the back.

IMG_2125

That would be an easy fix by adjusting the bottom hem, but I just don’t feel like taking it all apart and sewing it up again.  So for now I will live with it.

The pleats turned out pretty good.  I should probably go back and iron it, but again, I just want to be done with it!

IMG_2127

The one slipcovered chair has made its way down to the kitchen.  Only 3 more to go, and I am really hoping they go smoother and that I have fixed all the kinks.

It will definitely be a bold pattern to break up our boring brown kitchen.

No comments:

Post a Comment