Everyone wants to learn how to make parsons' chair slipcovers. Styles vary but basics are easy to adjust .
Our YouTube video will give you a guideline for creating your own slipcover. All chairs & all people are different, allow these instructions to serve as a model for your own interpretation and other styles of chairs that may feel neglected -- Momma, you'll be "sew" happy!
See this & other helpful videos on How to Love Your Home's YouTube channel.Parsons Chair Slipcover Simply Sewn
Our YouTube video will give you a guideline for creating your own slipcover. All chairs & all people are different, allow these instructions to serve as a model for your own interpretation and other styles of chairs that may feel neglected -- Momma, you'll be "sew" happy!
See this & other helpful videos on How to Love Your Home's YouTube channel.Parsons Chair Slipcover Simply Sewn
In this DIY, it is specific to creating cording. The French, flat flange is made with the same method, excluding the cording inside the fold. You adjust the size of the flange according to your desired look. When sewing the flat flange, you will be sewing the fold opposite the instructions for the cord. That would be; using the measuring line on your sewing machine to create the depth of your flange.
The fabric being cut on the bias, gives the cording flexibility to curve around corners. If you cut it straight, your cord will be rigid and have trouble taking the corners smoothly.
I like to use my hands as measuring tools, #1 you don’t have to keep track of a ruler or yardstick, it is always at hand (ha ha)- #2 you don’t have to manipulate something around the fabric and #3 historically; that is how the world came up with many of the measurements that we use today….I love the history lesson.
Three fingers, index finger to middle finger is about 3” ( give or take, on the average woman) it is a good guide and that is how wide I cut my cording. FYI: the average length between the tip of your bent elbow to the tip of your middle finger is about 18”, so it is easy to eye basic measurements using your arm…double it and you have a yard.
The photos show you how to connect cording strips together, so you have a smooth, continuous strip of fabric to cover your cord. Most fabric stores sell different widths of cording to put inside your fabric. I pooh-pooh that idea. I go to the hardware store or general merchandise store to get this…clothes line, twine, cotton rope…it depends on how thick I want it, but I never buy it by the yard. It is just too expensive. I don’t use the heavy fiber rope. It is too hard to cut and connect because it is so stiff Cotton clothes line or rope really works best. If laundered, it can snap back into place when stretched over the piece of furniture.
Using a zipper foot, have your stitches line up with the edge of the cord inside the fabric that is folded over. For the French, flat flange use a regular foot. I don’t pin this because the fabric, being cut on the bias, stretches as you sew. It really is a good thing, as you will see when we attach it to our slipcover. I usually leave about 3” of fabric at the beginning of my cording strip, so if I need to connect it with the other end, I can have that piece to cross over the other end of fabric and cord. You shall see.
Another trick, is to never cut the end of the cord before applying it to the slipcover. I have been in a pickle over not appropriately projecting the cording length and this gives me the opportunity to add more fabric if necessary. It is much easier to do this than to connect that cord on the inside, because the stretching that takes place during the whole project can separate and be unsightly. Always come in with a little extra effort before you begin your project, instead of having to trouble shoot a problem afterwards . . . preventive sewing medicine.
The fabric being cut on the bias, gives the cording flexibility to curve around corners. If you cut it straight, your cord will be rigid and have trouble taking the corners smoothly.
I like to use my hands as measuring tools, #1 you don’t have to keep track of a ruler or yardstick, it is always at hand (ha ha)- #2 you don’t have to manipulate something around the fabric and #3 historically; that is how the world came up with many of the measurements that we use today….I love the history lesson.
Three fingers, index finger to middle finger is about 3” ( give or take, on the average woman) it is a good guide and that is how wide I cut my cording. FYI: the average length between the tip of your bent elbow to the tip of your middle finger is about 18”, so it is easy to eye basic measurements using your arm…double it and you have a yard.
The photos show you how to connect cording strips together, so you have a smooth, continuous strip of fabric to cover your cord. Most fabric stores sell different widths of cording to put inside your fabric. I pooh-pooh that idea. I go to the hardware store or general merchandise store to get this…clothes line, twine, cotton rope…it depends on how thick I want it, but I never buy it by the yard. It is just too expensive. I don’t use the heavy fiber rope. It is too hard to cut and connect because it is so stiff Cotton clothes line or rope really works best. If laundered, it can snap back into place when stretched over the piece of furniture.
Using a zipper foot, have your stitches line up with the edge of the cord inside the fabric that is folded over. For the French, flat flange use a regular foot. I don’t pin this because the fabric, being cut on the bias, stretches as you sew. It really is a good thing, as you will see when we attach it to our slipcover. I usually leave about 3” of fabric at the beginning of my cording strip, so if I need to connect it with the other end, I can have that piece to cross over the other end of fabric and cord. You shall see.
Another trick, is to never cut the end of the cord before applying it to the slipcover. I have been in a pickle over not appropriately projecting the cording length and this gives me the opportunity to add more fabric if necessary. It is much easier to do this than to connect that cord on the inside, because the stretching that takes place during the whole project can separate and be unsightly. Always come in with a little extra effort before you begin your project, instead of having to trouble shoot a problem afterwards . . . preventive sewing medicine.
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