Busy Geemaw: Nursery Slipper Chair Slip Cover

Several years ago I bought a slipper chair online to put in my bedroom in our home in Virginia. The chair was modern and we truly never even sat on it the whole time we owned it. When we moved to Texas we gave the chair to our daughter. A few months ago my daughter was at a store and called me telling me about a chair she was looking at that was covered in a patchwork quilt. She asked if I could make a slip cover for the slipper chair out of a patchwork quilt for the baby's room. I am always up for a craft challenge.

Original slipper chair

I have never made a slip cover before, but had a general idea as to how I would go about it. I watched a few videos and read a few blogs for some guidance. I thought about making the patchwork quilt first, but decided it would be way too much work for a first time project. Next, I started looking online to see if I could buy one, but the price of a real patchwork quilt was also too much for a first time project. So, I decided to look at girls coverlet quilts and found a cute printed patchwork quilt coverlet, in the right colors, at Walmart for $24. The perfect price for a first time project. This coverlet matched the colors of the Pottery Barn Peter Rabbit Quilt we are using, and it is covered in flowers too, so it could have come right out of Mr McGregor's garden.

Pattern of the Walmart quilt coverlet.

This coverlet was patchwork on one side and solid pink on the other side. It was also trimmed all around with pink bias tape. The quilt was twin size and I was able to cut the body of the slipcover out of the middle and leave a 6 inch trim all around the edges, with the bias tape hem, for the skirt on the bottom of the slip cover.

Step One: I laid the coverlet over the chair using the middle of the coverlet to cover the back of the chair, the seat back, the seat, and the front. I covered it pink side up and pinned the cover to the chair so it would not move around. I made sure the patchwork was straight by using the quilting lines sewn in the coverlet. I pulled a fold up at the seam between the back and seat so I could tuck it in when the piece was sewn and turned right side out.

Pinned coverlet in place directly into the chair. I made a pleat in the middle to tuck into the chair.

Step Two: To cut the piece I poked the scissors into the coverlet at the bottom of the current cover so that I would not cut into the hem tape that I wanted to keep intact for the skirt. The cover was pinned at the side seams of the chair and I cut the fabric a few inches past that seam.

I started cutting inside the trim so I could save the bottom for the skirt.

The completed cut piece.

Step Three: I took the piece that was left, which was a coverlet with a big hole in the middle, and took one side of the remaining quilt and pinned it into the side of the chair. When it was straight, and completely pinned to the chair, I cut off the bottom of the side piece, once again leaving about a 6 inch piece, with the binding hem attached to save for my skirt. For the rest of the piece I cut off the excess to make the side seam was a few inches wide. I pinned the new side piece at the seams to the middle piece seams.

The pinned side piece with the bottom cut off. You can see the left side of the picture has another section that will be cut for the skirt.

The top of the side piece is cut just above the original chair seam.

The completed cut side seam.

The side seams are pinned to the main bodies seams, with a fold across the back of the seat.

The side seams are pinned to the main body and the excess fabric has not yet been trimmed.

Step Four: Repeat step Three for the opposite side of the chair.

Step Five: Remove the cover and sew the seams together following the pin line. Turn the cover right side out and put it on the chair to test the fit. If the cover fits correctly, remove it from the chair and trim your seams. If you need to make adjustment, do so before you trim the seams.

The seams were sewn along the pin line.

Step Six: I measured 6 inches from the bias hem edges of the remaining pieces of the coverlet and cut the unfinished sedge so that all the pieces were the 6 inch width. Because the corners of the cover were rounded, I cut those sections out so I had 4 pieces were 6 inches wide and about a yard so so long. Each pieces was finished with bias hem binding on one edge for the hem and a straight cut on the unfinished edge. I sewed all four pieces together. Then every 6 inches or so I pinned in a pleat. I sewed a quarter inch stitch across the unfinished edge to set the pleats.

I pinned the skirt sections together and then sewed them.

Sewn piece

Pleated section with a top stitch to hold the pleat in place.

Step Seven: With the cover on the chair I turned under the bottom edge of the cover to fall just at the bottom edges of the original chair fabric. Then starting in the back of the chair, I turned the raw edges of the end of the skirt under, and I started pinning the the pleated skirt under the bottom of the cover. I measured as I went along to make sure the skirt was 5 inches long all the way around the chair. When I got to the edge where I started, I crossed over the beginning of the skirt about 2 inches, I cut the piece from the remainder of the unused skirt piece, turned the end raw edge under an inch and pinned. Remove the cover and top stitch the skirt onto the cover.