The Slipcovers Are Finished!!!

I LOVE linen.

 There is nothing quite like the softness of a old linen tea towel,

 washed a hundred times but still strong and lovely.

Linen slipcovers are one of the most wonderful ways to dress a piece of furniture,

 simplifying them and showing of their form.

Softly dancing across the floor:

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Pretty folds and box pleating:

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Cool tones and clean lines create a very restful place to dine:

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I love the look of this dark, sultry linen:

                            

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Old flour (tea? rice?) sack pillows prevent these pretty chairs from looking too precious: 

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Even Ottomans get in on the action:

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Our dining room chairs are almost ready to be put out to pasture...

We purchased this set very inexpensively as a display at a home show several years ago. 

It wasn't exactly what we wanted (well, what I wanted!!), but it had decent lines and the price was right.

I have since learned to wait and buy quality furniture - almost as soon as we brought it home, NO RETURN stamped across the receipt, the fabric started to come away from the frames of the chairs.

The legs of the chairs are bolted to the frame and have to be tightened before and after every use..

More recently, the frame itself actually has a few small cracks on two of the chairs.

You feel my pain here, right?

So, because we are determined to not buy any more furniture of this quality,
 and because the budget does not yet allow for the set that I would like,
 I decided to make slipcovers for these so I can at least enter this room without cringing.

Have you ever made slipcovers?

I visited many sites with exact detailed instructions - all different instructions.

So I winged it. Measured, cut out pattern pieces from paper, and got down to sewing...

It was going really well until I was pinning the back, and tried to pull the slipcovers off..
 I hadn't allowed for the fact that they were wider at the top than at the bottom!

So many adjustments and trials later we ended up with a version that I can live with...

                                        

The armchairs are going to be done in a navy velvet, and I haven't started those yet, but will be posting pics of them and a new (revamped?) chandelier in the next while...

What do you think?

til next time..