It's the Little Things -- chair and slip on pillows

Once upon a time I sewed most anything I needed in my home, including my clothes. I still love to

sew but I stick to small projects that pack a punch.

A few years ago I purchased two small recoverable chairs from Pier One to add some color and extra seating our family room. 

At that time we had a golden-neutral sofa so I used this fabric.

Then time went by and we changed curtains and couches. With a more taupe fabric on our new love seats, the gold on brick red fabric just didn't match. Below you can see the drapes that are a taupe color.

We've lived with fabric for a while so I began looking around on the web for inspiration and found I was leaning towards red and taupe. Now to find the right fabric.

This is a great dark red! :)

This is pattern is what I'm looking for.

Dark red like this shirt!  :)

But really, after looking at fabrics stores I just couldn't find what I wanted. Then I went into Kirland's to waste a little time while my daughter gets her nails done, low and behold thet had red and beige curtains in just the color and pattern I wanted. And on sale!! 

So, like the "I can do anything" mode, I bought one set in the pattern and another set in a dark red silk. My plan was to wrap the chairs in the silk with only the front in my lovely pattenr. That way I'd have leftovers for pillows, etc. big mistake. The silk wouldn't hold the shape, pulled at the seams and just looked sloppy.

So, back to Kirland's to buy another set of curtains.

Here is some work in progress:

Pinning the seams with the fabric inside out.

Almost done with the first chair. Gotta stop and catch my breath.

Ok, done, slipped on, and stapled underneath the chair cushion.

All done!! I'm in love!! Below is a handy guide for making pillow covers.

Making throw pillows using the envelope technique.

1. Wrap the fabric around the pillow to measure. Leave 1 inch for each side seam and 4 inch extra length for the overlap on the back. 

2. First sew a small 1/2 inch hem for each flap, facing the wrong side of the fabric. 

Place pins to hold the fabric in place

3. Place the fabric with right sides together, pinning the short flap end over the longer flap. Place this in the top third of the pillow. Now sew the side seams. Remove the pins. Turn right side out and slip the pillow in there. easy peasy! 

I'm happy with my new stuff!!