A couple weeks ago I took a day off from my day job of sewing to spend a day doing something really fun…more sewing!  A lot more sewing.  The decision  was made (in my head) that  I had procrastinated long enough and it was time to get the sofa slipcovers completed.  With both the fabric for the seat cushions and the slipcovers for the sofa bodies sitting in my sewing room, I was ready to go.

One of the pre-made slipcovers had been previously fitted on the largest of my two sofas and it had definitely been a tight fit (you can read about it here).   Each slipcover would only be large enough to cover the body of each sofa and none of the cushions.  Even though it included a separate slipcover just for them.   The sofa cushions were just too large.  This left me with the task of finding matching material to cover the 6 very large cushions on each couch.  Which took forever to track down and purchase for a reasonable price (you can read about that here).

Now the idea of seeing my couches in matching charcoal gray was very exciting, but the idea of sewing 12 large seat cushions (some of them odd shaped) was so not.  Until finally on this particular Saturday I decided it was time.  I figured my day was going to be spent sewing one way or the other, so why not put all that time and energy into something I really wanted to see completed.

The sofas pre-slipcovers…

Monster #1 – Brownie.  This is the boyfriend’s beloved sofa.  Super comfortable, but in a blah brown. Also try to ignore the crazy ugly curtains, wood paneling and anything else unattractive in this room.  The living room is completely untouched (decorating wise)  other than having furniture moved into the room.

and

Monster #2:  Greenie.  My beloved sofa.  Also super comfy, but have always wished it had been available in a more neutral color.

Why do we have two completely different style sofas?  When the boyfriend and I moved in together several years ago, neither of us wanted to part with our monster sofas so they merged together when we did.  My hope was that once the sofas were in matching colors the obvious style differences would be a little less obvious.

Let the sewing begin.  I started with the green sofa and if you look at the picture above you may just spot one of my first slipcovers.  Construction was fairly simple.  The task of measuring and remeasuring was where most of my time was spent.  Due to the size of these cushions I wanted to be VERY sure of my measurements before slicing and dicing up fabric.  Once I was confident on the size fabric was cut and a slipcover was sewn for the first cushion.

I basically followed the same directions I used to create the canvas pouf for my daughter, except for one change.  Instead of leaving an opening in the band that connects the top and bottom of the slipcover, I used two pieces of fabric and overlapped them to create the bottom piece of the cushion slipcover.  So the top was a solid piece and the bottom was two overlapped pieces.  Once everything was sewn together this created a large opening the width of the cushion to allow room to squeeze the everything inside.  Squeezing the cushions inside was probably the most difficult part of the whole process.

With the first slipcover there was a little stitch popping along one of the edges, where there was huge amount of stress during the stuffing process.  To eliminate this for the rest of the cushions I made sure to double/triple stitch the seams along all the stress points.

The green monster sofa was completed first, because all the cushions were simple rectangles.  The loose pillows haven’t been covered yet, so you get an idea of the color change.  The pre-made slipcover is a velour twill and the cushions were made from this super soft vintage-style suede fabric.    I plan on using some of the fabric from the pre-made seat slipcover as backs for the smaller pillows to help blend the two fabric together even more.

The brown monster sofa was next and took a little more time due to the end cushions having that weird little kick out.  There wasn’t  much more sewing time involved, but the measuring and calculating took my math challenged brain f.o.r.e.v.e.r.

This sofa really had the bigger transformation and really love it now in the new charcoal grey color.  The back seat cushion slipcovers were sewn in the same style as the ones on the green couch, so sliding those over the existing pillows also helped to create a similar look between the two sofas.   Can’t wait to decide on some fabrics for the smaller pillows, so I can really tie the two sofas together.

No more excuses not to makeover the coffee table now…  Or maybe I’ll wait till after I figure out what fabrics will go on the smaller pillows or maybe after I figure out some curtains to replace the current ones…hmmm.