Do you ever have one of those projects that you keep putting off? You know the ones, you know you should do it, you know you will feel better when you do, but you just don't want to? Projects like cleaning the basement, weeding the garden, sewing arm chair covers... Yes, that is how I feel about home dec projects - they aren't hard and when I finally get to them I am glad that I did, but I just keep procrastinating because they just aren't fun sewing! Sometimes, you need a little incentive - like out of town company is arriving and the chairs that were supposed to be beige are more white than beige, and so the arms get dirty really fast, and even though you don't particularly care for arm chair covers, they are the only practical way to handle a white chair in the kitchen seating area that gets sat in Every. Single. Day. You get the picture. So I bit the bullet and an hour and a half later (yes that is all it took), I had the arms of two chairs looking good with their new covers.
So here is a quick tutorial on how to make some if you likewise need this practical accessory for your furniture and it didn't come with them. (I was able to purchase a 1/2 yard of the fabric from the company that made the chairs.) Take a piece of paper and pin it to the chair front and trace the edge to get a general shape of that section.
I wasn't getting fancy here - just a quick outline. Trace down to where you want the cover to stop. Also measure how far back you want the cover to go on the top of the arm. I decided I wanted mine to go back 15 inches.
Take the front pattern piece and measure the height and width. Add the seam allowance and create a rectangular pattern piece using those measurements. To finish the pattern piece, curve the top edges. I choose to use 1/2 inch to keep the math simple. 1/2 inch may not be enough of a hem allowance if you are turning the hem twice because home dec fabric can be thick. So the rectangle of fabric that will make up the top portion of the cover is 16 inches (15 plus two 1/2 inch seam allowances) by the sum of the two side edges and top curved edge of the front piece - 22 inches in my case.
Before cutting my home dec fabric (which is expensive) I cut my front pattern piece out of a scrap and pinned it all together to see if it was going to fit properly.
Based on my fitting, I curved the top edges some more and then cut out my fabric.
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Doesn't it look beige there - not white? With right sides together, pin the long side of the rectangle to one long side of the front piece, up around the top and down the other side. Sew together. Binding clips are perfect for this as the fabric is so thick. (affiliate link).
Fold up bottom edge by your chosen seam allowance (my fabric doesn't ravel and is quite thick so I just folded up and stitched.)
Turn up the back edge of the cover and stitch in place.
Finished Arm Covers!
I hope you have a wonderful weekend and get to finish a project - maybe even one you have procrastinated about!