Rocking Chair Slip Cover DIY

Before my friend Jessica moved to Boise she gave me her comfy rocking chair. She called it the “nursing chair” because it was perfectly fitted for nursing. You may be thinking, whatever that means?! But I tell you the chair you choose to nurse in is very important, because, especially when your baby is a newborn, you do a lot of sitting. My personal preference is one that I can easily fold my legs in and rock.

With furniture the most important part are the bones. Ask yourself when looking at furniture what the frame is made from? Or what kind of joints it has? Etc. This will determine whether the piece is going to last months or years. I noticed that besides this chair being super comfy it had great bones as well as the cushion was in good condition.

And here it is with the ottoman. . . 

The ottoman obviously is not quite finished. I'm going to sew on velcro to the edge and glue to the underside and  velcro the cover to the bottom of the piece.

I bought my fabric at JoAnns in Utah back in October. It is upholstery fabric and was on sale. I think for the piping and the fabric, all and all it was $35.00. I bought 4 ½ yds which ended up being perfect, but did not give me any room for mistakes.

I started by tracing everything on newspaper. I bought a roll of newspaper for $5 (you can get at your local newspaper). This was very time consuming and probably the trickiest part. This is where you decide how you are going to piece the fabric together. Since I am very visually I drew out how I thought it should be done.

This is what my sewing station looked like. You do what you gotta do in a little apartment.

I then organized my bigger patterns on the fabric to ensure I had enough fabric. I pinned and cut. Then with what was left I cut out the smaller pieces and the strips for piping. (For the piping I just did 1 ½ strips)

I love the look piping gives to a chair. Just helps define the lines and curve of the piece. I feel like the pictures don’t do the colors of this fabric justice. I loved that it was feminine with the big bold flowers, but the colors; green, blue, grey, and yellow were more masculine. I would love to get a solid, textured,  grey pillow, but honestly any pillow I put on that chair just ends up getting in the way. Maybe I’ll just look into getting a warm grey throw blanket, because that is sure to be used. 

Photo bomb!

I just loved how it turned out, and it looks so cute next to Peyton's bright green dresser. I did have to bring the hem up on the chair. I'll post another picture in the future of everything completely done. 

Have a Great Day!