Add a softness and color to a wooden dining chair with an easy-to-make fabric slipcover. Sewing expert Pam Hastings gives Kitty Bartholomew, host of HGTV's Kitty Bartholomew: You're Home, a quick lesson in making a slipcover for a ladder-back chair. If you can sew a straight seam, you can complete this project. Using a Vogue Patterns for Living slipcover pattern, which includes a two-part cover for a ladder-back chair, Pam demonstrates the steps involved in sewing the short seat cover. When using a commercial pattern, make sure the pattern fits the seat of the chair you're covering. Patterns are made for an average chair and may need a bit of adjustment to fit your chair. Once the fabric pattern is cut out, you'll see that you have cutout corners, which when sewn together will fit perfectly over the chair seat (figure A). The four cutout corners of the fabric are sewn, right sides together, with a 1/2" seam allowance. A narrow band of fabric is added to each side of the seat cover, and fabric ties are attached at the back. When the top of the slipcover is complete, the fabric is placed right side up with the ties arranged in the middle, and the lining is stitched on (figure B). The back of the seat cover is left unstitched so the slipcover can be turned right side out, and the back opening is slip-stitched. The result is a new seat cover that fits right over the seat and ties in the back (figure C).
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