Sewing a chair slipcover

Remember this chair I found on Kijiji for $20?

(photo from Kijiji posting)

Admittedly not so pretty, but I loved the lines and the price was right. Last weekend I went to Fabricville to look for some slipcover fabric and found a white cotton/linen mix on clearance for $4/metre. Since it's only my second slipcover (this reversible ottoman slipcover being my first), I decided against any kind of pattern, which I'd have to worry about matching up. I also didn't want to spend a lot of money on fabric in case my project was a total bust (not the strongest sewing skills over here). I seem to always overestimate the amount of fabric I'll need, and of the 6 1/2 metres I bought, I probably used somewhere between 3 and 4, which puts the total cost of the chair at around $35 (and it should be easy to find other uses for the leftover fabric - I've already got a project in mind).

Anyway, here's how it turned out (I know, it desperately needs to be ironed):

In addition to a good ironing, it needs a throw pillow or two, and I have to finish sewing the cushion covers (one side is still open while I try to work up the courage to try sewing in zippers).

A bunch of bloggers have posted slipcover tutorials, so I won't go into too much detail - I basically used kraft paper to create a template by holding it up to the chair and tracing each piece of upholstery. Then there was lots of pinning and re-pinning on the chair to get a tight fit. Once I had sewed the pieces together, I did a test fit on the chair and ripped out and re-sewed any seams that looked too wonky. Then I hemmed the bottom and sewed the cushion covers like you would any pillow. I spread it out over a couple of days, but it could easily be done in an afternoon.