When Jackie taught me how to make slipcovers I had a friend from work who wanted to learn too, so I invited her over. She asked Jackie, “Why don’t you cut it wrong side out so you can pin it together on the chair?” Jackie said , “Chairs get rumpsprung.” That means when they get some wear on the chair it’s not symmetrical anymore. The object is to get an exact fit. 1/2″ makes a difference. Then my friend asked Jackie , “Why don’t you cut it on the half so you can work on a table instead of pinning each piece to the upholstery?” Jackie lost her patience with my friend and asked her, “Do you want it to fit or not?”
This friend also had her own sewing at home business and I worked with her on and off for years then we lost touch. We met again at a store and she talked about needing a slipcover. I could see my friend was in no shape physically to cut the slipcover so I told her I’d help. We talked about making a video for Utube with slipcover lessons.
My friend sewed her slipcover that I cut for her but I didn’t get invited over to see it. Finally after months I got an invite back to her house and she had a sheet over the sofa. I took the sheet off and saw those difficult front arm pieces were twisted. I told her to rip it and fix it. I knew she didn’t follow my instructions on doing a fitting for those pieces.
It’s difficult, physically tiring and time consuming. For me it’s worth the effort because it looks like I have new furniture at a fraction of the cost. But not many people will go through the hard work of making it fit as closely as possible. Plus it’s too complicated to write down instructions. So I don’t know if I’ll ever get the opportunity to pass on the Jackie Hill method.
Sisterhood of the Muse 
Feb 19, 2014 @ 15:33:38
I slip-covered one chair, once. It was a lot of work, took a lot of time and while my work was adequate, it wasn’t great. I’m better at making the kind of chair covering that fits loosely and ties in the back with long ties. I think if I’d made more slip covers I would have done a better job but after the 1st one, just couldn’t dedicate the time and energy with joy in my heart.
Feb 19, 2014 @ 17:05:15
yeah, The 1st one is the hardest. But I got burned out on the 1st one too and didn’t do any for years. Then I did a lot of them and got tired of it again. Now I’m enjoying it but I’m not sewing for customers. I’d rather go out and draw any day. A lot of people like the loose fit. One customer got mad at me because I told her I’m not doing a loose fitting slipcover.
Feb 21, 2014 @ 10:12:17
Too bad your daughter has no patience for sewing. Or drawing. Or anything really.
Feb 21, 2014 @ 12:56:56
hahaha you have enough patience to work toward long term goals. You’ll probably feel more patient as you get older. But if sewing isn’t your thing just forget about it.