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Show Woman's World New Slipcovers Will Relieve Jaded Look of Tired Rooms " J2ij. lrtta JJa ietj. SLIP covers, whether you are planning plan-ning them as part of a redecorating redecorat-ing scheme or using them to cover new furniture pieces done in muslin, mus-lin, are an important part of a dramatic dra-matic decorating scheme, so it's a good idea to create styles that will enhance their surroundings. Today, many newcomers to the homemaking ranks prefer to buy chairs, sofas or chaise lounge with only the muslin cover so they can use their own choice of style and fabric for either a traditional slip cover or a permanent slip cover to resemble the upholstery. Even though you may be new to sewing, don't be afraid to tackle a slip cover project. The size need not overwhelm you as there is not much difficult sewing essential. And, if you want professional advice, there's a local sewing center which can give you latest decorating tricks and shortcuts to making them. Plan Style, Select Fabric First First decision in a sewing project 'of this type will be to decide the style you want to follow in decorating. deco-rating. After that you will know what to ask for in a fabric since patterns differ depending upon modern, 18th century or colonial, j Fabrics, you'll find, are plentiful, 'and there's a wide choice of floral, striped and plain designs running Select fabric to enhance furniture , . . the gamut from miniature to oversize over-size designs as well as the old stand-bys stand-bys in plain Color minus designs of any kind. Pick your fabric according accord-ing to size of the furniture piece; suit the type of room as well as the size of the furniture to be covered. It would be inadvisable, for example, exam-ple, to use a large, bold design for a large, overstuffed chair when a plain, small printed design would do more to minimize the chair size. Classic styles are nice to use when your room is of moderate proportions, propor-tions, and here, when you do not have too much space, it's wise to select solid colors neither too bright nor bold. Bold patterns are ideal for setting off plain wall backgrounds. Another An-other bright note in today's fabrics are the colored, coordinated designs that enable the home seamstress to as well as the room. mix stripes, floral and plain designs and still carry out the general color scheme in the room. You might find it effective to carry car-ry out a sofa in a striped fabric, another chair in plqin and still another chair in plain with either floral or striped fabric for trimming. If you have a very large couch you might cover that in a solid color and the pillow in floral or small stripes that are used elsewhere in the room, thus holding the decorative decora-tive scheme together. Select Cover By Furniture Type The classic slip cover with box-pleated box-pleated flounce is always popular for practically every type of furniture. However, if your sofa or chair has a streamlined appearance, you might try a straight flounce with practically practical-ly no pleats at all or a straight skirt with inverted corner pleats. For informal in-formal rooms, early American setting, set-ting, use a gathered flounce on chairs and sofa in keeping with the general atmosphere of the room. If your slip cover job is limited to antimacassars or miniature slip covers that cover back and arms of chairs, you'll follow the general procedure pro-cedure used in slip cover making. You will, however, have to give additional addi-tional thought to fabric selection for the project since most of the original furniture piece covering will be in plain view. Avoid color "or texture clashes. Procedure Given For Actual Work Alter you've decided on type oi cover, take measurements to estimate esti-mate yardage. Consider width of fabric selected in the final calculation. calcula-tion. Generous estimates will ' give best results and three inch tuck-in allowance where fabric receives strain is essential. You will need a three-quarter inch allowance for seams. ,r Follow measurements for cutting and leave generous seam allowances. allow-ances. Be sure to follow the grain of the fabric. Keep lengthwise on up and down; croswise grain, crosswise cross-wise chair. Seams should appear wherever there is one in the original upholstery. uphol-stery. Otherwise, the finished cover will not fit vith the precision it should. Finish With Trim Of Cording or Fringe Before joining the sections of slip cover, make trimming for seams and bottom edge. Applique cut-out flower clusters across back, seat or arms will have decorator appeal. The zigzagger attachment on the sewing machine can be used for this stitching job. To give a corded finish to slip covers, cov-ers, make a welting and use it to join slip cover sections and bottom edge of plain box finish. Welting is a cotton cord covered with a. bias strip of material. Cut bias one and one-half to one and three-quarters of an inch wide, depending upon cord used. Place cord in center of bias strip. Fold strip over, bringing the edges together. Stitch close to the cord with cording cord-ing foot attachment on sewing machine. ma-chine. The same fabric as used in the chair or sofa can be used for this finish or it can be contrasting. Closings for slip covers should be slide fasteners. Insert .them at side of back leg, applying it as you would on a placket. |