Tuesday, August 23, 2011

Installing a "Brand X" T-Cushion Slipcover

1. Unfold the slipcover and locate the tag that says “back”. Stand behind your piece of furniture and loosely drape the slipcover over it, using the tag as a guideline.

2. Locate the two elastic loops on the underside seat area of your slipcover. Wrap the elastic loops around the back corners of the outer seat cushions. This will help secure your slipcover in place.

3. Determine the desired length of the front and back of the slipcover. Adjust the front and back length by accumulating all excelss fabric on the seat. Note: your slipcover is designed to fit a wide variety of furniture styles. As a result, there may be more fabric than you need.

4. Begin to customize the fit by centering the slipcover and aligning the slipcover arms to your furniture arms. Pull the slipcover snugly over the front ends and the top of the arms. Tuck loose fabric in the arm area of the slipcover at the bottom of the sofa arm. Then wrap and tuck the loose fabric on the lower portion of the slipcover under the outer edge of the t-cushion.

5. Tuck all excess fabric in the crevices of the furniture. Be sure to tuck between the arms and seat cushions, back and seat cushions, and between the arms and the back of the furniture. The tighter you tuck the excess fabric, the more fitted look you will achieve. (We recommend using the Loose-Fit tailoring set, which is sold separately, to secure your fabric in the crevices.

6. Center the slipcover skirt pleat with the middle of your furniture. Locate the straps on the slipcover skirt. Wrap the skirt tightly around the base of your furniture. Secure the straps in the back with the metal D-rings on the slipcover. Tighten the straps to create an attractive, finished look.

What about the wrinkles?

Your slipcover no doubt got a bit wrinkly while in its packaging. The wrinkles will disappear over time, once you have fitted the slipcover. If you have a steamer, run the steamer slowly over the slipcover after it is installed and smooth away the wrinkles.  A warm iron can be run over the slipcover to smooth out the wrinkles as well.

Saturday, January 29, 2011

Which type of sofa do I have? T cushion, square cushion or other...

A few common questions from our customers sound a little something like this:

Which type of sofa do I have? How do I know which slipcover to choose?

Well, in order to choose the correct slipcover, you's gots to know which kind o' ugly sofa you have? Am I right or am I right?

Of course I'm right.

Pottery Barn has divided all sofas into a few basic categories and made loose-fit slipcovers to cover said sofas. The first style is a t-cushion style. With a t-cushion type of sofa, the seat cushions come out in front of the arms of the sofa...like the ugly sofas posted here:




The next category is the square cushion sofa. Again, we're going off of the seat cushions so with the square cushion sofa the seat cushions butt up against the arms of the sofa...such as the following ugly sofas:





The third category is "everything else". For this category, Pottery Barn created the dropcloth slipcover. This type of slipcover is like a big piece of fabric that drapes over the sofa. It is easy to install and looks great! Of course, the dropcloth slipcover works well for the t-cushion or square cushion type of sofas as well.



I will do another blog post on measuring for your furniture in the next few days. In the meantime, just sit down and have a heart to heart with yourself and admit to yourself that you have an ugly sofa. Admission is the first step to getting help with your decor.

And save the environment by not throwing that old, tired, ugly sofa away.

Take a look at our products and let us know what you think.

Brent

Ugly Sofa? Slipcover it!