Slipcovers vs. Drop Cloth for Furniture
Have you seen the blogs where people make stuff out of drop cloths?
Apparently you can make drapes and pillows and cushions and even wreaths from home improvement store drop cloths.
Go figure…
About 25 years ago, I made slipcovers for all our upholstered furniture. I used natural cotton duck that I had preshrunk at the industrial laundry.
We still have the sofa and 2 chairs.
I put them in our living room in this house because even though we’re in the middle of our reno and this room isn’t done, we need something to sit on. And I love the practicality of slipcovered pieces. Especially with all the dust a remodel generates.
This is our temporary living room.
But our living room is huge — 16 by 25 feet — and we needed another sofa.
We have another one but I never made a slipcover for it. So I decided I needed to cover it.
And the first thing I thought of was — a drop cloth!
My idea was to get a really big one and just drape it over the sofa. Then tuck it a little. Pleat it a little. And use some upholstery twist pins to hold it in place.
And be done with it.
Easy enough right?
Well….
I headed to Lowe’s to get my drop cloth. I got the largest size they had. 9 x 12.
I brought it home and opened it up.
The first thing I noticed was that it had a really strong chemical smell.
Oh well, it probably just needs to air out a bit.
So I draped it over.
The second thing I noticed was that it wasn’t long enough. It didn’t even come close to covering the length of the sofa. Hmmmmm… going to have to buy another one to make this work.
The third thing I noticed was — I can’t deal with the smell.
So I decided to wash it. Surely that will take the smell away.
Into the washer it went. Then into the dryer.
The fourth thing I noticed was that I could’ve made a mattress out of all the lint it left behind in the lint trap. Seriously, it was about 4 inches thick loaded up on there….
The fifth thing I noticed was — washing and drying it didn’t get rid of the smell.
But I was determined!
The sixth thing I noticed was that not only did it leave enormous amounts of lint in my dryer — now I was covered in lint. And lint balls. And so was my sofa where I had put it back on there. Everything it touched was covered with lint balls.
How were people’s clothes going to look after sitting on this thing???
Maybe I better rethink this.
Now I’m a really tenacious person and I really wanted this to work.
But it was too short. It smelled bad. And it was really lint-y.
It was time to let it go.
Besides — the color didn’t go with the rest of the room.
Here is what I’ve learned about drop cloths:
Apparently they are not all created equal
Apparently my Lowe’s store didn’t get the memo that they’re not just for painting anymore. They’re for drapes. And cushions. And pillows and wreaths.
Apparently my Lowe’s store needs to get the right kind of drop cloths!
So I went to the fabric store and bought 16 yards of cotton duck, fired up my sewing machine and made a slipcover.
Bella loves this slipcover!
And now I have enough drop cloth material to make about 9,000 wreaths.
If I could only get past the smell…
PS For a great tutorial about how to make your own slipcovers, check this out