How to Sew a Rocking Chair Slipcover

I’m going to preface this post by saying that I’m not a great sewer, heck I’m not even a good sewer. There are many other better tutorial posts out there for sewing rocking chair cushions, I’m sure, but if you’re practically afraid of your sewing machine like I was, my tutorial might be a good one for showing you how to do it the easy way and prove that you can do it even with little to no skills (like myself!) If you saw my Home Office and Lounge Makeover Reveal last week, then you’ll have noticed my pretty little rocking chair – I’m so glad I decided to swallow my fears and make a rocking chair slipcover!

The first step is to measure your cushions and approximate the amount of fabric you’ll need (I picked out this fun gray and white swiss cross print). I ended up buying 3 yards of fabric and wished I would have bought another half a yard or so just to account for error or wider sew margins. But I made it work with 3 yards – I just had to be more precise and cut my pieces closer together to waste the least amount of fabric possible.

I set each of my cushions on top of my fabric and traced an outline around each piece with a fabric pencil, leaving a 2 inch margin all the way around the cushion to account for seams. You can see that my cushions were originally a 90s-style pastel stripey mish-mash. Nope. No thank you.

I then cut out the piece and then traced the fabric piece I had just cut so I had the other side of the cover for the cushion. By tracing the fabric the second time instead of the cushion again, I ensured that both pieces were the same size.

I then flipped both pieces so that the ‘pretty sides’ were facing in and placed them around the cushion itself. So the cushion was sandwiched between the two pieces of fabric. I then pulled both edges of the fabric pieces, pressed them together, and pinned them with sewing pins.

To make sure the seams of the slipcover will be in the middle of the sides I pulled the fabric pieces together and pinned right at the middle seam of the existing cushion. After that, I removed the actual cushion from inside the pinned slipcover and ran the fabric through my sewing machine. I used around a 4 tension and had the stitches really close together so that the seam would be strong.

I removed the pins as I went. Once I had gone all the way around the perimeter I turned off my sewing machine. Make sure you backstitch at the beginning and end so your thread doesn’t come loose! I left the bottom completely unsewn so I could fit my cushion back in the slipcover.

I then flipped the slipcover right side out, inserted the cushion, and then handstitched the bottom. I stitched it in a way that I could easily undo it if I wanted to get the cushion out, but will still be firm for everyday use. You could put a zipper in here, which would have been better, but since I didn’t have a lot of time, plus being a novice sewer, I just decided to do it this way.

I put the finished slipcovered cushions back on my rocking chair in my new lounge/home office and the transformation is just stunning!! The project took me about 3.5 hours, but it wasn’t necessarily hard, just time consuming. I’m just so pleased that it turned out well!

I love the swiss cross pattern and the neutral gray and white color scheme. It fits in so perfectly in my new space! This rocking chair will also be wonderful for when we turn this space into a nursery. The gray and white can be perfect for a boy or a girl! 🙂

It pairs fantastically with my Bloom pillow, DIY modern mobile, Gallery Wall, and Triangle Shelves (tutorial coming soon!) My office/lounge has such a cozy corner now that’s perfect for kicking up my feet with a good book!

For more pictures of my rocking chair in it’s new home and links to tutorials for the rest of my office/lounge projects, head here for the full details! You won’t be disappointed, promise 😉

Do you like to sew?