Heavy-Duty Covers

• Use heavy-duty fabrics when covering frequently used chairs in your home. Maybe the chair has seen better days and is now stained or torn, or you want to protect new furniture. Covers prolong the life of the chair.
  
  Take some measurements of your chair. Measure the height, the width and the depth. Most fabrics will not be wide enough to completely cover your chair, which makes it necessary to sew pieces together to make one wide piece. If you have to sew pieces together to get the right width, start with two pieces of fabric cut to the correct length. Cut one of those pieces in half lengthwise. Sew those to either side of the uncut length. This gives you seams that should match up with the sides of the chair instead of one down the center of the back of the chair. Make sure to hem the cover all the way around the bottom edges to prevent the fabric from unraveling.
  
  

Tulle Covers

• Tulle works well for most types of chairs offered by churches and reception halls. Tulle is easy since it needs no sewing. Cut about three yards of tulle for each chair. Drape the tulle over the chair. Gather the excess tulle at the back of the chair and wrap a ribbon around it to make a bow. Use ribbon that matches the decorations for the event.
  
  

Cotton

• Use cotton fabric to cover rental chairs for a less formal event. Purchase calicos for tea or birthday parties. You will need about three yards of fabric for each chair. Make sure to hem the fabric on all sides before draping it over the chair. Use a needle threaded with a generous length of narrow ribbon to gather up the excess fabric on either side of the chair. Tie a bow with the length of ribbon. You can use coordinating prints when using calicos if you cannot get enough of any one kind of fabric.