Pello.
A friend in Austin bought a couple of Pello chairs recently. The ivory canvas cushions were too plain for her place and I volunteered to make new cushions for her (a fun weekend project….afterall it was raining all weekend). She sent me the cushions and 5 yards of Amy Butler’s ‘Imperial Fans‘. Once I received them I realized it would be no small task, mostly due to all the little flaps and spaces that I knew IKEA had precisely engineered to fit the frame (which I did not have) and I did not want to let my friend down.
I also thought about writing a tutorial, because once I gave the process a little more thought, I realized it would not be too hard or tricky and anyone with a rudimentary sewing foundation could do this. While making the cushions (2 chairs) was a bit of fun, writing the tutorial was not. So I stopped. If anyone thinks this would be useful, please leave me a comment and I will continue to sort out all the verbiage and pictures. Otherwise, the photos will have to suffice. Success!
ooo this is an answer to my prayers – I have one of these chairs and it has the cream base cushion which is looking a bit tired. I was wanting to make a cover but i’m a pretty basic sewer so any help/guidance would be great!
Thanks, Sarah, UK
Good to know! It will take me a while to sort out the words (I’m a visual person….I see something and just make it, ya know?) and it may take a few tries! I will put up a post once it’s ready! It’s good that you already have the chair and cushion, because that will help you visualize what you are making!
great fabric and I’m sure there are loads of people out there that would love to recover their Pello chairs. Lots of luck on the tutorial!!
Ok, that’s 2 votes pro-tutorial! I’m going to resurrect it….and give it a try.
fantastic fabric and covers.
wow. your detail is very impressive!
They should be delivered to my friends tonight……drumroll……..*hoping they fit properly*
I also submitted them to IKEA hacker and she accepted them! yay!
I have been wanting to cover one of those comfy chairs. Great work.
I would love a tutorial because I’ve been trying to get up the nerve to recover mine!
A tutorial would be awesome.
I have two of these chairs in my apartment.. they’ve been waiting to be recovered for months! yours look amazing. a tutorial would be super helpful!
Oh boy! I’m feeling the heat now.
It’s on. I will try my very best……and, worst case scenario, everyone can just send me their cushions! Lol…
I’ve been fully intending to have a go at covering mine for a while – my sewing skills are basic but I have a machine and would LOVE a tutorial – every time i thought about making a start it just seemed more complicated than i had originally thought, having some guidelines would totally help me to make it happen – thanks!!!!!
Please post a tutorial! I’m just learning to sew and will never figure it out on my own.
The tutorial is about 1/2way there…..I hate myself for not writing it while I was making it, because now my memory is foggy at best. I will write a post, and maybe email an update at IKEA Hacker when the tutorial is ready for testing! :0)
oh yes! please post your tutorial! I have these chairs and they are starting to look not so creamy anymore, thanks to Wendell the cat.
I’ll vote yes for a tutorial. I have one of these, and tons of fabric just waiting to get sewn up. I was going to attgempt it on my own, so I’ll definitely use your pics as a reference, but a toot would be nice! Great job, BTW!
Another vote for the tutorial. Please do!
In the mean time, if you could let us know how much fabric one needs, that would be awesome!
Well, it depends on the fabric pattern. If you have a patterned fabric, and you need to ensure alignment, I would get 6 yards for 2 cushions (so, 3 yards for 1 cushion). You will have a long, thin strips left (about 14″ wide) over that you could use to make pillows or tote bags. I’m a firm believer in having leftover fabric (due to mistakes while cutting), so these yardages reflect that philosophy.
If you have solid fabric, you could get away with 2 to 2.5 yards and you will still have the left-over strips.
This is all assuming that you use a thin muslin for the center of the back side (which you will never see). You will need about 2 yards of that.
You will also need (4) 22″ zippers.
I would love a tutorial too! I have this chair and it looks terrible right now!
Sorry to keep bugging you about this.
(I think I posted on a newer post about it) I would love love love a tutorial. I have the black cushions, which I bought because I have kids and pets, but it turns out the material is a hair and dirt MAGNET!
Thanks for all your hard work though!
I just stumbled across your site today and I love it (it has been added to my current list of favorites).
You are a very talented seamstress – thank you for sharing your creations and tutorials with us.
I would LOVE a tutorial for the pello cushions as well. I have some very old cuhions that have need replacing for a long time now but I just can’t bear to buy new cushions as I am very unsatisfied with the fabrics available.
Tanks again foir your site. It brought me much joy this morning.
I’m so sorry this hasn’t been done…..I need to actually buy a chair and start from scratch.
G’day,
I’m so glad I found something to help with recovering my Pellos! I almost got rid of them just because I got sick of marks on the cream covers. I would LOVE LOVE LOVE a tutorial.
PLEASE POST THE TUTORIAL! I am dying to know how you did this, I would love to give my pello a new face!
Thanks!
Hey Elena,
I have to write it first….and that’s the daunting part. I think I will try this next. It should around in the late fall sometime…..
Thanks for the response. I’m sorry to hear it is such a daunting project, but the result is so beautiful!
I love the rest of the blog!
I’ll keep checking back
I finally got around to recovering my chairs! Thanks for your inspiration.
http://www.streetsandyos.com/archives/2008/11/recovering_ikea.php
Hi, your pello cushion is outstanding.
Any chance you’ve got that Tutorial out there yet?
How much would you say it cost you to make the cushion?
Thanks!
i know this is an old post, but…we just picked up 2 pello chairs off craigslist with the intent to recover them. i read your fabric yardage recommendations but am wondering, how wide was the fabric you used? i have 2yds of 59″ wide upholstery weight fabric that i’ve just been dying to use and thought i could use it to cover one chair if i use the muslin backing.
also, did you cut your binding on the bias or just straight up and down?
thanks so much for all the pics on your flickr–it’s almost tutorial enough for me
Hi Veronica – I think if you do the back in muslin you should be fine. This was decorator weight fabric, so it was also 60″ in width. But, I used the fabric for the front and back. Oh – and I cut my binding up/down – I didn’t have the fabric to spare for true bias binding.
Post pictures if you can!
Yay! I did it!! You can see here: http://walterandveronica.blogspot.com/2010/02/oh-pello-there.html
I also cut my binding up and down and it didn’t seem to cause any problems.
xoxo
Veronica,
I’m not able to log on to the blog where your Pello slipcovers are….would you please post on the www?
Muchas gracias! Rookie seamstress here who needs all the help she can get! Cheers! Lia
Lia,
You can see them here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/walterandveronica/4327480929/
xo
I love your Pelli covers they are beautiful. I’ve found some lovely fabric that I want to cover mine in and stumbled across your blog whilst searching for a pattern. Any more detailed help much appreciated. I have some sewing skills but mostly in clothes. Thanks!