How to Make a Leather Slipcover for Your Bedroom Headboard
There’s never a bad time to up your bedroom’s romance factor. One particular project is to make a leather slipcover for your headboard. Leather is an enduring material that will modernize your bedroom without the high price of a new headboard. You can even buy a thrift store headboard to modify with a slipcover. The project is easier than you might think and can be completed in a single afternoon. If you have never made a headboard slipcover before, you will find the project easiest if your headboard is a standard rectangular shape. Does this Spark an idea?
Things You'll Need
- Existing headboard
- Tape measure
- 2 pieces of leather fabric
- Heavy-duty straight pins
- Sewing machine with needle for leather
- Thick thread
Instructions
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1
Measure the height and width of your existing headboard with a tape measure. Measure the height according to where you want the slipcover to fall to. Allowing the legs of the headboard to show tends to be desirable.
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2
Buy two sheets of leather fabric about 12 inches larger than you know you will need. It’s better to have a little too much material than not enough.
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3
Place one sheet of leather, finished side up, on a large, flat work surface. The floor is a sufficient work area.
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4
Lay the headboard on top of the leather so the headboard is parallel with all edges of the leather. Top the headboard with the second piece of leather, finished side down. If the slipcover was sewed at this point, it would be inside out.
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5
Lift up the edges of the leather and hold them together. Ensure that the edges of the material line up, and pin the material in place around sides and top of the headboard. Avoid pinning the leather too snuggly to the headboard.
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6
Slide the headboard out the side that has no pins. This must be done gently, so you don't dislodge the pins.
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Take the pinned leather to a sewing station and sew just inside the pins with a sewing machine and thick thread. Be careful to only sew three of the four sides, leaving the bottom open. Remove the dress pins as you sew.
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8
Trim the excess leather material to about 1/2 inch from the stitches.
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9
Turn the slipcover right side out.
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10
Fold the bottom edge under 1/2 inch, pin the material in place, and sew a bottom hem.
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11
Position the headboard in the bedroom and slip the new leather slipcover on it.
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Tips & Warnings
The slipcover will look best if the headboard is only a few inches thick or even thinner.
Choose a color of leather that will complement your wall and bed covering, not a hue that will compete with it.
References
- Photo Credit Stockbyte/Stockbyte/Getty Images
