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Imagine a world in which every day you could have a different house full of furniture, changed at a whim to suit your mood. On Saturday simple chenille prints, then change to silk brocade on Monday and to a heavy woolen print that Wednesday. Replace that with simple white cotton or the most stain-resistant polyester blend imaginable when the nephew comes to visit. This is not a pipedream of a far-flung future - not at all! This is the exciting world of slipcovers.
Slipcovers have been with us forever – the first was probably created by Urg the caveman long before written history thought it important enough to document such things as interior decorating.
Imagine poor Urg coming home day after day after a hard day fighting wild beasts and having to listen to his wife complained about the fact that the stone she had to sit on day in and day out to feed his child is a particularly ugly shade of gray.
Slow to understand why she cared what color the rock was Urg may have take a while to respond sympathetically, until one day he came home to see the skin he had thrown over it for cleaning the night before being used as a cushion and noting his now happy wife started bringing home more skins just for that purpose.
Examples of Slipcovers
For years just as in this early example slipcovers really were just a way to change an existing piece of furniture to a different look, or to protect that furniture from being worn out by providing a separate outside cover as needed. Today however an interesting new trend is developing in which furniture designed for slip covers is hitting the market. Want a white linen look? Put on the appropriate cover. Looking for a more elegant blue-pattern satin to impress the boss? A quick change of clothing and the tone is set … the advantages are obvious the only real question is why did it take so long?
You could say that everything old is new again. The modern revival of slipcovers really took place around 1999 when the slip cover network hit the airways but they based the concept on the fact that in renaissance Europe few pieces of furniture existed and simple slipcovers were used to protect the expensive and rare pieces as well as change their look as they moved from one location and purpose to another throughout the house.
In the 18th century rich materials like silk and printed cotton were far too expensive to permanently mount to a piece of furniture that could not be easily cleaned so removable and replaceable upholstery made sense. This concept was brought to the Americas in the form of ‘upholsterers’ who would come to fit the slipcover and choose the material then go back and create them to be sent to the customers home.
The Machine Driven Age of Furniture
This type of specialized artisan has long been replaced by our machine-driven age and by the advent of upholstered furniture on which material and padding was already lavishly applied. Since the average masses were now washed more often then the once-a-year previous record and cleaning materials and supplies were improved to an all-time record level this inexpensive and cheap to manufacture approach seemed a boon to both consumer and manufacturer.
No longer did the craftsman have to carefully mate his tongue and groove and glue it into place to create a seamless join. The workings of the furniture will be hidden beneath cotton batten and material! Any screw or nail that will hold was acceptable so quick mass produced furniture became all the rage on the development side, and the public latched on to it too since the rich fabrics and relatively inexpensive costs were exactly what they had longed for. And the art of furniture making dwindled …
Still available from the Amish and certain high-end specialized furniture manufacturers hardwood furniture that had been the norm became specialized and expensive. Each piece was turned out hand crafted and delicately carved with a commiserate price – and slowly the trend shifted again back towards these heirloom quality pieces for rocking chairs and some sitting chairs – but not the sofa.
The Sofa as First Candidate for Slipcovers
The sofa it seemed was destined to remain firmly fixed in the new and inexpensive manufacturing method … until the daybed become popular.
Daybeds and their cousins the futon took advantage of both worlds – using throw pillows and blankets (rudimentary slipcovers) as well as exposed framework manufactured in mass produced workshops they had both the look of high-end stand-alone furniture and provided a couch with an ‘upholstered’ surface as desired. And the wheel turns …
Enter today where the couch and sofa has again entered the world of adjustable upholstery as well. Still using the mass production techniques that keep the cost of creating the framework down, and placing the padding and support in place the new slipcover sofas had removable exterior covers rather then hard fastened upholstery.
Urg and his wife would have loved it … and once you try one on for size I suspect you will too!
Keep reading about sofa slipcovers here...
MarshMallow couches
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on my EBooks and Reports.