How to select slipcovers for sofas

And outside of furnishings for the bedroom, sofas can be one of the most expensive pieces of furniture in your house. So naturally you will want to protect that investment from food stains, pet hair and odor plus the ordinary wear and tear of daily living. This is why buying a few sofa slipcovers can save you a ton of money.But ordering a slipcover for your sofa may not be as easy as you might think. There are certain things you need to know. First there are two main ways that slipcovers are manufactured or made. The most common method is by mass-production. With this the “ready-made slipcover” is designed to fit over a large array of different sofas from different manufacturers. The other method is when a sofa slipcover is hand-sewn by professionals and custom fitted the individual piece. This type of slipcover for a sofa is often called “tailor-mades”.How To Select Sofa SlipcoversThe problem with finding the right sofa slipcover is that sofas come in several different styles and designs. You must pick out the sofa slipcover that fits your piece as close as possible. This is especially important when ordering ready-made covers. Now one the factors you need to think about when looking to buy a sofa slipcover is to notice how your sofa is made. Sofas are categorized by the four different styles of their seat backs: tight back, attached pillow back, loose pillow back and multi pillow back. Tight Back – A tight back sofa is considered to have the firmest seat since their backs have no cushions or pillows that you can “lean back and sink into”. This gives the person sitting a very upright and formal sitting posture. Slipcovers for tight back sofas have a very smooth, snug fitting appearance. Ready-made sofa slipcovers look the best on this type of sofa.Attached Pillow Back – This type of sofa uses permanently fastened cushions or pillows to soften the lines of the sofa along the back. This allows you to sit more comfortably but still keep a neat and tidy look. The cushions on this type of sofa once stained are difficult to hide. You can get a nice sofa slipcover that fits well but you may have to use padding to even out the spaces between the cushions.Loose Pillow Back – These types of sofas have an equal number of seat and back cushions. This allows you to flip over the pillows to help hide any stains but you can run into trouble trying to match up stripes or patterns. This is one of the more difficult pieces to find a ready-made sofa slipcover that will fit properly. You will have to use padding to fill the cracks and hold the pillows down.Multi Pillow Back – This kind of sofa is also called a scatter back since the back cushions outnumber the seat cushions and are “scattered around” along the back. These sofas are very popular because you can just sink back and relax in their many pillows. But they are the most difficult furniture piece to find sofa slipcovers for. The extra pillows don’t like to lay flat at the back and you may have to remove one or two  toget any type of snug fit.Now that you know how your sofa’s styling can impact the fit of a sofa slip cover, you are ready to get going looking for a slipcover for your sofa that will protect your furnishing and look great at the same time.