On a recent Selby visit, we spotted this fabric-draped sofa in the wonderful home of Hitoshi Uchida-san – owner of J’Antiques Tokyo (check out the full story). The beauty of it is that the sofa is covered with a really big swath of fabric that can bunch and drape luxuriously. The fabric is wide enough to go from the floor in front of the sofa, over the seat, up the back and hang over by a couple of feet – not something the usual 54-inch width of fabric can do. But where do you find affordable fabric like this?

We’ve had great luck at paint and home stores, like Janovik and Home Depot. We’ve been surprised to find painter’s drop cloths made out of 100% cotton canvas and even, on occasion linen. They come in a variety of sizes. The key is in finding the color of fabric you like – or we should say the degrees of neutral. We’ve seen them range from white to off-white to beige to a lovely grayish brown. We still have drop cloths that be bought many years ago; we’ve even used them as a bedspread.

remodelista via kikette interiors

Here’s one used to make a bedskirt:

rusticartblog.com

We’ve seen furniture upholstered in drop cloth canvas, as well as table cloths and curtains made out of them.

We’re thinking that cotton drop-cloths would take well to being embellished with fabric paint.

Drop cloths come hemmed, though can look beautiful with the edges scissor-cut like the “slipcover” above. We recommend going to a store to actually SEE the drop cloth rather than buying online. The colors and weights can vary greatly and actually seeing them helps figure what will work for you. We’ve been known to buy a few to take home and check out, returning what we don’t want. (Make sure the store will take them back.) If you can only buy online, we recommend starting at Amazon and checking out their drop cloths; they have a good variety, though it’s not easy to tell color accuracy.

Related posts: stylish d-i-y fabric disguises for ugly furniture
“guest” chair: a charming play on “guest book”
copy this: paint a pillow…sofa…bedspread…curtain…
blank-canvas furniture

11.30.11 | in cheap + great, copy this!, d-i-y, elements, furniture, inside, repurpose, resources, soft, solutions |
trackback | tags: cotton drop clothes, drop cloth bedspread, drop cloth for home decorating, drop cloth sofa cover, extra-wide bargain cotton