Welcome to the Slipcover Network
This website was the brain child of Karen Erickson of Slipcover America in Seattle, Washington and Pat Reese, slipcover artist /teacher from Ft Worth, Texas.

Both Pat and Karen have belonged to several online support Home Decor forums. There are network groups for hard window treatments, soft window treatments, workrooms, designers, decorators, upholsters and more. Pat and Karen noted there were no networks or associations for Slipcover Professionals. After many hours, and a lot of work, the Slipcover Network was launched on the internet February 1, 1999.

A little past history

Slipcovers have been with us, throughout time. In Medieval and in Renaissance Europe, furniture was scarce and moved from room to room, cushions eased the hardness of wooden stools and chairs. This also introduced color to a nearly empty interior. In wealthy English households in the 18th century, simple tailored slipcovers were used to protect chair seats which were covered in rare and costly silk brocades. In the 19th century, slipcovers of brightly printed cottons were very popular in Europe and America and became a stylish decoration as well as a shield against dirt and sunlight.

Immigrants brought the slipcover trade to America. Men would go to customers homes to cut the slipcovers and then bring them back for the women to sew. As the years have gone by, these crafts people have vanished, and thus the quality and expertise of the trade has become limited. In the past, large department stores use to do slipcovers, but why would a department store continue to make slipcovers, if their overhead could be less regarding labor and they could cut their costs by selling the public new furniture.

Today

Slipcovers are to furniture what clothing is to the body. They camouflage, dress up or down, give character, and convery style. They also protect upholstery. While slipcovers can mimic the upholstery they mask, they also offer a great way to transform ones decor from formal to casual, traditional to exotic. They can add color, pattern, softness, give a seasonal lift, and make an odd piece of furniture feel at home. Unlike clothing, most slipcovers must be designed and made to order, and with a few exceptions, commercial patterns are not available. Slipcovers have made the full circle, and in 1999 folks in the USA simply aren't sure how to get them custom made. Ready-made vs Custom slipcovers, some folks are very confused. Not understanding the difference in quality, fit and price. Custom slipcovers, with the appropriate choice of fabric for the customer's lifestyle, is the right answer. It is the Slipcover Professional who will help guide the customer to make the right choice for their needs.

The Network

Will serve many purposes for many people. It will be a way customers can find Slipcover Professionals in their area, through the USA Slipcover Directory; all interested in the Slipcover trade can BLOG to discuss problems, look for supplies or just delight in a project well done, knowing that this will be the only network that will deal solely with slipcover concerns; Slipcover Classes Scheduled for those who want to know more about slipcovers, designers, decorators, workrooms, and the retail market can have special classes tailored for their fields of expertise; Feature of the Month, once a month feature regarding Slipcovers; and of course LINKS to others on the internet.

About the Network Co Founders

Pat Reese educated University of New York at Buffalo and Texas Women's University in Denton, Texas. Interior decorator since 1996 and fabricator of slipcovers and draperies since 1970. Has operated workrooms in Fort Worth/Dallas since 1974. Currently is operating a decorating/workroom studio. Pat, age 69 is a native Texan and a grandmother .

Publications: Architectural Digest (1972, 1976, 1980) Texas Homes (1982, 1984-85) Dallas/Fort Worth Homes and others. Taught adult education and self-organized slipcover and drapery making classes. One can contact Pat through the Slipcover Directory at this website.

Karen Erickson educated at Puget Sound Community College, Washington and Chaffey College, California in Photo Journalism. Karen has been in the Home Decor business since 1986, in St Louis, Missouri. Previous to that, she taught Needlework crafts and managed Sales/PR for two national companies Artcraft Concepts, and Athena Craft in Southern California. In 1998, her business of window treatments and slipcovers became a corporation Slipcover America, Inc.

Karen works with designers, decorators and retail customers throughout the USA, specializing in "ON-SITE" fabrication (in the customers home). She was on staff at the Professional Drapery School in Swannanoa, N.C. (now CHF in Charlotte, NC) as the Slipcover Instructor. Today you will find Karen doing Seminars or Demonstrations of slipcovering at fabric stores, sewing guilds, or professional workrooms, designer and decorator groups. She also has teamed up with Claudia Buchanan of Sew What Decor and started Sonoran Sewing Experience which specializes in Home Decor Sewing west of the Rocky Mountains from Arizona to Canada.

At age 53, Karen is a single mother who raised two sons, one a Music graduate from Florida State University and the other a Environmental Biologists from Lewis and Clark College in Portland, Oregon.