Design: "Toga" sofa wrap

After researching the cost of re-covering this lovely antique Regency-style sofa, I had a mixed blessing kind of wake-up call occur.  When a housemate moved out in June, I discovered blue ink stains on the upholstered desk chair seat and down comforter cover in her room.   These are two items that belong to me.  It woke me up as to how very upset I would be if ink stains appeared on my newly recovered antique sofa. 

 So I decided to create a sofa wrap that could be easily removed and laundered and would not be a major investment of funds---at least while I welcome others to sharing my house.

The wood details of the sofa are features that I wanted to expose.  So instead of dropping a cover over and blanketing the entire sofa, I developed ways of draping the fabric (cotton painter's drop cloth) over the sofa that would still allow some of these distinctive features of the sofa to be revealed.

 I cut a linear opening across the center back, and bound it somewhat like a giant button hole, so that the wood across the back of the sofa can display its character. 

To hold the "button hole" closed and prevent it from pulling downward when someone sits on the sofa, I fashioned and attached straps (of the same fabric) to the front and back sides of the opening and tied the straps together.

It's a casual, comfortable and somewhat serene solution that I believe will work for us.

Above image from:  www.theweebsite.com/earlygarb/toga.html