Fitted furniture cover

A furniture slipcover having an elastic band stitched at selected positions along the inside of the cover such that when the cover is placed on a furniture piece, such as a sofa or chair, the cover takes the shape of the furniture piece, thus eliminating the time consuming and expensive steps which are currently required to fit a cover to the furniture piece. Elastic bands are also provided which enable the cover to be gathered at desired portions such that the cover has a fitted and shaped look. A plurality of elastic ties are formed on the inside of the cover and are used to secure the cover to the furniture piece by tieing it around the furniture seat cushions.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
1. Field of the Invention 
The present invention relates to fabric slipcovers covering furniture 
pieces wherein a single sized cover can be utilized for most of the pieces 
of a specific furniture style. 
2. Description of the Prior Art 
The standard practice for covering various pieces of furniture is to have a 
designer order a specific fabric for the furniture piece and than to have 
skilled workers fit the fabric to the furniture piece. 
This procedure is very labor intensive and is a significant factor in the 
overall cost of having furniture pieces fitted with fabric. In addition, 
if the owner of the furniture piece desires to buy a different piece of 
furniture of the same style, the fitted cover of the older piece cannot be 
utilized, for the most part, for the newer piece, particularly if the 
newer piece is larger in length than the older piece. In either case, the 
labor extensive fitting procedure described above would still be required. 
It is therefore desired to provide a fabric cover which is adapted to fit 
most furniture pieces of a particular style without requiring the labor 
intensive fitting techniques of the prior art. 
SUMMARY OF THE PRESENT INVENTION 
The present invention provides a furniture cover which is designed such 
that it provides a fitted look for most of the furniture pieces of a 
particular style. The fabric from which the cover is made has a plurality 
of elastic bands stitched to the inside of the fabric cover. The elastic 
bands are stitched to particular areas around the inside periphery of the 
cover such that the elastic provides an inwardly directed force when the 
cover is placed upon the furniture piece, the force pulling the fabric 
cover close against the underlying furniture piece. In addition, elastic 
ties are stitched on the inside of the fabric cover and extends around 
some, or all, of the furniture seat cushions to secure the cover to the 
furniture piece. Finally, elastic bands are stitched to the inside of the 
cover at desired locations such that when the cover is fitted on the 
furniture piece, the non-stretched portions of the elastic bands cause the 
fabric attached thereto to gather or form ruffles 
The present invention thus provides a furniture cover which is designed to 
fit most pieces in a particular style and size of furniture and which can 
be easily installed by the purchaser. The cover also gathers or forms 
ruffles at predetermined positions on the fitted cover, allowing a stylish 
appearance. 
Thus, the present invention provides a furniture cover which is simple to 
install, is relatively inexpensive and which can be reused to cover other 
furniture pieces of the same style if the user desires to do so.

DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
Referring now to FIG. 1, a chair 10 is illustrated fitted with the fabric 
slipcover 12 of the present invention. Chair 10 has arm rests 14 and 16, 
back 18 and cushion, or seat, 20. A portion 22 of cover 12 forms a dust 
ruffle for chair 10. FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view along line 2--2 of 
FIG. 1 and shows arm rest 14, seat cushion 20 and cover 12. As 
illustrated, cover 12 comprises portion 23 which extends in an essentially 
vertical direction to cover the back of the chair 10, a portion 24 which 
comes up over the front portion thereof to cover arms 14 and 16, a portion 
26 which covers the seat 20 and a portion 28 which extends downward in the 
vertical direction to form the dust ruffle 22. An elastic band 30 is 
attached to the inner or rear surface of fabric 12 at the position 
illustrated and tied about cushion 20 to secure cover 12 to the furniture 
piece 10. 
As shown more clearly in the detail of FIG. 3, cover 12 has an elastic band 
34 secured on the inner surface 29 of cover 12, at a predetermined 
position by stitching (only a single stitch 35 is illustrated in the 
figure). 
Referring now to FIG. 4, an elastic band 40 is illustrated as stretched and 
stitched to the inner surface 29 of cover 12 and FIG. 5 is a 
cross-sectional view along line 5--5 of FIG. 4 showing the elastic band 40 
stitched to the cover 12 via a plurality of stitches 41. 
FIG. 6 shows the elastic band 40 of FIG. 4 in a relaxed position which in 
turn causes the cover 12 to gather along that portion of the cover 12 
which has the stretched elastic material stitched thereto. 
FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional view along line 7--7 of FIG. 6 and shows a 
plurality of folds 50 in fabric 12 formed on the front surface of cover 
12, providing a stylish gathering effect to the observer. 
FIG. 8 is a view illustrating a portion of cover 12 showing elastic tie 30 
attached to the inner surface 29 thereof by stitch 43. FIG. 9 shows a 
portion of cover 12 folded in a manner such that elastic tie 30 can be 
positioned around cushion 20 and tied at 45 to secure the cover 12 to the 
furniture piece 10. Preferably, the number of elastic ties provided 
corresponds to the number of furniture cushions. In the case of furniture 
piece 10, a single elastic tie is utilized (in the sofa 60 shown in FIG. 
10, three elastic ties are provided as will be described hereinafter). 
FIG. 10 illustrates another style 60 of a furniture piece with which the 
fitted cover of the present invention can be utilized. Piece 60, which is 
a three cushion sofa, has a cover 62, with a plurality of elastic bands 
sewn on the inside surface thereof to provide the fitted cover effect, 
stretched elastic bands to provide the gathering effect and also a 
plurality of elastic ties to secure the fitted cover 62 to the sofa 60, in 
an identical manner described with reference to the covering of piece 10. 
As illustrated in phantom in FIG. 10, three ties 64 are utilized to secure 
the cover 62 to the three sofa cushions 66, 68 and 70. 
The number and position of the elastic bands are selected on the basis of 
fit, whereby the elastic bands stretch and/or pull the fabric to conform 
and adjust to various sizes of sofas and chairs as to the respective 
width, depth, size of arm and height, so that one size can cover a 
multitude of sofa and chair sizes and styles. In addition, the number of 
elastic bands are selected on the basis of wearability, fashion and 
desired ruffling effect. The increase in the number of elastic bands 
allows more maneuverability in different parts of the sofa and/or chair, 
and for the fabric to adjust to the respective shares of arms, backs and 
height. The decrease in number of elastic bands would allow for less 
ruffling and maneuverability. 
It should be noted that the fitted cover described hereinabove with 
reference to furniture pieces 10 and 60 can be adapted for use with many 
other styles of furniture. 
The slipcover of the present invention is installed as follows: 
1. The slipcover is first placed on the back of the sofa or chair with the 
elastic tie positioned in front of the furniture piece. The elastic is 
then tied underneath the cushion; 
2. The cover is tucked into the space between the seat and back and between 
the arms and seats of the furniture piece; and 
3. The cover is pulled down around the furniture piece. The cover will 
stretch to give the appearance of a ruffle or may be tucked in to just 
touch the floor. 
The present invention thus provides a fitted and styled cover which can be 
simply installed by a purchaser and avoids the expense of the prior art, 
custom fitted covers. 
While the invention has been described with a reference to its preferred 
embodiment, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various 
changes may be made and equivalents may be substituted for elements 
thereof without departing from the true spirit and scope of the invention. 
In addition, modifications may be made to adapt a particular situation or 
material to the teachings of the invention without departing from its 
essential teachings.