What I did was make a paper pattern tracing the arms and the area of the headrest..added a seam allowance and then made covers which fit over the fabric. I attached them by making the sides of the arms longer on the inside so they could be stuffed below the cushion level, for the head rest it was more of an odd shaped pillowcase you pulled over the actual headrest. It worked for me. I made 2 sets once I found how well the first worked and washed one and used the other as needed. Lasted years and extended the fabric on the chair so it is like new. The fabric I found was a bolt end that didn't exactly match but compliamented the original fabric.

Hi Budster:
Thanks for your quick response.
Just wondering how you did the ends of the arm rests. Do the covers enclose the end of the chair or are they open on the end?
This is a light biege chair and really needs to be protected.
Sounds like we have a lot of the same interests. I love to fish, camp, quilt, make homemade soap and weave baskets.
My husband and I are both retired.

I left them open but remember that these sleeves fitted on quite tightly (I didn't want things to shift) I could have made the back end enclosed but didn't bother....or had an overlap that closed with velco .....could have worked either way on my chair.