For what it's worth, I'm a professional seamstress. I tailor clothes, don't do a lot of home dec - but I would not in my wildest dreams try to slipcover a recliner. Nope, nope, nope. The slippery-ness of the leather would be only the first of the of the problems.

Actually, man-friend brought a similar item to my house and it was jettisoned about a year ago, because I hated the color and because I couldn't vacuum under it.

I'd add, too, that if one uses inexpensive fabric it will look shabby in weeks, not months, and using good quality fabric will cost half as much (or more) than a new piece of furniture, and you have to do all that work yourself.

ETA: I don't foresee ever buying a recliner, for that reason. We're casual people, and purchased a love seat that would easily accommodate an off-the-shelf slipcover.

I have done home dec sewing as a business in the past.

I did make a slipcover for one recliner, my own. There were several caveats to be accounted for and some artistic license taken. but, it was mine so I could do whatever suited me. I would never have taken that on for a customer.---never.

I prefer simple furniture that can be easily slipcovered.

The sectional has bottom cushions and top cushions. They all come off. The bottom could easily be done without the leather on them. I'd have to beef them up a bit to provide some additional support and the sewing would be pretty simple. The back/upper cushions are zipped to the back but they are removable. They could have the leather removed, beefed up again to provide support and then it would work. As for the leg portion of the recliner I would leave it be as it matches the leather on the bottom of each section. I'm leaning towards a grey or navy material. I think I'm going to start with the new paint on the walls then go to some pillows in a contrasting fabric. If that doesn't satisfy me then I think I will progress to the bottom cushions and see if that helps. I've sewn for 40 years so I'm not really intimidated by this. Yes, the materials would be costly but 15 years ago we spend 8k on this sectional, if I can avoid spending a large chunk on furniture again and just give it a makeover I think I'd rather go that way with it. There are a total of 5 bottom and top cushions.

Well, good luck on that. Really. If your cushion are separate it will make it easier. Sometimes you run into details that you did not anticipate, such as trying to engineer around some manner of how something joins to something else when some other element is in the way. You say that the back seat cushions are zippered to the back of the couch. That is likely what keeps them in place. Unless the new cover also zippers to the back, you might have a problem. That is the kind of thing that I am thinking of.

Good luck. Sounds like a sewing adventure!!

In the long run, it would be more successful to have them reupholstered. My mother had a leather sofa that she reupholstered. I inherited it when I moved out of the house. I reupholstered it twice. When I finally let it go, it was 40 years old and still going strong. If they are really good chairs, get good fabric and reupholster.

I agree with homechef, I'd look into having it recovered. last year I contacted some upholstery places regarding 2 sofas, and reupholstery and slip covers were pretty much the same price to have done.

Maybe another option you could look into is a leather paint/stain. They make it specifically for furniture. I'll look around for the website I checked out previously. I ended up selling that sectional so did not ever use the product.