PART 3: Adventures in Reupholstering (chair#3)

Finished!!!

There are a couple of small things that annoy me, but over-all, I love it! I had planned on a small throw pillow, however, after getting it done, I don’t think it would work. I’ll still make the pillow, it can just live on the couch instead.

I’m proud to have finished this! But I also think I’ll be taking a few weeks off before tackling the matched set!! If I get the urge to get started on them, I’ll start working on cushion covers and things. I’ve had enough staple pulling to last a while!!

Before-after picture for comparison.

Trick or treat: Captain America

I love this project! I’ve been avoiding super hero costumes for as long as possible. But with a little boy in preschool, it was inevitable. Once Captain American came into play, I finally had a super hero that looked fun to make. For a while I tried to convince myself that a store-bought costume would be fine…but eventually I admitted that I didn’t like the commercial costumes and I threw myself into WW2 Captain America! I looked at every image I could find. Then sketched a rough design to make sure it had Walker approval:

The sketch got a thumbs up, so it was time to implement. I’m not going to try and do a tutorial. I was winging it for everything. I pretty much just traced a hoodie and modified the heck out of it. It’s lined so it ought to work well for trick-or-treating. This is definitely one of my favorite projects! The shield was purchased (I know it’s the wrong shape for this version of Captain America, but it makes Walker happy and I didn’t have to make it!). The helmet was spray painted. The pants were some we already had. And the rest was rigged up with some red, white, blue and khaki fabric. It was full of fussy little details like making the stripes, then cutting the pieces so that everything lined up at the seams and where the front panel overlapped at an angle. But it was worth it! I had fun and a *very* happy little super hero! (He takes saving the world very seriously.)

Happy Halloween!!

Playing photographer

Today was a gorgeous fall day. So I ventured out with my fancy camera and did the totally amature snap-a-bunch-of-pictures-and-hope-for-something-good thing.

How on earth did my baby get this big??? And I decided to provide proof that I really do exist in the same reality as my son. (Not a lot of photographic proof over the years! I have an aversion to my double-chin. )

PART 3: Adventures in reupholstering. (chair#3)

For those just stumbling in…chair#3 is not the third chair I’ve recovered. It’s actually the first chair. But chair#1 and chair#2 are a matched set and I thought I’d better see if I could handle one chair before committing to two! And chair#3 needed it the most.

So…I need to order a little more fabric. I could make it work, but there’s a seam through the front of the seat cushion. I don’t think I posted the “before” pictures yet. So…here’s the chair with seam in the front of the cushion.

I had enough fabric to cover it, but not enough to get the repeat lined up at the seam. Short just by a couple of inches of course! So, I’ll be ordering an extra yard. I really tried to convince myself it didn’t matter, but it does and it will always bother me that I copped out when $10 worth of fabric would have made it look professional. When in doubt, order up a yard! It wouldn’t have been an issue at all except for the large repeat on the cushion. I’m not ending up with obnoxious extra fabrics. And hey, it can always go towards the next bag-making binge.

So the current status is that I decided to make the cording. I got it applied and then cut and pinned the back/side panel in place:

I’m getting excited…it’s starting to really look like it might be finished soon! I opted to do blind stitching by hand rather than the scary flexible teeth strip originally used. I’m comfortable stitching and I know what I can achieve that way. With the cording in place at the seam, it makes things pretty simple. I get a night off tonight since I can’t seem to find the curved needles I KNOW I bought for some random project or another. But tomorrow night, I’ll pop in a Jane Austen DVD and stitch away.

Bonus points if you can ID the cartoon playing in the background of the “before” pics. Best $5 I’ve ever spent according to my son!

PART 2: Adventures in reupholstering. (Chair#3)

It’s so fun now that I’m finally able to staple! I *heart* my electric staple gun! (I’d *heart* it more if I didn’t have to hammer/smash the staples afterwards, but hey, it’s better than the hand powered one!)

So…here it is ready for the first set of stapling!!

[Sorry for dark and gloomy pics. I work at night after the kiddo goes to bed.]
I’m happy how the cushions turned out and excited to get started! Before attatching the back cushion part, I put down a fresh layer of batting around the top back. Extra batting makes everything smoother. When in doubt, add a layer of batting. You won’t regret it!

Attaching the cushions involved several steps. First I had to staple at the seam that is between the cushion and the strip of fabric that stretches over the back. This is one place where I was frustrated with my not totally juiced up staple gun. I wish I’d done better at getting flush with the seam. It’s not bad. But it could be better. (Chances I’ll do another chair this style and actually apply this knowledge = slim to none.)

So, first attach at the seam. Then pull the backing fabric over nice and smooth and attach at the back. Then pull the visible fabric up and over and attach. Smooth lines as much as possible. There were some serious curves that required a careful pleat here and there. (The original upholstery had the same thing.) Staple the heck out of everything. Hammer staples and remember to be grateful you have the electric staple gun in the first place. Smash finger. Try not to swear loud enough to wake up the child (who has been sleeping through lots of banging, so it’s pretty safe to swear with impunity).

Then I tackled the front lower panel. (I know all of these pieces have real names, but I don’t care enough to learn them at this point.) Reattach fluffy batting — looking a little ratty after rolling around on the floor for a week while I pulled staples. Then a layer of new batting to smooth everything out. Cut fabric a little bigger than the original I pulled off, staple and admire!

I also decided to do a strip of cording around the back to hide what is likely to be a less than professional seam on the back panel. And instead of using the scary flexible metal tack strip, I’m sticking with my comfort zone and hand-sewing the back. Last night I made the cording and attached it (CUTE!) and reattached the cardboard backing to hide the frame of the chair. And (of course) a new layer of batting. Sorry, no pics!

Next up, the back panel! I’m excited!! After that it’s easy peasy cushion cover and throw pillow! WOO! I might actually get this done and have it look cute!

Fingers crossed that I have enough fabric for the cushion cover. I should, but you never know.

PART 1: Adventures in reupholstering. (Chair#3)

So, I inherited three club chairs from my grandpa’s house. Two matching white chairs from the formal living room. Not as white as they used to be, but in great condition otherwise and a really interesting shape (plus comfy!). The third (chair#3) is another club chair with attached cushions. Chair#3 has curvier lines, and swivels. Where the others have boxed cushions and lots of corded seams, chair#3 has no cording, and a rounded front cushion (google informs me that it’s called a “waterfall” style cushion). I hadn’t really known what chair#3 really looked like when I asked for it when Grandpa sold his house. I knew it was comfy and solid and about the same size and chair#1 and #2. It had been covered by a blanket forever. But they were all small and comfy and solid and I reeeeeeeally needed some seating in my living room! Where chair#1 and chair#2 were a little grungy but ok, chair#3 had been hidden under a blanket for a reason. But it’s still in solid condition. So I decided to tackle my very first reupholstery job sooner rather than later. I hunted for a few weeks to find the right fabric. I googled and youtube-ed and read everything I could find for tips and tricks to try and learn from others’ mistakes. I finally found the fabric I wanted! And then I couldn’t wait to get started.

Amy Butler Midwest Modern Optic Blossom Linen I wish I could have found a home dec weight that I liked, but I couldn’t so I’m taking a chance. Amy Butler is a higher quality cotton. So I’m hoping it can stand some wear and tear. On the plus side, it’s half the price of the home dec fabrics!

I’m not even going to attempt to do a tutorial. There are lots out there from people who know more what they’re talking about anyway. Basically, you take it apart carefully, then put it back together exactly the same way. This will result in several hours of staple removal. (For chair#3, a couple hours a night for several days.) Don’t rip. Save everything. Take pictures and notes along the way. Every time I thought I could take a short-cut, I discovered I had to go back and do it properly. Pay attention to the order of the layers…they will tell you how to put things back together properly to look professional.

The process of deconstruction was fascinating! It was just cool to see how the shape was created by strips of this and that.

Finally, after removing 4,783,910 staples, you can start to deconstruct the fabric cover. LABLES AND NOTES ARE VITAL!!

(Naked chair#3)

With chair#3, the last piece removed is the seat back cover with attached cushions. I VERY carefully deconstructed the pieces while taking notes and marking the pieces. The pattern I ended up with didn’t seem to make sense, but I made myself stick with what was there and follow the process. My fabric wasn’t super directional, so it was pretty simple to cut the different parts. But I could see that the original fabric had a stripe that they were very careful to make sure there wasn’t a wacky diagonal out of nowhere. Hooray for random patterns!

The part of the cushion construction that most concerns me is attaching the front fabric to the inner layer that hold everything tight. I ended up cutting the original inner fabric at the seam and marking my new inner layer (just a strong remnant from my fabric bins). This way, hopefully, I can just attach the outer cushion cover by following those lines and I’ll have plenty of room to add the pads for the cushions but not so much that it looks sloppy. FINGERS CROSSED.

Before I can do that, I’m recovering the cushions and top of the chair in a fresh layer of batting. (Whip stitching around the cushions to avoid slippage.)

So, to wrap up Part 1, chair#3 is naked in the middle of my living room surrounded by bits of 40 yr old fabric. I need to finish adding batting to the cushions and stitch the cushion cover to the inner layer (a little nervous there!) and then FINALLY I can start stapling things!!! (And hope and pray that my new electric staple gun works!) Once I start stapling things, it’s going to go pretty quickly!!!

Lollipop quilt

Another project off the list! Of course, this one wasn’t anywhere near the top of the list until the evil Kelly introduced me to the concept of charm packs, which destroyed a couple of my major objections to quilt making.

I took lots of short-cuts. It’s not technically correct at all. But it’s a comfy, colorful quilt for my kiddo, and that was the goal.

As usual, I spent a fair amount of time thinking I wouldn’t like it and that my original plan was going to look silly. And, as usual, in the end it all came together and I love it! I don’t know why I always go through the project-hate/doubt with every single project!! But I’ve pushed through it often enough to at least trust my original idea and see if it worked. It pretty much always does!

So, ignore the cheater quilting, skipping the binding, the not-so-smooth quilt top…and I’m happy with the project! It did reaffirm that quilting is a little putzier than I usually have patience for. But the charm-packs helped since they saved so much time finding coordinating fabrics and cutting them up into 5″ squares.

And I think Walker will like it too!

UPDATE: Walker approves. He likes the colors and the fun patterns hidden in the fabrics. And he’s all snuggled in under it in bed. Tucking him in under a quilt that I made, I suddenly understand the quilting bug. Warm fuzzies all over the place. It’s not really big enough to be a real bedspread (about 55″x55″) but for now it covers his toes.

Field trip and a mini-project

We went on a field trip this weekend to see a working 1860′s farm. It was COLD and a little rainy, but lots of fun!

We got there a little early, but the visitor center staff was kind enough to let us in and provided Walker with a coloring book and some colored pencils.

Finally we got to go in!

(Remember, I said it was a working farm? That pile behind Walker isn’t just to look pretty. )

They put Walker to work making ginger-bread for the farmers’ coffee break. Since we were the only visitors all morning, we were able to hang out and talk to everyone as much as we wanted!

Trying to find the oven door to bake the ginger-bread.

And that’s the end of the pictures. By then it was raining, and I decided to be protective of the camera. But we ended the day with a new little friend. Only Walker was upset that it didn’t come with a saddle and reins. This is where the bin of felt comes in handy! (I think my felt bin is bottomless. No matter how much I take out, it still requires squashing to get the lid on again!!)

So…mini-project this weekend…reins and saddle (removable!) for the new horse:

Happilly, they met the very picky standards of horse-boy!

It was a fun field trip and I definitely think we’ll be going back later in the season!

Just goofing around with the camera this afternoon. I thought it was time to start using it properly. After reading that the tripod and remote were great tools for improving sharpness of the photo. I set them up, and Walker of course was fascinated. I showed him how to use the remote and put him in the general vicinity of the lens and the light and let him go nuts with the clicker.

Give a four year old a little power over his mom’s toys, and you get this…

With Walker’s help, I might actually learn how to use my camera reasonably well some day!

Felt food and Easter basket

It’s been a looooong time since I’ve made felt food! But apparently, it’s like riding a bike. After a request for Niece Emma’s birthday to supply her with some fruits and veggies for her Christmas play kitchen, I dug out the embarrassingly large stash of craft felt and dusted off my crafty skills.

She ended up with a little market basket crammed (really) full of a good haul from the farmer’s market:

The final tally was: 1 ear of corn, 1 banana, 1 apple, 1 orange, 1 carrot, 1 plum, 2 strawberries, 2 tomato slices, 2 lettuce leaves, and 4 green beans. Not too bad for digging into the stash! (Unfortunately, it’s still hard to close the felt bin. I barely made a dent in it even after all that. Oh well…it’s good for little boy projects!)

The other project this week was Walker’s Easter basket. I didn’t get the dozen more felt eggs done. In the end, I only finished another three, bringing the total to fifteen…just enough for one small boy to find.

Other than wanting to finish a few more felt eggs for hiding, I didn’t have any real projects for his basket. A few small treats stuck in the hollow felt eggs I made 2 years ago, and some scattered jelly beans. A new big boy workbook he’s been wanting and the second set of Bob books…just in time! We just finished the first set last week! And I have to say that I’m super grateful he’s still of an age where I can say “Oh isn’t it nice the Easter bunny brought you the same chocolate bunny that I gave the cousins? He must have known you wanted them!” Yay for fully buying into the magic! How long before he becomes a cynic do you suppose?

And totally a tangent…but while I was reading the two message boards that I usually keep an eye on, I was really shocked/surprised/slightly horrified to see how huge some people make Easter baskets. I felt guilty for the amount I put in Walker’s, but except for the small set of wooden toys, they were educational, and already in my cupboard waiting until he was ready for them. I read repeatedly about large gifts for Easter…video games and bikes, etc. And a fair amount of people filling the baskets with any old thing they knew would break in a couple of days just to make it look full. I guess I don’t get it. Either end. The Easter bunny has started to rival Santa, and the whole buying stuff just to have stuff thing. I’m not remotely religious. I’m the first to admit that I celebrate Easter and Christmas purely for fun. But, ok…things are getting out of hand. And it’s not just a certain section of society. The two message boards I read are very different in purpose and attact very different types of people and still the more restrained givers are the anomolies. You could have knocked me over when I saw people talking about EASTER budgets of $100+ per kid!!! Yikes!!! Ok, that’s enough ranting. But hey, what the fun of a blog if you can’t have a rant now and then??