The Elections Returns Are....

If you look at the poll results on the blog, it shows option two and option three are tied. However, I also took into account social media comments of "I like both one and two" where number two was mentioned. It was close, but this is the winner.

I have to say, I am glad. There were a few of the options that were not my favorite but wanted to respect the voting process and would have heard the voice of the voters. Thank you all.

Give me a few weeks to order the fabric and get some things ready for this. I plan to get the bulk, if not all of this done, in one weekend.

Can she do it? I *think* I can. The one slowdown is sewing that may need to be done along the front of the legs.

Stay tuned!

It's An Election Year!

My last few upholstery projects have had some fun feedback. Thank you all for your support.

I want to make sure everyone knows...I'm no pro. I have craft and sewing experience, so trying something new doesn't scare me. But this upholstery thing is very new to me. I'm having fun doing it too.

Here is the next victim gem.

She showed up on the side of the road coming home from church. Free. I like free. She also came with a few bonuses.

Hair scrunchie, dirty spoon, crayon, pencil, Lego, pen, stylus, toenail clippers, and a pay stub.

One of my new favorite places to order upholstery fabrics is Warehouse Fabrics Inc. It's has a great selection of discounted fabrics. Their prices come in cheaper when I find an identical fabric elsewhere.

When I take in a new victim gem, I really think about it first. I think through color combinations, style, etc. I find that thought process interesting and I like the creative part of it. This piece has a faded denim/duck cloth on already that has worn through. It feels very casual. The fabric extends all the way to the ground with the legs being covered. That gives it a bit of a formal feel. There is also a sewn seam on the front down to the floor. None of these features are problems. It means this piece will add to my knowledge toolbox because I'll learn something new.

So formal or casual? Colors? Duck cloth or upholstery? I have narrowed it down and all the options are good, but hey! Let's make this interactive and let folks vote! Votes will be taken through August 12th.

One thing. I am looking to make the back a contrasting color from the rest of the piece. So I have juxtaposed the back fabric from the body fabric.You will also notice Option 5 is unique in that the back fabric is not a small patch of fabric. Nice little thing I tried at Warehouse Fabrics Inc. I bought upholstery fabric by the pound. I bought two pounds, and you get what you get, and I got this great golden fabric. There isn't enough to do the full chair with, but nice for an accent. Not trying to sway the vote, just letting you know another great way to get good fabrics for cheap.

Option One--Blue Denim Body, Duck Dynasty Back

Option Two--Blue Denim Body, Crop Circle Back

Option Three--Denim Blue Body, Traditional Blue Back

Option Four--Denim Blue Body, Feminine Back

Option Five--Cinnamon Brown Body, Floral Back

Option Six--Cinnamon Body, Cinnamon Striped Back

  Ready, set, vote! Often!

The Final Note

The last I left this project, the basic upholstering was done. I needed to complete the trim and cover the back. Here's how that went ...

First, the trim. You might remember back, I made quite a bit of that stuff. I found today I needed to make a bit more. You'll also find out I ran out of fabric. To make the trim, I used scraps. No problem.

I started on the inside arm of the chair and nailed down the beginning piece with a finishing nail. Then I glued down the trim with hot glue about 4-6 inches at a time.

Hard to take pictures and glue at the same time.

Nailed down on the inside, then start gluing.

Following the curves and dressing up the hand rest.

The trim does a great job covering the staples.

Interesting spot here. Not only is it an intersection of two runs of trim, but it's also the spot where I ran out.

No worries. I had already planned out the intersection. I slightly burned the ends of the trim to prevent fraying then hot glued them together.

I absolutely love the tailored look with the black and white tweed. You can also see in the background the inside trim.

Now here comes the part that makes me absolutely sweat. The back cover. But first....

I added a time capsule. I took a cutout of the fumigation label from 1964, wrote a note, and put it in a baggie. I nailed it to the inside. Any future DIY'er will find a piece of history and the story of the chair that I know.

 

Along the top of the back, you can see where I have stapled down a cardboard strip. There is where I start sweating, literally. The next part is using tack strip. It is a strip of tacks, and it is painful if handled carelessly, and if the fabric doesn't lay just so, it doesn't look right. So now, I will flip the fabric down the back, and start hammering....

Flipped over. Grab all tools from inside the chair, because it's about to be closed up.

Flipped over. Using a solid black tweed is my solution to running out of fabric. I like the result a lot.

Laying it down, creasing the edge, then dealing with tack strip.

You will also see along the right side, I added a piping trim. I wanted to dress up the black back a bit and frame it a bit. Without it, truly, it looked odd.

A few staples down first to hold the piping, then the cover back went over it.

There is a strip of tack in there, and I have just hammered it down.

All done. Nice, tight and slick.

The end result with the trim.

Not quite done yet. I flipped it over to prepare for the dust cover on the bottom. Again, I am so glad I used stitches instead of the metal clips. The dust cloth is tight against the jute with no protrusions.

The backside, all done. I like how the back highlights the black painted trim on the hand rests at the front of the piece.

Now let's look at this from the beginning...it's always good to see where we've come from.

I think we can agree, she was an ugly beast.

Almost bare.

The insides of the cushion.

Did I mention?
I have another chair already waiting for a new outfit.

Construction....no more deconstruction....

First, I like to remind myself when I do projects to get a glimpse at the finish line so I held up a piece of fabric to the completed paint. I like it. Lots.

So in an attempt to be thrifty, I ordered upholstery foam online and it arrived. It looked like the child of the Planter's Peanuts character.

Beginning to expand....

Spreading out....

I was pleased at what I received for a few dollars that would be three times as much at a craft store.

So let's do some assembly!

First, I stapled down burlap and a padded edge I made last week on the seat. The padded edge is simply a stuffed burlap sleeve. This keeps the sharp edge of the wood frame from causing wear and tear to the cushion.

The inside edge of the stuffed sleeve is down. The burlap is lightly stapled on the inside frame.

This is the old, original cotton I laid back on the back frame. I really thought about how to do this back padding. I could cut out 3-4 inch foam and shape it.

After fluffing up the top edge, I decided to reuse the cotton.

I laid over the cotton a layer of the 1/2 inch foam. This is about halfway through tucking in the edges to be stapled down in the back and across the top.

Putting this foam on was fairly easy. It was simply laying it over the cotton and pulling it through against the frame along the side and top and stapling down. As I did this, I constantly checked for smoothness and evenness.

Here it is done. I am pleased with the firm and even shape.

Decided to try the cushion on it, and it fits. With the extra batting and foam it's puffed up a bit, which is exactly what I want. Reupholstered furniture not plump enough has a tired, shriveled look. We all took a test ride and sat on this. Lots of thumbs up.

So I keep promising to start on this, and the foot to my machine has arrived. Put away the chair and pulled out the fabric tools.

Cutting. Since I added more batting to this cushion I added 1/2 inch more around the edge of the cover. It will be very tight to put the cushion into this thing. but again, tight and puffy is  the look I'm doing for.

Next up on the to-do list; making bias for the piping. For non sewers, what is bias? The piping around the cushions there is a cord wrapped in fabric--that fabric is bias. It is cut on the diagonal of fabric because it is stretchier when you do that. You want it stretchy so you can wrench it around corners on square cushions. Cutting fabric on a 45 degree angle is referred to as "cutting on the bias". The resulting stretchy strip of fabric is referred to as "bias" strips. So you have to cut yards and yards of these strips then sew them end to end. If you want to try a new trick I found for how to make bias by simply measuring, sewing one seam and doing one long cut....click here. I did it tonight and will be doing that again.

The most basic of projects seem to need yards and yards and yards of bias. It is a bit tedious.

Non sewers who simply want to get their mind wrapped around how to make piping, here is a basic tutorial for that. It also shows how to use a zipper foot on your machine to make it which is handy.

......

Making the piping and double welting was surprisingly easy. The new machine foot worked like a charm. I not only managed to whip out all the piping I needed in one evening but also a generous supply of double welting and got pretty deep into assembling the cushion.

One of these things is not like the other, yet they are all the same.

Feeding cording through the foot. I'm pleased at how easy this is with the new foot and how fast this is going.

Completed single welt.

Feeding through double welting.

Completed.

I spent my first evening, only one evening, making single piping for the cushion and double welting for the finishing edge. Because I'm not great at sewing and running a camera at the same time, I recommend taking a look at this video for a simple tutorial.

After making the piping, I continued to use the foot to start making the cushion cover. Anytime you need to feed a cording through the machine, use the foot.

One side of the cushion cover is complete. I like the look.

So hey, I'm on a roll....let's keep going! Let's put on the zipper.

I continued to use the piping foot because feeding a zipper through a machine is similar to putting piping through.

I did a fancy detail I learned where the zipper pull will be tucked into a small pocket of the cushion.

 

I hope you get at least a small idea of how to assemble a cushion through my pictures. The steps went in this order:

• Making piping.
• Attaching piping to the two faces of the cushion.
• Create zipper panel and attached to non-zipper side panels. (Zippers and pulls can be purchased at any craft store with upholstery supplies. I bought enough for two zippers, and spent $3.)
• Install side panel to the two faces.

I really really really recommend this Sailrite video on the complete step by step process of assembling a cushion. Especially the extra detail of having the tucked in zipper pull--I have never seen that detail and wanted to try it after watching. Obviously I didn't watch the pattern placement as much as she did in the video to make sure things lined up, but I appreciate that aspect of the video because it helped me in my last project that had the paisley design. Those sorts of details make DIY projects look professional.

Ta daaa!

Next? I will be going back to the seat of the frame and making the platform that the cushion sits on. Once that is made and attached, I am done with the sewing machine.

Here is the forecast:

• Seat of the frame.
• Upholster the back.
• Upholster the inside arms.
• Upholster the outside arms.
• Upholster the back.
• Apply dust cover to the bottom.
• Flip it over and sit on it because it's done at that point.