Friday, July 23, 2010

Musical Chairs

Good Friday Morning -


Yesterday I finished doing a little re-covering project on my 2 favorite chairs.  I bought them at an antique mall many years ago.  I wish I had a whole set of them.  I painted them black and covered them with this soft Waverly toile' years ago.


On my recent trip to Vermont for the Quilt Festival I picked up this beautiful Red toile' with George Washington.  Looks to me like a centennial print  reproduction.

Here is how I did it -- the process ;)

First unscrew the seat and check out the foam and batting, replace if not in good condition.  Remove old covering.  I used staples and hot glue last time.



You may need a utility knife or something like it.






Now figure out what part of print you want to center.  Using a stripe or damask is easier you just make a template using the batting piece, or the wood bottom.  Of course, I cut out a piece, then I changed my mind about the centering of the print - doh!






To cut the second piece of a large print, it's most accurate if you lay the first piece on top and match it all around.  I turned up a corner so you could see the top piece.


The next part is the trickiest.  You pull the fabric and glue it or staple it to the wood.  This is where you do quite a bit of swearing and finger burning.  To make things extra challenging, you can cut you piece a little small like I did and do a lot of swearing and burning.    I did learn that regular fabric has a lot more stretch than home dec fabric, but I really wanted to use this print, so I dealt.

Is it pretty?  No.  Does it work?  Yes








Viola!


Thank you to Liz for the wonderful package from GivetheseGirlsaGo.  They have a blog with wonderful crafty things and those girls look like a lot of fun!  I won a give away (this is my last of 4 recent wins - what? I know, too lucky lately.)

How cute is that handmade card and those gift tags?




These are "rat tails".  I've never seen or heard of them.  They don't fray - awesome!




And finally these beautiful Kaffe fabrics - thanks girls!!  I'm still planning to make your little birdy cabinet!




After just dropping of husband and son for a 10 day sailing trip, they are doing the Chicago - Mackinaw Island Yacht Race - it's going to be girl time here with Hanna and coco.  Girl food, Girl TV, Girl Fun.


I hope you have a fun weekend too~

20 comments:

Crispy said...

Wow I love those chairs!! The new covers are wonderful and seem very appropriate. What a fun 10 days you are going to have being without the guys!!

Crispy

Lori said...

I have one chair I've recovered a few times and that is exactly how I did it. Nice tutorial!!

Enjoy your girl time!!!

Thimbleanna said...

Beautiful Chairs! I love the new fabric. Have fun with your girl-time -- we'll be expecting to see lots of productiveness (is that a word?) next week LOL!

Anonymous said...

I'm so-oo-oo jealous of your girl-time weekend ...seriously craving time without kids, husband, dogs et al.
Enjoy! and be productive!

Sue said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Sue said...

Well you know what a thing I have about Toile- A girl can never have to much. Great Job.

Jan said...

Wow! Lucky girl! Your chairs are beautiful- that's a great toile.

antique quilter said...

the chairs look great! oh I hope you two have a wonderful 10 days together!
Lots of sewing time too I bet!
Kathie

quilting Jeannet said...

What a wonderful chairs! I like the fabrics and the colors, and your blog too.

greetings, Jeannet

Sandra Henderson said...

You did a wonderful job! I always knew when the holidays were coming... folks be calling me to recover their dining room chairs (when I had my upholstery/drapery wrkrm.). It was like clockwork!
Love your sewing room! :)

Sandra Henderson said...

You did a wonderful job! I always knew when the holidays were coming... folks be calling me to recover their dining room chairs (when I had my upholstery/drapery wrkrm.). It was like clockwork!
Love your sewing room! :)

Anonymous said...

Hi Barb
The chairs look great a job well done, last year we went to Germany visiting family and we recovered two chairs my mother in law has and they too came out beautiful.
I love doing that kind of work.

cheers
Christine

Ann Champion said...

Your chairs look fabulous! The perfect use for those wonderful pieces of toile I'd say.
I use an extra strength staple gun. I can't imagine using a glue gun..I'd have no fingers left. :)
You did a wonderful job!
Have a fun "girl time" and don't forget the ice cream...even for Coco. Stir it so she doesn't get "freeze brain". :)

Leslie said...

Girl food, Girl TV (movies), Girl Fun. I LOVE it. I enjoyed the entire post, but that last line spoke to me. :)

Sue-Anne said...

Your chairs look fantastic barb! Love that toile. Have a fun girly time while the boys are away.

QuiltSue said...

The fabric you used is just perfect for those chairs.

Congratulations on your win - you should obviously be buying lottery tickets. Hope you enjoy a lovely girly time now.

Anonymous said...

Love George on the chairs. The process stuff is great. Makes it look so easy...hee, hee.

Hope you, Hanna and Coco have a great time together.

Jill

Anonymous said...

Love George on the chairs. The process stuff is great. Makes it look so easy...hee, hee.

Hope you, Hanna and Coco have a great time together.

Jill

sewprimitive karen said...

The new chair covers are gorgeous; good tutorial.

Dora, the Quilter said...

Love the "bones" of those chairs--and G.W. toile is a perfect compliment!