Friday, June 17, 2011

...with one enormous chair...

...Oh...Wouldn't it...be lover-ly...lover-ly...lover-ly...

...well...it would be lover-ly...if your one enormous chair...

...didn't have a giant rip in it...like mine does...or...er...did...

...but after several emails back and forth to the company in SC where we purchased the chair...I was sadly informed that the material is no longer available...

...so...I had decided to go with just a solid fabric in a neutral khaki colour and fix the tear...when I found this fabric...

...we were just looking on the shelf at Stuff-Mart and there it was...and I thought it would be a pretty good match...

...this is the original fabric...it's really large red/pink peonies on a khaki ground...

...and here's the rose print cotton just stuffed around the chair cushion...I think I can live with that match...

...so I got started...now I'm no upholsterer...but this is what I did...

...I just stitched the two pieces together as close to the piping as I could...

...here's a closeup...you can see the little trough made by the piping and that's where I stitched...

...well...you can see that I didn't cut my fabric until I'd made the first seam...

...then I just cut it about an inch larger than the cushion all the way around...

...then I just continued around the other two sides of the cushion in the same manner...

...it made a really neat seam with the new fabric right up against the piping...

...then at the back - I just turned under the new fabric and top stitched the back seam as close to the piping as I could...

...I had to put a little pleat in the back...but I'm OK with that...in fact it gives the cushion a little bit more give...

...put the cushion back on the chair...and I couldn't be happier with it (well...I guess I would be happier if it wasn't torn or I had the original fabric...but given what I had to work with I couldn't be happier with it)...

...here's the finished front corner...

...I told Karen when she was visiting that you could tell if you were family or company by which side of the chair was visible...if company comes by...we quickly flip the cushion over to the original side...

...do you have a piece of furniture that you cover or flip or re-arrange for company?...

9 comments:

  1. Wow! Such a close match!! And great sewing job! Upholstry is so tricky..

    We have two beautiful silk throw pillows Mr. M bought me for my last birthday that I'm super protective of and are always on prominant display when guests come.

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  2. That looks great, you are very talented. We have my husband's grandmother's chair from the thirties...needless to say it's been well loved. It is done in the "pink" fabric from that era [do you know the one?] and I would love to have it redone in the same fabric. I haven't found it yet, so for now I just throw an old quilt over it. It works.

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  3. Awesome match on the fabric. I can just tell it's a different fabric, if I think about it. :) I think your sew-before-cutting technique is fabulous for getting a close seam. Sweet!

    We have a couple of ugly vinyl and metal chairs that I made slip covers for. My toddler doesn't like sitting on the sliding slip covers (he's wiggly), and we prefer to wipe up the vinyl after meals rather than wash the covers. When company comes, I often forget to replace the slip covers! Oh, well.

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  4. lol, yes, you did a great job - and i'm glad i'm not company!! love, k

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  5. Anonymous5:43 PM

    I am so impressed! You did a great job - and isn't it satisfying to save something rather than throw it out and buy more stuff? I have three falling apart chairs that my husband absolutely doesn't want to part with and I don't even know where to begin to fix them up. Your post has given me food for thought. Thanks!

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  6. You don't need to flip because it's a perfect match! Well saved.

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  7. How serendipitous!

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  8. It is a lover-ly chair and one worth preserving. Spiffy job done!

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  9. It looks pretty good ;-)

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