Stained to Sassy

well here i am again! it's been a while...jobs have been slow since i got a job, but i still do this on the side when the opportunity rises. who can't use some extra money??

yet again, i dug out my heavy machinery


what was on the agenda this time? 4 round bar stools. easy! these stools were actually from the same woman i did my previous job for. when she first gave them to me, they were covered in leopard microfiber, full of wear marks and stains. (i forgot to photograph that part). and underneath, was even dirtier tan microfiber


so, we went shopping for some new fabric together. here is what she picked out


pretty hu? she wanted the big medallions centered on the cushions. (we bought extra for some throw pillows i will be making at a later date.) once i carefully mapped out where each cushion would go, i cut the pieces out, and began stapling. next step: trimming the excess


and voila!




stay tuned for the throw pillows!

Barrel Of Fun

It has been quite a long while since i have posted any upholstering projects. after the bird chair (last post shown) i took a bit of a hiatus from upholstering to focus on my new job at the fabric store.

i did just finish 7 white dining chair covers, but i didn't document that. either way...i DID just finish a barrel chair for a friend. here is how the story went

it was a tired chair, but a family favorite


oddly enough, this was the easiest un-stapling i've ever had to do for upholstering


it also turned out to be a secret piggy bank, as i found $5.37 inside...


once i took it apart, i began draping the fabric, and also sewing a middle panel to the arms for the inside back






sewing the cushion was a bit of a challenge since it went into a semi-circle in the back, but i managed. here is the end result...much better i think...

Crazy 'Ol Bird

this latest project was by far my most challenging. An arm chair with back and seat cushions sewn! after examining the pictures i was proposed with, i decided that i was up for the challenge. Here's the before:




the fabric that she chose was a print called 'crazy 'ol bird'. she also wanted contrasting cording to go with it. she brought over a bolt of 7 yards, but i had to go and fetch the rust color to make the cording still. i was excited to do a different and more colorful piece. however, i knew that this was going to be a lot of work...custom cording, sewing, learning, upholstering. so i began to shed the old fabric






once that was done, i started on cutting out the fabric



i took a break from the upholstery part, and decided to take on the part that i was fearing...the cushions. i also happened to have gotten this job the same week that i started a new job, and had to dog sit at a different location than where i was keeping the chair. at the time, it felt like this was never going to get done. but with a little determination, i pressed on. after watching some detailed how to videos, i learned the process to make zippered couch cushions. i went to steve's mom once again to use her amazing bernina sewing machine to zip through this.






VOILA!!!!!!!!!! mission accomplished. one of my biggest upholstery fears has been conquered:


check out that fancy hidden zipper


in the mean time, i decided that the waterfall skirt on the chair looked outdated, and i also realized that there wouldn't be enough fabric for one. luckily, i emailed her to see if she really wanted that skirt, and she said new feet instead would be more exciting. YES!!! now i get to go shopping...my favorite part. i took a picture of about 8 different feet for her, and we decided on this one:



OKAY...now it's back to upholstering. this was probably a record for how fast i got this chair done...a few hours one evening, and a few hours the next afternoon. i started with the arm


then onto the back


once i finished the arms and back i moved on to the backside of the chair


then i finished up the underside of the arms and the cording




once i finished the cording, i finished off the arms, flipped it over, and THE BEST PART:

put the black cover on the bottom...the tell tale sign of BEING FINISHED. i was pretty excited about attaching the legs...here it goes...





they look awesome....and so does the chair! the back cushion was a triumph as it took about 1/4 of the time that the bottom cushion took. here is the end result:

Chaise Me

my latest contract job/venture was a chaise lounge chair. i took this on, cautiously, as there were some things that scared me....such as upholstered buttons, AND cording. but, alas...i knew that i could figure it out. here is how she was proposed to me:




she arrived at the house last friday, much in need of new clothes, with a fresh bolt of white fabric. saturday, i began taking it apart.




look how crazy the inside of this thing looked...all of these colors, and i am using white fabric. this should be fun!


here she is in her underwear, ready to be re-covered.

the orange arms were pretty inconvenient, as the fabric was a not-so-thick white. i had to double up the fabric on the arms which made it a little more work. there was also purple hanging out in there too. the cotton suggests that this chair is pretty old...no foam. i could have replaced it...but, A. i don't know how and B. that would have cost her more money. the cotton was incredibly soft and comfy too.


now, i was so enthralled by this project that i forgot to take pictures of cutting out the fabric, and sewing the cording. BUT...first i traced new pieces from the old ones. much to my delight, most of the chair was stapled, so i had to shimmy everything in place...push, pull, staple. (it was a little harder than it sounds)...here is how she came together:



Once that was done, it was time to sew, and staple on the cording and 'curve-ease':

did i make a big enough mess?



the metal curve ease was one of the trickiest parts, and left me with a little bit of sewing to do at the end. after that, it was time to make the buttons:







aren't they cute? after a little more stapling, she was ready for the buttons


when i first started trying to attach the buttons, NONE of my needles were working. it turns out that while plush, cotton is really dense...the needles would only go so far into it and would just stop. so, check out my big momma needle that i got. 8 inches long, worked like a charm, but even with that i still needed to hammer the needle through the cotton




some finishing touches along to arms and top cording


and she's DONE...what a project this was.