Reupholstering the seats of these @#$& chairs!!

O.K. campers. Here's the next chapter of my adventure in upholstery and sewing.

This is what the seats looked like when I removed the fabric. They were just squared off pieces of foam, glued to a plywood base.

I wanted the seats to have a cushy comfy look. So I added a layer of Dacron the same size and shape as the top.
Lay a piece of Dacron over the seat you want to redo.

Trim it to the shape of the seat.



 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Glue it to the foam of the seat with a spray adhesive.

Then add another layer of Dacron that is wrapped around all the sides of the seat and stapled to the sides.

Start by stapling a few staples on each side in the middle and work out to the sides.

Staple into the side of the plywood. Pull the Dacron nice and tight and smooth, working from the middle out.

Then trim off the excess Dacron.

If you've been paying attention, it should look something like this!!!!

Just to be on the safe side, make sure it still fits on the chair!!!!

Now do it five more times.
What was I thinking???








Don't forget a very important tool in the upholstery workroom!!

I always feel, that if I haven't bled on a project, I didn't really make it. I'm spreading my DNA all over the place. CSI Boston, would be able to figure out who made these chairs!!!!!!
Now it's time to start adding the fabric!!!!!!!!!!!!
Yay!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Lay the fabric over the seat to see how you want it to look. I first centered the darker blue stripe in the middle, but later changed my mind and placed the white stripe in the center. I don't know, it just looked better that way to my eye.

I marked the center of the backs with a magic marker, so I could figure out where to staple the @#%& fabric when the seat was upside down.

Working from the center out, staple the fabric to the back.

I forgot to snap pictures of how I did the corners. SORRY. I gathered the front corners, and did a square tuck in the back.

Then I made a single welt trim (piping) to finish off the bottoms.

Then I did it five more times!!!

Rather than cut across the bias of the fabric, which is the standard way to cut a welt, I chose to cut the fabric straight, so that it would all be blue for a nice sharp line at the bottom of the seats. You can do that if the fabric has enough give to it, so it won't bunch in the corners.

Here is a piece of the welt I sewed!!!!
I am awesome!!!

I then started stapling the welting trim to the bottom of the seat.

Hold your hand so that the outside of the welt is lining up with the outside edge of the seat. You want the seam of the welt to line up with the edge. Now staple it to the bottom with lots of staples.

When you come to an inside curve, snip the fabric of the welt like this, don't cut into the seam though.

When you get to the back you need to finish off the welt in a grownup professional way!!!!!
I will show you!!!!

Open the seam of the welt a couple or three inches.

Lay the naked cord over the finished side, to see how much to cut off. You want to cut the cord so that it buts up to the other side, to make a continuous loop. Once again, I forgot to take a picture. OY.

NO!!! I REMEMBERED, HERE IT IS!!!!!

Now, fold the fabric under, leaving around an inch sticking out that you will overlap on the facing piece of welting.

Like this!!!

Now staple it in place, and you have DONE IT!!!!!









If you have been paying attention, it should look something like this.

WHO'S THE BOMB?????
I AM!!!!!

Next post will be how I did the back.

Oops, I forgot to tell you to cover the bottoms with a layer of cambric. It's a thin black fabric that is used for a dust cover. Just staple it to the bottom for a finished look. I of course, don't have any pictures. Sorry.

Redoing SIX chairs!!!

I have learned my lesson. I have learned my lesson. I have learned my lesson. I have learned my lesson. I have learned my lesson. I have learned my lesson!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (note: I wrote that six times.)
I will never again choose to redo more than two of ANYTHING!!!!!!
Soooooooooo................
Kris (my bidness partner) and I got six split reed dining chairs to redo, reinvent, recover and refurbish. I thought it would be fun (HAH!). Doing something six times is not fun, it's WORK.
Here's a picture of one of the chairs before the transformation!!!!!

                                                                                                            It looked good in the picture. I bought them off the Internet. PICTURES LIE!!! The finish was horrible and the cushions were stained and outdated hard stiff foam.
Here's a picture once we got them in our clutches...

As you can see, the finish isn't so hot.
Kris called it a sickly green.

Soooooooooooo.........
We sanded them!

Those are Kris's hands. This is all she will let me show of her on my blog. She wants to be incognito.







Then we sanded them some more............

And some more.............................

   Are you bored  yet?????????????   'Cuz we sure were!!!!!!!!!!!
And then we had to prime the suckers (I mean the wonderful pieces of furniture we were reinventing, with love and joy and LOTS of excitement. Yawn.)

Sooooooooooo
Pretty!!!









Another shot..............................

It took two coats of primer, we were so over these chairs. That's Kris's hand again. Now her hand is famous!!
As to why we didn't spray paint them....I wanted a more painterly finish, than a smooth spray paint. It probably didn't really matter, but in my delusional head, I think it looks better.
Then we painted them with two or three coats of finish, it depends on which one of us was doing the painting. I'm not pointing any fingers, but some of us (and it isn't me) are a leetle obsessive compulsive when it comes to painting. I kept telling her "Stop being so compulsive!!!!!!!!!!!!! We are going to bang the @#$% out of them anyway to give them a fabulous shabby finish." But would she listen to moi??? NO. We were using a Martha Stewart paint, and we DIDN'T like it. It glopped up on us, and didn't cover very well. BUT THEY ARE PAINTED NOW, AND I'M OVER IT!!!!!
Here they are all painted!!!!!!!!!

That's Kris's hand again. It is getting really really famous now!
This is my basement. It is our workshop. We are bidness women!!
We might actually make 5 cents an hour by the time we sell these babies.
O.K. the next post will cover how I redid the seats. It is so cool that I didn't have to pay someone to redo them, now that I am an upholstery whiz kid.
And after that post I will share how I did the backs. I did a really good job on the backs. They are full of dress maker details. So have I piqued your interest?????????

Oy!!! So many cows!!! And they're following me!!!

When I moved from my Watertown home into my new condo, I had to find a place for all my stuff. I thought I would try a slightly different style in my new abode (not realizing that I liked what I liked now and forever more, and trying to update an old horse, would be a loosing, uphill battle.) (how's that for a mixed metaphor?) I thought I would go for a cleaner, more pared down look. (HAH!!!) The first step in addressing a problem, is realizing and accepting that there is one to begin with. So, in order for me to design with less stuff, I would first have to admit that I use TOO MUCH stuff. WELL, I DON'T, SO THERE!!!  If I wasn't supposed to have so much stuff, why would there be junk stores???
Here's a picture of my den in my old Watertown cottage.

This is me when I was MUCH  younger. That's why I'm smiling. (This was in a magazine called Design Times, in 1992).
(OMG, That's 19 years ago!!!). That's a photo of my dad, just behind me.
ANYWAYYYYY..... As you can see, I had a lot of cow paintings on the wall.
Here's more cow paintings!!!!

Now, some of you guys, may think that this look is dated (it was almost 20 years ago), but, as I refuse to change in any way, I STILL LIKE IT.









Sooooooooooo...........
Let me show you how I used my cows in my new home.

I hung them in my dining room and living room. I will have pictures of my living room sometime in the future. Don't ask me when. I don't know, I'm going to Florida on Saturday, so I don't know if I'll get to it before I leave. So just live with it, I'm only one person, all alone, struggling to get out this blog.
Here's another shot of my dining room!!!!!!!!

I love me lots of cow paintings.










Some more cows!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And in conclusion.....MOOOOOOO.........

P.S. Yes the flowers are
fake.

Joining the party at Favorites on the first/The Polohouse

Sewing Miriam's Draperies

Sooooo, I thought it would be easier to sew unlined draperies than lined ones. You would think that by now I would realize that there is no such thing as an easy shortcut in this decorating business. I didn't want lined draperies in Miriam's dining room, because I wanted a more casual, simple, cottage look for her home.

Sooooo, I looked at how the store bought unlined linen draperies I have from Restoration Hardware were hemmed on the sides and bottom, and figured I CAN DO THAT!!!!
But, I didn't know how. It looked really professional and complicated. They had hemmed it in a way I couldn't figure out.

Sooooo, I looked it up in my sewing machine instruction manual. I have a Baby Lock sewing machine. I love it. My old singer that I got for a college graduation gift from my parents was a piece of #$%. The bobbin thread was always tangling up. I spent most of my time trying to fix the machine, and never got around to actually sewing. So I stopped sewing for a few (30) years.

Soooooooooo, then I retired, and had the time to figure out the tension issue. My solution was to BUY A NEW MACHINE!!! The Singer machine I had learned to sew on was one of the old Feather Weight ones, it always seemed to work. They were great. Then something happened to the company, maybe they were bought by someone else, but the machines changed. So, I bought my Baby Lock (boy, I hate that name!!)
Here's a picture of my machine where I sew my magic!!! (and have my panic attacks, when I have screwed up once again. The great thing about sewing, is, a lot can be fixed with a good ripping tool!!)

Sooooooooooooooooooooo, now I am happy with my Baby Lock, and I will share with you how to hem like the big boys do!!











This is a picture of the pressure foot used to make a blind hem stitch!!!

The piece of metal that sticks down in the middle, helps guide the fabric edge in a nice straight line.
  First.....cut your fabric!!!!
  Second.....if you are making the panels fuller than a single width, (I made each panel for Miriam, a width and a half.)
 (That means, you will have to cut one width in half and seam it to a full width.)
(If you want to know how to line up the fabric to match the repeats, check out my tutorial here)!!!!!

      


                                                                     

Third......hem the sides. AND THIS IS HOW TO DO THAT!!! Fold the edge over like this....

Then fold it over again, like this........

Get the fabric into place at the sewing machine.............

Then flip the folded part under, so that only half of it is showing.....



Now, line up the metal piece that hangs down in the middle of the pressure foot with the folded edge of the fabric. You need to set the stitch to the correct setting on your machine, the one that is used for blind hems, look it up in your instruction book! That's what I did. Now, sew along the folded edge........

The stitches should look like this.....................

Look closely. See??? A little bit of fabric is caught every 1/2" or so.

Here's another shot...

This is what it looks like folded flat on the inside of the drapery panel.....

Annnnd, this is what it looks like on the finished side of the drapery panel!!!!

Just leetle tiny stitches that run down the side.

Here's another shot!!!

Don't forget to iron it when you're done. The iron is an amazing helper. It really makes a difference in the finished product. I forgot to get a shot of it ironed, so use your imagination, 'cuz I'm not going to Miriam's just to take a picture of her drapery panel edge.

Hope this was helpful.

Still working for Miriam

So, yesterday, I dragged my tired tokhus to an antique mall to shop for Miriam's dining room accessories. I have been struggling with getting seats back on some chairs I have been redoing, so my poor middle aged bones wanted to watch TV. But I am leaving for Florida next Saturday (yay, yay, yay), and I want to get some stuff in her dining room china cabinet before I leave. I will be posting pictures of the INCREDIBLE job I did on the chairs, once I have exhausted, I mean completed, the story of this dining room redo.
Miriam met me at the store, which is four floors of crap. The trick is to try and find something in all this stuff that is actually going to look nice. ALSO! It has to be reasonably priced!!!!!!! To decorate in my style, one needs a lot of STUFF, and the cost can add up, if you're not careful. In a nod to Amy at Maison Decore's post about urns, we (Miriam) bought a cheepy made out of some fake material that's very light, but looks like cement. I convinced Miriam to buy if for $20, reassuring her that I could make a wonderful table centerpiece out of it with silk flowers from Michael's.

This is a blurry picture because I am learning how to use my new iPhone, and I obviously have a ways to go.
So, we went to Michael's, and the silk flowers were all picked over, not a lot from which to choose. VERY disappointing. I'm sort of worried, 'cuz the urn isn't very deep, so it's not going to be that easy to create an arrangement. Don't tell Miriam, because she has blind faith in me. I figure, if I can't make this #$%& thing work, I'll buy it from her, and use it somewhere in my house, like in a closet, or the basement, or under my bed.
We (Miriam) bought a whole lot of pretty china pieces to decorate her newly painted china cabinet. I had to keep reminding her (and Me), that we couldn't fill the whole thing up with decorative useless pieces!!!!! We had to leave some room for actual storage.
Here's a picture of some of the china!!!!

Yeah, I know, it's blurry too. I have to figure this new technology out. I think I'm supposed to hold my hand still while I'm shooting the picture, but that would require me to stop talking. When I talk, everything seems to move.

She bought a pretty little chocolate set, and some multi colored teacups with saucers, as well a some turquoisey blue plates.





Here's another shot of the stuff!!!!!

I know, I know, it's blurry. I thought I could use my phone and not lug around my camera. My camera is an old digital one, and not small, like the new models.











While I was figuring out how to get the pictures from my phone to my computer, I found some pictures I had taken, when I was at Drape It, my friends, Joe and Sally's work room, making the double welting for the upholstered walls. So I will share these pictures with you now!!!!! They are blurry also!!!!!

This is a shot of the machine with the pressure foot attachment that creates the double welting............

This is a shot of Carmel showing me how to use the machine. (not sure how to spell her name, it took me two days to remember what her name was. I am loosing my mind, I am loosing my mind, I am loosing my mind.) Note the two cords of welting being feed into the pressure foot!!

She's smiling because I am a very funny lady.

And look!!!! Just like every other sewing project, we had to stop and fiddle about with the screwed up tension that was jamming up the machine!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Isn't it nice to know that even professional seamstresses have bobbin tension issues?








Joe posed for this picture, so I think he's O.K. with me posting it.

We've been working together for so long, that I don't even remember when his mustache changed color. I could swear it wasn't that long ago that it was black.











This is a picture of Sally, as you can tell, she's the one who works in this place!!!!!!

These guys are two of my best friends, as we have weathered many a storm together, created by some not so understanding clients. They have helped me with decorator show houses that have made us all proud. I will share some pictures with you in the coming months.
They are also the ones I call on a daily basis to report on my progress as I learn how to make new things, the same things that they have been creating for eons. They answer my questions, encourage my efforts, and are always generous with laughing at (I mean with) me.
So have a good Sunday, and go out and get some exercise.

How to fabric a wall, Chapter Two

For those of you who don't know this (and I'm betting it's most of you), before there was wallpaper, people covered their walls in fabric for a patterned or a more layered look. Wallpaper was developed for the poor peons who couldn't afford fabric on their walls.

Some of you guys have asked some fairly legitimate questions, so I will attempt to answer them.

  One.  This is for Amy  of Maison Decor. I didn't do anything to the @#$% walls to prepare them for the staples or the fabric. If you want a cushier look, you can first put up a layer of Dacron, this gives the walls a more upholstered look. But if you just put up the fabric, it looks more like wallpaper. Then when people come to look at the room, they will do a double take, and say "OMG!!! Is that fabric on the walls!!!!!?"
  Two.  For sewbetsy: As I previously noted ( pay attention, there will be a quiz), the reason I covered the walls in fabric rather than wallpaper, is because I know how to fabric the walls, and don't have the tools or the know how to wallpaper. This isn't to say I couldn't wallpaper if I put my mind to it, 'cuz I am awesome and very accomplished.
  Three.  To Connie Niki who thinks this is more work than she wants to attempt:  If you have no life (like me) than you would have the time to do something like this.

Now I will show you some pictures of the tools used for this project!!!

Four VERY important tools. The plastic measuring tool, is great for helping to cut welt. If you fold the fabric, and use this as a measure, the fabric cuts nice and cleanly. The yellow handled thingy is a staple puller. Don't buy the cheaper kind!!!! You want one like this that has a really sharp tip. The blue thingy I used to think was a wire cutter, but it's actually called a nipper, or a dike. This is used to pull out staples, once you have loosened one side. The long needle thingy is a regulator, and a wonderful, wonderful tool. This is great for holding fabric in place, tucking fabric in place, pushing fabric into place, and just in general making fabric do what you want it to do. It's invaluable for pushing the welting into place when you hot glue it over the staples.
This is my compressor!!!!!

Isn't it cute??? It makes life so much easier, I can't believe I didn't have one until two years ago.

And finally a picture of my long nose staple gun. This is necessary for getting into the corners. I didn't have one when I did the bungalow in Florida, and the corners were a mess, so I had to do two rows of double welting at each corner of the room to cover the mess I made with the staples.
I just used spell check, and either it isn't working, or this is the first time in my life that I didn't have anything spelled wrong!!!!!
On that note, I'll stop while I'm ahead.