Vintage Barkcloth Orgy

I have a weakness for vintage barkcloth.

I have a weakness for vintage barkcloth.

I have a weakness 

for

 vintage barkcloth!!!!!

I wish they (whoever THEY are) would still make it.

It tends to be pricey, buying it by the bits and pieces, the way most folks sell it on ebay.

I am VERY PARTIAL to florals.

(You may not have noticed.)

(If you've been sleeping)

On Sunday, I started off showing everyone my little study that sits across the hall from my master bedroom.....

I left off at the point where I was talking about covering the seat cushions on my pair of painted bergere chairs.

I wanted them to be in this wonderful floral with a blue background.

BUT I DIDN'T HAVE ENOUGH FABRIC FOR TWO CUSHIONS!!!!

OH NO!?!?!

WHAT TO DO?!?!?

So I covered one side in another fabric, so now I can have two different looks!

(If I want to, which I don't...)

I had enough of the blue to use for the side boxing, so that was a 

good

thing!!!!!

 

The blue is the way I want to go, 

yep!

So now, the problem was.....

The first trim I used for the skirt, was not the best match with the blue background.

It was a little too much to the red side of the color wheel.

If you don't know what I'm talking about.....

BUY MY BOOK!!!!!

So, I used the other trim for the second chair, and can't decide if I like the quirkyness of having two different trims, or if I should change the first skirt to the trim of the second skirt.....

It's funkier with the tassels.

I took off the pom poms where the tape pleated under, so that it could lie as flat as possible.

Knowing me.....

I WILL LIVE WITH IT THIS WAY FOR 

20 MORE YEARS!!!!

Because, after a while, (if I wait long enough) I don't see it anymore.

I've been know to have a pile of horse blankets

(yes, from my horse)

lie in a corner of my living room for months on end.

And when I say months.....

I may actually mean a year........

oops......

I know this is a short post, but I have a headache, 

or as the little girl who used to live across the street from me in Watertown used to say

 a "head egg".

So on Thursday, I will show you guys how I took this room from a blue and white scheme to one full of different colors and flowers.

Till then,

Latah Gatah

Cottage Sitting Room

OK campers, today we start on a new room in my Massachusetts condo!!!!

You is SOOOOO lucky!!!!!

Across from my master bedroom is my little sitting room/study.

My master bedroom is in blue toile, so I used the same shade of blue in this room to create the feeling of a suite. Both rooms have the same blue rug, but the rest of the fabrics are different.

This is just a quick preview of my bedroom, so you guys understand where I'm coming from.....and where I'm going with my color schemes.....

OK, now that you've seen that, let's go back to my study....

I found a pair of French bergeres on ebay when I first bought my condo.

I had the guy I was buying them from paint the frames for me.

He got paint all  over the fabric, but since the fabric didn't go with my scheme, it didn't matter.

I was planning on reupholstering them, but decided that the feel of slip covers for this application, was more to my liking.

The little love seat came from Pottery Barn. Since then they've discontinued it, and only sell the matching chair and ottoman.....

Savannah arm chair

I have been struggling with just how to slipcover these chairs, because I really wanted to do a full slip cover that just showed the legs, but felt that would be a crime, since I like the wood frame.

So, I was tooling around blog land one day, and came across this post from Cedar Hill Ranch

Anita shows a wonderful tutorial of how she made the slipcover for her french chair and ottoman.

So I thought....

DAMN, SKIPPY!!!!! I CAN DO THAT!!!!!

So, I ordered some of the white cotton twill that the loveseat is covered in from Pottery Barn.....,

and started cutting, pinning and sewing.

This is how I did it!!!!!

First, I drew a picture of how I wanted it to look.....

Then, I measured each side, and figured out how big the pieces would be, and cut the pieces out of the white twill.....

then, I labeled each piece, so my tiny brain wouldn't be confused, as to which piece went where....,

(didn't help, I'm always confused)

So, then I carried the mess down to my study to start pinning.....

 I pinned the back piece to the back of the chair.

The cool part of doing this, (which I learned from Anita), is that you can pin  directly to the upholster of the chair....

 Make sure that the right side is facing in, and the wrong side of the fabric is facing you......

 I clipped the seam allowance where the arm curved, to enable the fabric to follow the chairs shape.

Then I pinned on the two arm pieces, and pinned the back piece to the arm pieces.

 Then, I removed the three pieces from the chair, and carried it up to my sewing room, and seamed the back to the sides....

put it back on the chair, right side up, to see if it worked.....

Yippeee!!!!!! It did!!!!!

So then, I turned it wrong side up, and started folding the sides over, to form the edges of the cover...

 AND THEN I FORGOT TO TAKE ANY MORE PICTURES OF MY PROGRESS, UNTIL I GOT TO THE SKIRT DETAIL!!!!!

I am an idiot, I am an idiot, I am an idiot.....

WHAT A GREAT TUTORIAL!!!!

I only show you how to do part of the project.....

Sooooo.....

let me tell you what I did, and you can use your imagination.

I sewed the deck piece to the inside arms and inside back.

I sewed the outside back to the two outside arm pieces.

Then I made the two arm cover pieces and sewed them to the front and back covers. 

AND THEN I MADE THE REST OF THE TABS, AND PINNED THEM AND SEWED THEM TO THE FRONT AND BACK!!!!!

Now it was time for the little pleated skirt!!!!!

So, 

I got in my trusty Subaru station wagon, and traveled up to the sewing machine store, and bought a ruffler pressure foot......

(and a ton of other stuff, that I just HAD TO HAVE from the sewing machine store...)
BOY WAS I EXCITED TO TRY THIS NEW PRESSURE FOOT!!!!


so of course it didn't work!!!!!
The fabric was too bulky, and the machine had a hissy fit and kept on seizing up.
SO I DID WHAT ANY ACCOMPLISHED DESIGNER/SEAMSTRESS WOULD DO!!!!!
I gave up.....
Only problem was, by now, I had cut the slipcover short, thinking I was going to add a pleated or gathered little skirt.....


This is when you needs a plan B.....
I didn't have a plan B.....
Ah Oh.....
So I invented one!!!!!
I went into my supply of left over trims, and rooted around looking at anything that was blue, white or cream.
I found two that I felt worked OK.....
I couldn't decide which I liked better,
 so I did one of each,
 and will now change the one I don't like as much to match the other.....
I am a very good waster of time!!!
Yes in deedy do!!!
Yep!!!


So, I added a welt around the bottom.
 (what some of you guys call piping.)
(If it's on furniture it's a welt!)

To do this, cut the bottom of the slipcover 1/2" longer than you want it to be without the skirt, line up the 1/2" seam allowance of the welt with the edge of the slipcover, and stich them right sides together....

Then I pinned the trim to the bottom of the welt.....
laying in the pleats, using my little measure to set the distance and depth of each pleat.

Then I topstitched the trim to the bottom of the slip cover...

Then I ironed it to get the pleats to lay flat, and
Bob's you uncle!!!!

I didn't want a pure white slipcover, so I used vintage barkcloth on the covers of the cushions. I didn't have enough to cover both seats, so I used one on the top, and a second on the bottom.

Once again, my post is getting too long, 
so I will show you the different fabrics on Tuesday, the other skirt, and all sorts of other cool stuff.


Latah Gatah

Partying at: