I have my rocker from when I was a little girl- yep, that means it is getting old! It is the same one that everyone born in the early 60s had - turned wood arms and a little skirt.
The fabric would have probably been considered 'early American' print.
When Eric was a baby, I redid the chair in the baby blue that is in the first photo. That was 25 years ago, so even that was getting pretty ratty. The arm has never stayed on well. In fact, it spent the last several years in a drawer. I was determined to get it looking much better this time around.
Dean and I went to the store to find fabric. I wanted something cute that could sort of go with the lovely gold on the walls. We narrowed it down to a couple of colors and came up with this wonderful brown background and cute, colorful dots. With the sale on fabric and the coupon from Hobby Lobby, for the foam, I ended up with a great deal. I ended up with a 4x8 piece of foam (lots of plans for that!) and plenty of fabric. You'll see how I used part of it.
First off, Dean took all the old fabric off and pulled out all the old staples, something I didn't do the first time. I cleaned the wood and and made it shine.
Next was to use packing paper to make a pattern for the back and bottom cushions.
The one above shows the bottom, but I did the back first. I made a pillow case and covered the foam.
I then made ties for the top. Ok, I should have sewn the ties in and then whip stitched the bottom, but I didn't. I added the ties to the open part of the casing. Then I had to stitch it closed by hand. It looks fine, but it would have been more finished had I done it the other way. If it was chair that was actually in a child's room, I would do that for sure.
And now for the tricky part. Remember I said the word Dean in the beginning? Well, every time he gets involved in the project, the project gets more involved. A lot of that is because we think on different levels of getting the job done. I do it and if it works and looks good - so be it. His thinking is it must be done right! Now, his idea of right is just that HIS idea (no, usually it is because he has the knowledge and often teh experience of having done something like this and wants to make sure I do it just right). But - it still makes me roll my eyes before proceeding.
The chair had a tack strip around it - it is a heavy cardboard piece that you use to fold the fabric over. It makes it create a very nice line over which the fabric falls. Great. I didn't use it last time because I sewed the skirt to the cushion. It worked fine, but that was not the way it was done originally. This time it had to be done correctly. And so the search began for tack strip or an appropriate and affordable alternative. Tack strip is expensive! Especially when you only need a few inches. We searched high and low at Jo Ann's for an alternative. We tired bias tape, heavy elastic and even considered poster board. None of them suited him. finally we ended up with plastic canvas. Not sure exactly the reasoning behind it, but we bought it. I cut it into strips that were almost exactly the height of the wood at the bottom of the chair. I cut and hemmed the fabric for the ruffle. I stapled it in a few places to hold it on, and then went back with the plastic over the tack line. I then folded the skirt over the plastic. A beautiful folded skirt for less than a dollar.
The fabric would have probably been considered 'early American' print.
When Eric was a baby, I redid the chair in the baby blue that is in the first photo. That was 25 years ago, so even that was getting pretty ratty. The arm has never stayed on well. In fact, it spent the last several years in a drawer. I was determined to get it looking much better this time around.
Dean and I went to the store to find fabric. I wanted something cute that could sort of go with the lovely gold on the walls. We narrowed it down to a couple of colors and came up with this wonderful brown background and cute, colorful dots. With the sale on fabric and the coupon from Hobby Lobby, for the foam, I ended up with a great deal. I ended up with a 4x8 piece of foam (lots of plans for that!) and plenty of fabric. You'll see how I used part of it.
First off, Dean took all the old fabric off and pulled out all the old staples, something I didn't do the first time. I cleaned the wood and and made it shine.
Next was to use packing paper to make a pattern for the back and bottom cushions.
The one above shows the bottom, but I did the back first. I made a pillow case and covered the foam.
I then made ties for the top. Ok, I should have sewn the ties in and then whip stitched the bottom, but I didn't. I added the ties to the open part of the casing. Then I had to stitch it closed by hand. It looks fine, but it would have been more finished had I done it the other way. If it was chair that was actually in a child's room, I would do that for sure.
The chair had a tack strip around it - it is a heavy cardboard piece that you use to fold the fabric over. It makes it create a very nice line over which the fabric falls. Great. I didn't use it last time because I sewed the skirt to the cushion. It worked fine, but that was not the way it was done originally. This time it had to be done correctly. And so the search began for tack strip or an appropriate and affordable alternative. Tack strip is expensive! Especially when you only need a few inches. We searched high and low at Jo Ann's for an alternative. We tired bias tape, heavy elastic and even considered poster board. None of them suited him. finally we ended up with plastic canvas. Not sure exactly the reasoning behind it, but we bought it. I cut it into strips that were almost exactly the height of the wood at the bottom of the chair. I cut and hemmed the fabric for the ruffle. I stapled it in a few places to hold it on, and then went back with the plastic over the tack line. I then folded the skirt over the plastic. A beautiful folded skirt for less than a dollar.
The above pic shows the ties after they were pressed and ready to sew. I just did them this way and did a cute zig zag to close them. It also shows the 'tack strip' and my wonderful new scissors that are just for fabric! I had forgotten the joy of having a special pair of scissors just for fabric.
Presenting.... the finished product!
I had extra fabric, so I created a little pillow for Joy Anna's Cracker Barrel Rocker. (yes, we always call it all of that!)
I stuffed it with recycled grocery bags. I tied it up like a nice big bow.
Here they are in the loft with the kids' books behind them - all ready for kiddos to come for a visit with me!
No comments:
Post a Comment