Tutorial - reupholstering the chair seat

The first chair being reupholstered now has the seat complete!


Here is a refresher as to what the chairs looked like when removing all the fabric in the first stages of this project.

Basically the seat of the chair ended up being taken apart to just the wooden frame with springs. So, here's how it was put back together:

1) New burlap was stapled (2 layers thick) for protection, over the springs that would be hitting the seat.

2) Another layer that protected the seat from the springs was reused and stacked on top of the burlap. I'm not sure what this layer was... but it was some thick mesh work of straw(ish) like material.

3) The old cushion was added on top of this (along with a couple additional sheets of batting)

4) The new fabric for the seat was cut to size, using the fabric that was removed as a pattern.

5) The fabric was stretched, smoothed, and stapled onto the chairs frame.

(the above pic shows through step 5)

6) Rectangular strips of fabric were cut (and sewn together to match the edges of the chair) to add to the side of the chairs seat.

7) Batting was also used on the side of the chair. (a few layers)

8) TACKING STRIPS! These were amazing. I couldn't find them anywhere in my area, so I had to order them from Joann.com. The picture below shows the process of adding tacking strips with the fabric and batting on the side of the chairs.

Tacking strips give a very smooth finished look, with sharp edges (as in not lumpy)

After stapling the fabric/batting/tacking strips down, the fabric was folded over the edge of the seat and stapled to the bottom of the chair.

So there you have a reupholstered chair seat.

Now, it's time to sew the back fabric on the seat back, and reassemble the chair!

crazy beagle/the story of a homemade heating pad

The story of the heating pad: One day shortly after returning from our honeymoon, hubby and I went kayaking. Hubby was being "macho" and lifted the kayaks out of the water at a bad angle, by himself, before I could help. Not a good idea, but he seemed to be fine. UNTIL... oh around midnight, when he complained of intense back pain. I thought I had a microwavable rice heating pad somewhere that I offered to find for him, and he thought that would really help. Well, of course my belongings were still all in boxes and I couldn't find it.

So, I decided to quickly make one for him. (good thing we coincidentally bought a crazy amount of rice at the store the day before...) I used a fabric bag that originally held a sheet set in it since that would require the least amount of sewing and I was working with a travel sewing machine that had been problematic lately.

Basically I just filled the fabric bag about 2/3 full of rice, and sewed it shut. I then added two ribbon handles to hold when taking it out of the microwave. Not my prettiest work, but it did the job.

I'm super sentimental, so I was pretty bummed when I discovered the heating pad shortly after our beagle decided to check it out.

Here is what it looked like, after the beagle attack:


Most of the rice was missing.

You may recall a post about beagle in the past, when he chewed a portion of our new couch cushion.

Beagle is actually a really sweet little guy, I just like to write about his "naughty" moments.

Christmas craft with fabric, for kids

My Little and I work on a lot of craft projects. This is what we did this past week, for Christmas:



We cut felt, and Christmas fabric (leftover from the tree skirt I made) to make winter/Christmas themed pictures. Then, we decorated them with beads, ribbon, and puffy paint. The one above is mine... lol.

I was a little disappointed because the fabric glue I had didn't work! So when we were trying to glue our fabric together it was a no go. But that's when my trusty puffy paint came in handy! We used puffy paint to decoratively glue things onto the fabric (and fabric onto itself)

I guess I'll need to get some tacky glue to solve this dilemma in the future. Next week we're making ginger bread houses... (more accurately: eating all the candy and saying we made houses :) )

Pet antler tutorial (Don't tell hubby....)

Hubby doesn't read my blog. Therefore, I have some pictures to share with you all :)

I thought it would be a good idea to include beagle in the holiday cheer... by making him antlers. (Hubby has a strict "no clothing for animals" belief. However, I think it can be cute)

Here is how the antlers were made...

Cut 4 pieces of felt in the shape of antlers (two per antler) and one oval to attach the antlers to.

Top stitch two cut antler pieces of felt together and repeat with the other set.

Stuff the antlers. (Add something stiff inside them, for support. I used a Q-tip in each)

Sew them onto the oval piece of felt.

Add elastic, or a tie of some sort.

Here's how it looked (above)

(our 4 point "Buck", Buck is short for beagles real name)

At this point I didn't have support inside the antlers, so they didn't stand up like they should. So, I shoved a Q-tip into each antler to make them stand right. Beagle was too stubborn to wear the antlers after adding the support (smart guy) and his big ears got a bit in the way, so I tried the next model:

she really didn't seem to mind them!

Tutorial - reupholstering the chair back pt 1

Chair #1 is on its way to completion, slowly but surely.

Here is a refresher on the progress of the chair upholstery

First, batting goes on the back of the chair. Make sure the layers are smooth, and that they all cover the entire area that needs batting. For my first attempt at this I added a little extra batting underneath all of the layers that was just a little short of what I needed. The result: a very obvious lumpy look. Needless to say, I took that layer out.


Next, cover that batting with fabric! (I traced the old fabric panel that was removed from the chair and cut the new panel to match. Pretty simple.)



Oh, but make sure the fabric is smooth all over... don't hesitate to take out a few staples or nails to redo an area.


This chair had buttons holding the back fabric tight. So, here I added the buttons using an upholstery needle and some hemp.



This is what the back of the chair looked like with the buttons all fastened on.

Next up, adding the back panels to the chair back (which will require lots of hand sewing... I'll need to pick up some thread) and the chair bottom.