I've been meaning to recover my studio chair. I'm a mess--spills are my thing. And the chair was a second-hand find. Which we bought years ago. But it has good bones and except for the stains on the upholstery, it didn't look too bad. But the stains bothered me. And I wanted something different. Colorful. Fun.
For some reason, I decided on Saturday morning that I should get started. Today. I had nothing planned. Nothing in the way of colors. Nothing measured. Nothing. Just a decision to get started.
Now if you're thinking that I'm crazy and should have considered at least a few of these, you don't know me! I'm a fly-by-the-seat-of-my-britches kind of girl. I make the plans when I pick up the project. Or not.
Because there's always the option to make it up as I go along. That's my favorite way to create. So it works for me. Sometimes.
Sometimes I make a big mess and regroup. Or kill the project.
On Saturday my creative mojo was on hyper-drive. I decided. I pulled scraps. Green scraps. I challenged myself with some black scraps that were lying around. I sewed, cut, sewed. I measured, but not much. More sewing, cutting, sewing. Ah, quilting.
By Saturday night I had two big pieces of quilt ready to cover the chair. I had to steal minutes between cooking, playing with grands, cleaning, and visiting.
But on Sunday night I had a totally new chair. Bright greens with splashes of black. I still have no idea why I wanted those bits of black in there, but I like!
No, I love! It's fun. It's colorful. It's different. I think it will work for a while. At least until I make a mess of stains!
Linking up with
What a gorgeous makeover, Mary! Love this kind of patchwork and all the fun quilting you did. Very cool!
ReplyDeleteI think it is a great result. Definitely bright and colourful. Gorgeous greens. Love it!
ReplyDeleteMary it is all kinds of AWESOME! The bits of black are perfect! I see the metal that connects the chair bottom to the back as totally connected now! I was covering cushions, not chairs this week, but having as much fun quilting as you methinks! PS Jinny Beyer says always include a bit of black in a quilt. ;-)
ReplyDeleteyou did a fabulous job on this! It's so cheery ~ surely sewing will be even more fun now.... ;-)
ReplyDeleteOh heck yeah.....
ReplyDeleteThanks, y'all, for the sweet treats! I do admit that I like it. Wait, did I tell y'all that there's nothing green in the studio? Nothing. Everything is a neutral brown-beige-y color, on purpose, so the quilts will stand out. The chair gets it's share of attention, let me tell you.
ReplyDeleteIn fact, now the problem is that everyone wants to sit on it! Not smart. Not smart at all. I have fits when people use my things. They can go sit on the sofa in the living room. Just don't sit on my chair in there, either! I should put signs that say, "Do not sit! Mary will have a fit!"
I' mbeyond impressed !!!!
ReplyDeleteI really love this and would even if lime green wasn't one of my favorite colors. The pops of black are perfect and the quilting is fabulous! It's a great idea and makes me want to make on of my own.My chair is boring gray.
ReplyDeleteMary, this is awesome! I would love a chair like this, even if other people did keep sitting on it.
ReplyDeletethis looks great !
ReplyDeleteThat's impressive! I like it - and I do like the spots of black.
ReplyDeleteIt looks fabulous! I like the different quilting textures and the black really ties in with the base of the chair!
ReplyDeleteAwesome job! What a great idea!
ReplyDeleteLove the creativity!!! Makes me want to go home and do the same thing, but I don't function nearly as well without a pattern - someday maybe. Thanks for sharing :)
ReplyDeleteLove it! Love everything about it, and it cheers me up just to see it!
ReplyDeleteWow! All the lovely comment have really cheered me up. I had some iffy feelings about whether I should really recover the chair and put it off for a long time, but it was obviously the right thing to do. Thanks everyone for the positive comments. I love the chair more and more!
ReplyDeleteThat is brilliant! How the heck did you attach the pieces? Hot glue? Now you shouldn't sit in it, you should display it at a museum!
ReplyDeleteHi Cathy, Actually it was all very easy. The seat and back have just a few screws hold them on. Both have a wooden back and the original fabric is stapled on. I decided to leave that fabric on and just staple the quilted fabric over it. I have a heavy duty staple gun which really means business if held correctly. But to be sure, I always tap the staples a few times with my hammer. Once the fabric was in place, it was an easy matter to put the parts back together. The plastic cover really doesn't do much except cover the staples and hold the parts that connect to the rest of the chair, I just had to check that the staples were all hidden behind the plastic cover. It's so much easier than I imagined it would be!
ReplyDeleteHey Mary, thanks for linking up with AHIQ - I'm pretty sure yours is the first improv project that isn't a quilt so it's a great example of what can be done with a bit of imagination!
ReplyDeleteThis is brilliant! Thanks for describing how you put it together; we have a chair here that could do with such treatment!
ReplyDeleteA perfect way to improv. The green is great and the black grounds it a bit. Plus it lines up with the back frame. Not sure if that was planning or serendipity. The explanation of recovering is helpful, too. Someday!
ReplyDeleteThanks for linking the cute project up with AHIQ.
Kaja, the entire chair cover is quilted. In fact, the quilting caused a bit of an issue. The batting made it really thick, so I had to add more staples to get it flat enough to put the chair back together. Determination puts up a pretty good fight. lol
ReplyDeleteMarly, go for it. It was fun and the chair becomes a conversation starter. Ha, like I need help!
Ann, it was all serendipity. Imagine my surprise.