Chair, covered in chairs

We have been re-doing the house because of the burst pipe. We are finally finished with the walls and all the important stuff. But making some of it all new and nice made the parts that were left look old and sad and dirty.

We have decided to replace all the sad and old with the new and colorful.

My husband bought this chair as part of a set about 10 years ago. We have two of these chairs, two ottomans, a couch and a love seat. One of the chairs has been designated as Mama's comfy chair.

I have set it up as a little reading / working nook. Got myself a nice lamp and a basket to keep all my stuff in.

I could still use some more storage to make this a real work area. But I decided to go ahead and make this chair not look so sad. Fortunately the stains do not photograph as obvious as they are in reality.

 I wanted to just pop the bottom off and staple the fabric on for both the chair and the ottoman.  But the screws were pretty much stripped and would not let me do that.

Because I ran into this problem, I decided to go ahead and make a slipcover. The advantage of a slipcover is that I can take it off and wash it. Since it does have a white background I decided this was the best approach even if it meant it was more work to complete.

Getting this project done has been on my to-do list for about a month. And never letting it get to the top was not making me happy. Therefore I was determined to be able to cross it off by the end of the day today.

Look how much more cheerful this chair looks now. And it is funny a chair covered in chairs! This fabric is from Ikea and was only about $5.00 a yard.

The back pillow was the easiest part, strangely. I put a zipper in the bottom of the cover and smooched the original pillow into the new cover.

For the bottom of the chair and the ottoman I made just some easy pull on covers. The weirdest spot was were the arms meet the chair cushion. It is a tight squeeze, but I managed to wiggle it on there and get it all setteled.

Now my comfy chair is not only comfy but is also cheerful and is on the list of my favorite spots in our house.

There are lots more things that I want to spruce up and get off my to do list. But I am happy as I check this project off.

Peace Out - C

p.s. even with all the problems this project took me about 4 hours to complete. Sometimes the hardest part is deciding what to start on.

 

Just Keep Swimming .....

Is it just me or is 2014 a bit of a dud so far? I could go down my laundry list of all the crap I have been weeding through, but frankly that is just boring. I have gotten two good pieces of advise lately.
1. "Chaos is normal, embrace it and keep going." Both my Uncle Ted and mt neighbor Jay told me this one.
2.  "It is just awfully hard to be a human!" this nugget from another neighbor, Lore.

In addition to talking to my neighbors to try and cheep myself up, I have been reading "The Happiness Project" by  Gretchen Rubin. Amazingly her book is all about the small stuff. And it is starting to help me better organize my thoughts.

So I am boiling all this down to what a wise fish named Dori once said "Just keep swimming...". In my effort to swim today I made a to do list. Man is it long! And most of the items on it are as dull as dirt. But I am going to try something new. Instead of focusing on the task. I am going to focus on how good I will feel as I check each item (write blog post) off! And I have snuck in a few fun items (make more clothes for myself). I am keeping my list electronically so that I can easily move things around or click the completed tab and see what I have managed to get done.

Adding to the funk of 2014 I have let myself get a little fluffy around the edges. Which yes I need work on reducing. But in the mean time I need to have a few cute spring clothes that will help me get through and make me feel a little better. So the first thing I have made myself is a t-shirt.

I bought this lovely teal slub cotton about 3 years ago. It has been in my "personal stash" cubby that whole time. Every now and then I would pull it out and look at it and wait for it to speak to me. And last week it finally did! If you have been following me for a while you may recognize the shape of this shirt. Yes I made it with my all time favorite pattern. The pattern is from the book Sew Liberated by Meg McElwee. Click here for other versions I have made. I have also extended this pattern into a dress at least twice.

I have to say I am glad I have never cut the paper and that I just trace this pattern. This time I made it in a bigger size but took some out of the sleeve. It has a generous sleeve and I decided this time around I just don't need all that fluff to add to my own fluff.

I used a tiny tiny zig zag for the seams, since it needs to stretch. To add a little decorative flair, I went over the arm seams with a large zig zag.

I did the same at the hem. Two rows of tiny zig zag with a large one in-between. The peasant style shirt is really my favorite shirt of all. It is always flattering, stylish and comfortable. Another bonus is that they are inexpensive to make. This one cost me less than $10.00 total (the book paid for itself long ago). I love the tops like this they carry at Sundance but my budget does not allow such extravagance. Additionally it is crazy eazy to sew. I have plans to make a few more. Some with this 3/4 sleeve and maybe some shorter. I whipped up this one in under an hour.

I am going to happily check off "write blog post" and keep on swimming through the rest of today. What are you up to? Would love to hear from you about sewing or life!

Peace Out -
Chrissy