projects

ethan's home and he helped me to move this old sofa into the studio.  finally.  i stripped much of the old upholstery off this summer outdoors and moved it into the front hallway where it has languished for months.  totally in the way.  blocking the piano.

it has a real sweet shape and it's small enough to fit in the space i want it to.  it's in front of the woodstove and near where i work.  i will be happy to sit here once it's finished to read or hand-stitch or whatever.  take a nap, perhaps.

also, here are a couple of my favorite antique quilt tops i've collected.  i'm hoping to sew them up into quilts AND finish the sofa over the next few weeks and after christmas has passed.

i bought that vintage tea towel fabric awhile back and i'm cutting it up into hand towels and sewing the ends by hand.  i know i could do it on the machine but i really feel like that extra effort lends something to the fabric.  i'm giving the towels as gifts to friends.  i love that i can give them something they can use daily.  something which i've sat with and added to stitch by stitch.

last picture is lazy jazzie sleeping in the big box of scrap paper destined for the woodstove.  cat love the woodstove heat.

x

L

momma's got a new chair

chair redux:  like i said, i kept the chair real simple.  i actually deliberated on this for a long time yesterday before deciding to just keep it plain.  and luckily, i'm glad i did.  the interior spaces i'm thinking about in my head are super pared down.  with just a few special objects around. and lately i'm dreaming of walls with color.  particularly watery blues and greens.  so in keeping with interior spaces in my imagination (and hopefully in my future) the mottled white fabric works.  

there is a sofa in my barn which is most definitely next on my projects list.  i took a peek at it yesterday when i finished my chair and it will be more complicated than the chair but i know i can do it.  key to my success will be the undeniable fact that perfectionist is not on the list of things liane is.  i knew that would come in handy one day.

xx

me

reupholstery::the before

here is the chair i've been reupholstering this weekend.  it's been the perfect chair for this beginner for several reasons...

1.  i could take the existing upholstery off and use it as a template for the new fabric i'm using.   

2.  it has a plywood bottom which bypasses the need for springs and real upholstery know-how.  i know this may not make it the cushiest chair but i used a healthy amount of stuffing to pad the chair bottom and it feels pretty good on the butt, i.m.o. 

3.  there is no separate cushion to mess with. 

4.  i didn't have to buy anything to complete the project....of course because of my line of work this wasn't too hard but i think most people could complete this with just a little money and effort.  and junky old chairs can be had for free if you scout around. 

you can see from the second image that this chair was stuffed with some kind of cotton batting and some hay!  awesome.  i recommend working outdoors if possible and wearing a dust mask when you take the old upholstery off.  you will be working in a dust cloud during the first part of the project.  also,  pay attention to how the upholstery was put on as you strip the old off.  i have a reupholstery book but this project was really simple enough to just use my instincts.  plus i'm allergic to technical directions.  last, realize before hand that the deconstruction takes as much time as the reconstruction.  i had to remove a lot of upholstery tacks and wash the frame well before starting over. 

the third image shows bits of old fabric i found mixed in with the batting and the hay. 

tomorrow i'll post pictures of the finished chair.  i kept it real simple and i'm so glad i did.  i'm also planning to start working on a small vintage sofa i've had in the barn.  it's got a great simple sexy shape to it.  and it came from the same 90+ yo woman who once owned this chair.  her name was bernice.