The Painted Apron

Creations, Chair dress-up

Posted by the Painted Apron on March 28, 2013 · 15 Comments 

Strolling through blogland the other day I read a post about a craft room redo, by Carol over at Oasis in the Desert.  Beautiful photos and everything delightfully organized and bright colors…and then I saw IT,  the crown jewel of her mom cave…her chair!

She had made the cutest slip cover for her chair…WHY HAD I NEVER THOUGHT OF THAT!

You know how you can look at something everyday and never really see it?  This is embarrassing.  This little beauty is in my studio which is basically in my kitchen, you know, front and center of all the action…Ohhhhhhhh, I  had to do something immediately!

This is my work chair, and it gets a lot of abuse.  Paint splatters, glue, you name it, it’s on there somewhere!  Nasty is it is, it is so comfortable and I can roll around all over the place and grab supplies when I’m working.  OK trusty little chair, time for a face lift!

I have never really made a slip cover before but I figured I’d give it a shot since this wasn’t my living room.  I actually had the black and white fabric and decided to buy some zig zag print, not sure of the plan yet, but I like to lay out my options…After draping the chair with some of the fabrics to see what I liked in the space I began with the skirt.

I chose the egg yolk yellow zig zag for the skirt and cut a length that would fit around the chair base and leave enough room for a ruffle at the bottom. A girl’s got to have her ruffles!  I made a wide ruffle out of the cotton black polka dot and pinned right sides together on the yellow skirt.

I did a machine hem on the polka dot, turning the fabric over twice so it wouldn’t fray.  Yeah, I should have hand hemmed it, or at least switched to black thread,  but trust me, no one will ever notice once it’s done.

Next I put a piece of contrasting fabric on the chair, right side down,  and traced the seat circumference with a piece of chalk {that little yellow spec in the center}

I cut out the fabric, leaving a generous 1 inch edge around the chalk line.  Not sure why I did such a big allowance, maybe I thought I would adjust it if necessary…hmmm, that doesn’t sound like me…but ever hopeful for better habits.

Then right sides together I pinned the skirt to the seat fabric, easing the skirt around the corners.

So far so good!  Notice how the fabric is similar to the black & white storage boxes…total accident, I just love anything black and white.

The skirt back is open because of the stem of the chair back, it surrounds the seat enough to stay in place.

Instead of making a fitted piece for the chair back I decided to make a simple pillow case cover and add some ties to use to keep it snug.  I fashioned wide lengths of the yellow fabric into ties and placed the raw edges, right sides together,  into the seam allowance of the chair back slipcover.  Once sewn the chair back was complete.

Cute?

I used the salvage edge on the chair back cover so no hemming was necessary at the bottom.

The tie back helps keep the chair back cover in place but doesn’t interfere with the chair back stem which connects to the base.

The best part is that on busy painting days I can slip the whole thing off in seconds.  When I’m done for the day I close up my desk and it goes back on in a flash!

Thanks for visiting my little studio today, little changes can make such a BIG difference!

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I’m joining some of these great parties this week:

the Tablescaper for SEASONAL SUNDAY

Between Naps on the Porch for METAMORPHIS MONDAY & TABLESCAPE THURSDAY

Stone Gable for ON THE MENU MONDAY and TUTORIALS, TIPS & TIDBITS THURSDAY

The Gunny Sack for WHAT’S IN THE GUNNY SACK?

Memories by the Mile for TUESDAY TRIVIA

Design Decor Tuesday

Savvy Southern Style for WOW US WEDNESDAY

Cuisine Kathleen for LET’S DISH

Rattlebridge Farms for FOODIE FRIDAY

Alderberry Hill for MAKE THE SCENE MONDAY

The Dedicated House for MAKE IT PRETTY MONDAY and ANYTHING BLUE FRIDAY

No Minimalist Here for OPEN HOUSE THURSDAY

the Answer is Chocolate for BFF OPEN HOUSE

The Busy Bee’s for THURSDAY BLOG HOP

Crafts ala mode for WHAT TO DO WEEKENDS

check out these amazing blogs!