In love with my loveseat!

First of all, I hope you all had a nice Easter!  We did..just relaxed and took it all in.  I appreciate everyone one who prayed for my friend (previous post).  I talked to her today and she's doing as well as can be expected.  She's a tough cookie but keep those positive thoughts & prayers for her! 

Ok, so I keep thinking I'm finished with the living room but then I see something and want to switch it all up!  My latest move was changing out loveseats.  I had a Cushman wood sofa in this spot but it just wasn't very comfortable for "crapping out," as we call it around here.  So when Brian and I saw this cushy sofa at GW, we brought it home.

It was in pristine condition.  Love the shape of it but the stripes in the upholstery were a bear to cover. I had to double layer the slipcover (that was a new one).  It was a lot of extra work and UNfun!

Here it is all finished.  I think the piping really accentuates the shape of the arms. Plus, Olive likes it..so..that's important.  I would hate to not have cat hair all over it.

I really like the curvy legs.

I woke her up..I don't think she cares about my blog.

Look at her pretty green eyes..they match the pillow.

Before, before:

This is the living room with the wooden loveseat..we're moving that to the patio.

After:

I think this looks better and it's SO comfortable!

So I picked up a truckload of furniture last week, literally.  The garage is crammed, CRAMMED full.  I have to get busy painting..can we add more hours to a day?  Let me know if you've figured that out!  I'm linking to all the cool parties in the sidebar.

I have a pile of dishes to take care of, so we'll talk soon -

Slipcover the house already

I seriously think I may need a slipcover intervention.  I finished another piece today.  It's the curvy number I bought last week and I'm pretty happy with how it looks cleaned up.
 
 Before:

  I actually prefer to buy older furniture; I think it's just made better.  We have new pieces and I really like them but you just can't beat dovetailed drawers, solid wood tops, unique hardware, upholstered pieces with hickory frames and cotton batting, the smell of old wood and the thrill of the hunt! LOVE it!

Back to my chair, here she is:

 I made a point to overstuff the seat cushion.  It's a very comfortable chair. I had been asked in an email if I ever double piped - I have now!  It was really out of necessity,  you could still see some of the old tapestry peeping out at the bottom and I needed to add a bit more length.  It worked and I like the look, so yay!

I did have to do a very minor repair job on the seat springs.

I needed to add strapping down the middle. There was a spring that had sprung!

Just followed the other two and stapled down. Easy enough.

Kinda messy job covering it all but it's on the bottom.

And a parting shot...

I made the curtains and hung them last week.  The table to the right was given to me by my mom and she's threatened my life if I paint it (I wouldn't even without the death threat).  It's a gorgeous piece.  That pillow won't stay but for now, I'm pretty pleased with it all.

I'm going to spend this evening tinkering with my blog and linking the 'furniture for sale' blog to it.  I need to figure out a better way to list the linky parties.  I've seen where some people list all the buttons at the bottom of the post and I like that.  Until then, just follow this link for the party buttons & Feathered Nest Friday @ French Country Cottage.   

 Halfway to the weekend - have a good one!

Another Slipcover & Semi-Tutorial

I've been a slipcovering queen for the past few weeks.

 I'm happy to say I've recovered both of my sofas (living room sofa here) and I can finally put up my sewing machine or at least not be slumped over it all day.

I usually start off with the before and after but this time I'm just going to walk you through what I went through, share my mess ups & give some tips at the end. I didn't use piping on the body of the cover for this sofa.  I wanted clean lines to go with the style overall.

 Remember this sofa?  Got it for under $50 at GW.

(Woohoo- still tickled about that!)

I didn't want all the little ridge things on the back showing through, so the first thing I did was cover the back with batting. I used a staple gun and slip stitched it in some places and tucked it in in other places.

Second step is drape your fabric & pin it.  This is the first section, so I pinned the fabric right onto the arm. This way helps me get an idea of how much fabric I'm going to need & how to best position it.

  I work in sections and mold the fabric around the piece.   If you're unsure of where to place a seam for the best fit, look for the original seam on your piece. That is how I had to do the arms on this sofa. I followed the seam that was already there.

This side is pulled a little tight in the middle (it drove me nuts getting this part right), so I had to rip the seam and resew it.

This is a good example of scissor happy. I have no idea what I was thinking when I chopped the seat part off..but I needed it and had to patch it up. That was UNfun but it was under the cushions and didn't show. It's a learning process.

I would pin fit, trim extra fabric & sew, then turn it right side out to make sure it fit & looked right, then trim the extra fabric one final time. So this...

  Looks like this....

And here is the after:

 Since we're in the middle of remodeling the den it was hard to get a good picture. I see areas I should have tucked & straightened but you get the idea.

To say I'm thrilled to be finished with this is a total understatement.  I just started using a sewing machine this past year, before that I would hand sew or use stitch witchery or something like that.  I'm no pro when it comes to sewing and I believe if I can pull these off, then anyone can.  So, if you're thinking of giving it a try, I say go for it!


I've been asked questions about how I make my slipcovers.  Here's a few tips - I hope it helps.

1.  Get an idea of how you want the finished slipcover to look.  I found inspiration pics and it really helped when I wasn't sure how to finish an edge or where to put a seam.

2.  Know your fabric.  I kept that simple..I used drop cloths on mine.  It really helped with the fearless factor of just doing it.  I think it would have been harder if I was using an expensive or difficult to work with fabric.  Using drop cloths I knew if I screwed it up, I'd just get another one.. no biggie.  You can always upgrade fabrics down the road.  Also, if you are using a drop cloth make sure it doesn't have anything wrong with it before you start pinning & sewing..just give it the once over. Trust me, nothing smells more like defeat than to sew an entire section and notice a small tear in the middle or a dark thread running through it, etc.

3. Pin Fit -  I don't use patterns. I don't like measuring when it comes to stuff like hanging pictures or sewing...not always good but in this case, pin fitting fabric is awesome & pretty easy.  You just  mold the fabric around your furniture & pin it!  Leave yourself some wiggle room of extra fabric at the seams in case you've fit it too snug and need to let it out.  Speaking of that, I made my slipcovers a smidge loose to leave room for extra batting on cushions (just a personal preference). MMS has some great tips here that I found extremely useful and she is using piping at that link. 

4. Work in sections - I started by draping then cutting a piece of fabric that will cover one arm, then cut another piece to fit another part of the same arm, pinned them all together, and then sewed that section.  I added on sections from there.  Each time I added a new section I turned it rightside out and "tried it on" the sofa to make sure it looked right.  You have to do this alot and it's a royal pain but it's also fun because you start to see your progress!

Again, I'm no pro - I  Gumped my way through these covers for the most part. But from my experience, I do think working in sections (pinning & sewing)  is easier because you don't want to take this huge piece of fabric with 1000 pins in it over to the sewing machine and try to figure out what the heck is going on.

5. Use sew on velcro - that's what I recommend.  I used the sticky back velcro on a few cushions and the glue that was stuck on my sewing needle was AGGRAVATING - my thread stuck to the glue & knotted up.Cooking spray gets the glue right off.  I just sprayed some on a paper towel & cleaned my needle with it. It also removes spray paint from your hands and smells WAY better than goof off!  I might be overlooking the attributes of sticky velcro but from what I've seen, no thanks. 

6. Seam ripper - have one ready.  They are made for a reason.

In the end you will probably need to pull out the old needle & thread for a few finishing touches.

 These are areas that I pinned to get a better fit and put in a couple of hand stitches.

 It is a job making a slipcover but they are a nice change, they aren't expensive AND you can wash them! Also, I have found that using baby wipes gets spots out of these drop cloths without fail.  Now,  I didn't go over making cushions but if you can make a pillow, then you can make a cover for a cushion. If you can't make a pillow, then you probably aren't thinking about making a slipcover!

I also made my mom a lampshade like the burlap one I made for myself last week. She loves it and I'll be sharing that soon..it's been like Groundhog Day for me...nothing but slipcovers & lampshades!

I'm linking to these parties & TDC'S Before & After Party.  Have a fun rest of the weekend!

Slipcovered the Green Giant!

Did you guys hear angels singing yesterday?

I finished my slipcover!  WOOHOO - applause, applause!

After sticking myself about a million times, blowing up a sewing machine, ordering a new one, then knocking the belt off that one, fixing it @ 2am, having my house smell like a swimming pool for a week from all the bleach, dropcloth scraps everywhere and becoming one with my seam ripper, I finally finished the slipcover for my living room sofa and I-LOVE-IT! It was worth every drop of blood and every minute of sleep lost. I've been doing the happy dance all day.  Am I being too dramatic? Maybe..but this was an ordeal and I'm doing it all over again with this couch.  I'm a glutton for punishment.

This is what it did look like...

A Hickory Chair sofa that I had made 12 years ago.  It has a hardwood frame and still solid as a rock (even after being dropped off the back of a moving truck a few years ago). It's a great piece but I was sick of the green fabric & it was showing some wear.

Inspiration photo:

 One more of mine...

  Here's the view from the kitchen. The strapping on the pillows ties into the framed coffee bag hanging over  the other sofa (I'm going to sand and restain that sofa in the spring.)

I have my fingers crossed that this next slipcover is easier and goes a little faster.  I think I'm going to dedicate a post to dropcloths because I learned a few things the hard way and (queue talk show tears), if I can save just ONE person from making the same mistakes I made...

I'm off to make swiss cheese out of my hands again..it's so unnerving to get jabbed with a pin..something to look forward to *sigh*.

I'm going to be linking to these parties.

Take it easy,

A Feature, a Button & a Wish

Before anything else, I want to thank Kristi at Pink and Polka Dot  for showing my dining room chair slipcover on:

I am really tickled and very appreciative!  I love her blog and find so much inspiration following along! In fact, I'm bleaching drop cloths now for my living room sofa.  It's a big old green girl desperate for a new look.  My kitty 'grooms' the cushions and has made slobber marks on them...blech!  So, I think I'll start with a drop cloth and hopefully get the hang of it, then maybe try another fabric later on.  I figure if it all goes south I'll only be out a couple of $20 packs of cloth from Home Depot.


Now if you will please check out my sidebar on the right, you will see that I finally made a 'grab my button' button..what a pain in the tuchus!!!  Designing the button was fun but figuring out the code for the scroll box was ag-gra-vating.  I was saved from my torment when I found help HERE. So, if you are so inclined to grab my button, then let me know and I will gladly do the same. 

One more thing before I go, in the excitement of my Ikea purchase I totally forgot to wish you a....

**Sorry it's late**

 Thanks for reading and leave a comment so I can get to know you!

My first slipcover!

I've a hard time keeping up with blogging lately.  I have several projects like an inch away from being finished and I'm in a mad dash to get them done before Christmas.  And I haven't EVEN pulled out one single Christmas decoration yet - that kinda makes me queasy just thinking about that.  I know some people love holiday decorating (my niece being one of them...if she could make outside Christmas decorating a competitive sport - she would AND she would win!)  Don't get me wrong, I love a Christmasy feeling all over the house, but just the idea of hauling tubs from the garage, switching everything out & wrecking the house in the process, then having to put it all back up...blech!  I guess that's a little Scroogey of me, huh?

Well, all that aside, I did make my first slipcovers for 2 dining room chairs.  I bought these chairs for $5 each.  They are super sturdy and just what I was looking for to do this project.  I wanted to mix things up a little at the dining room table because it seemed too matchy-matchy with all the chairs being the same.

Before:

I would have just painted them & recovered the seat but there was some minor damage to the caning.

Added a layer of batting.

Pin fit a lightly bleached drop cloth.  Covering the second chair went a lot faster than the first.  I took advantage of the already hemmed drop cloth when I could (as MMS advises). I pinned just a smidge snug then sewed on the outside of the pin line. 

After:

They're very simple but I like them.  I'll try cording the next time.

 

I painted the legs black.  I know I should have ironed it before taking pictures,
but at the time that seemed really, really hard.

I also played around with my centerpiece and added some berries & more candles.

 We still have the chandelier sitting in the corner, so that sucker needs to go up and the 1980s one (seen in the mirror) can come down.  I might be able to talk Brian into doing that this weekend.

Last night I made the curtains for Andy's closet and hung them.  I'm finishing his window valances  today. I love the way his room is coming together.  I'm going to put pics of that up this week.  And I'm pretty sure I'm doing some long term damage to my hands with my non-stop crafting. We suffer for our art, don't we?

I'm linky partying with MMS at FFF.  Thanks for coming by!

TTFN,