Lucy the Chair Lady

"[Rose] had also begged from an old aunt at Beverley Farms a couple droll little armchairs in white painted wood with covers of antique needlework. One had 'Chit' embroidered on the middle of its cushion, the other 'Chat.' These stood suggestively at the corners of the hearth.

"'Now Katy, said Rose, seating herself in 'Chit', pull up 'Chat' and let us begin.'"
[Susan Coolidge, What Katy Did Next]

You really can get just about everything here at Church Ladies- recently, there's been everything from spirituality to college football to needlework to great art to recipes. What can we say? We're women of many interests.

Here follows a double endorsement- both for the Katy books and for taking a stab at upholstery. Let's start with the former.

The Katy books chronicle the life of the Carr family in 1860s America. It is a lovely series about a family living out Christian values and a beautiful testimony to the friendship between siblings. Although the fictional Katy Carr is contemporary with Laura Ingalls Wilder, she has a very life. Katy grows up in a well established small Midwestern town, goes to boarding school out East, and travels to Europe; her siblings are a part of the great expansion of the West. I think the Katy books would make for delightful family reading- they are wholesome without being moralizing, like most literature branded Christian fiction.

Now for the heavier topic. Yours truly has a big heart.... especially for lonely chairs. It started innocently enough. I needed an extra chair for living room. Enter a nice chair from the consignment store. Then came the Holy Rosary parish rummage sale. It took 3 trips with my compact car, but I hauled 5 hand-carved cherry chairs home... for the grand total of $25. Another one of my collection, found on a street corner in a college town, is the most historic. When re-covering it, I discovered a manufacturing sticker dating the chair's construction to Matoon, IL, 1912 and freighted to Boise. I can only image the stories it could tell. And over Memorial Day weekend this year, I found a solid cherry captain's chair on my way to the market.

Changing the seat cover on a chair is one of the easiest skills. My mother taught me how when I was 5. All you need is a screwdriver and a staple gun (with staples at least 1/2" long).

If you are starting with a reclaimed chair, wash the wooden portion with oil soap. Dry it, then unscrew the pad. This is also a good time to rub the wooden frame with Old English scratch cover, in light or dark wood as appropriate.

Examine the condition of the chair cushion. If it's intact and clean, you can cover right over it. However, if the cover is in poor condition or has holes with padding exposed, you'll need to re-cover it with vinyl (more later).

Now comes the fun part, the trip to the fabric store. Don't panic- upholstery fabric can be expensive, but 1/2 a yard will cover 2 chairs, if lining up a motif isn't necessary, and some of the chains often have 50% off sales on decorator fabric. Also, check out the clearance/remnant section. Apparel or quilting fabric alone really isn't strong enough for upholstery, but if you find a print that's absolutely perfect, you can fuse it to a heavy-weight fabric, although it will be more prone to stains, since it isn't scotch-guarded like upholstery fabrics. If the original chair pad is a bright color or in poor condition, you will also need some lightweight vinyl in the same quantities as the decorative material.

If you are a handy needle-woman, you might be interested in embroidering or knitting a cover. Napa Needlepoint has some helpful guidelines for material & design selection for embroidery; here is a delightful knitted seat.

Re-covering the seat is as easy as can be. You use the same technique whether you are starting with vinyl or decorative fabric. Cut your fabric into a rectangle about 6-8" bigger than the pad, with the motife located as desired. Put the chair pad on the ground face up, then use a few straight pins to put the fabric in place. Flip it over, and pull a side taught, then staple in place about 1" from the edge, and again 3" from the edge. Repeat all the way around, taking care at the corners, then trim the excess. Screw the pad back in place, remove the pins, and you're done!

Lucy Learns to Sew: Project 3

Pattern:
None, really

Fabric:
XL Skirt ($4.50, Goodwill)
Small amount of navy batiste (sunk cost from another project)

Other Notions:
Zipper (re-used original)
Interfacing (.50)
Hook and Eye: (1 @ $1.29 a dozen)
Negligible amount of white and navy thread
Sash from summer dressing gown (free)

Total Cost: $5.13
Time: About 2 hours
New Sewing Techniques: adaptive reuse

I found a brand new Coldwater Creek skirt at the thrift store awhile ago. It was made from an excellent quality fabric, but was too wide at the waist and too long.


I originally planned to turn this skirt into a tiered skirt, but after I trimmed off the beads and cut the skirt yoke pieces, I realized there was more fabric than I needed for a skirt and a lot of nicely finished seams. As an architect, I have long been intrigued by adaptive reuse. I saw the potential for a maxi dress- perfect for summer road trips and barbecues.

I turned the yoke upside down (the hips now became the bust). I cut out about 1/4 of the remaining fabric divided evenly over one seam, then gathered the remainder gently. I liked the current hem length, but needed a few extra inches at the top, so I raided the scrap bag for some navy fabric, echoing the skirt's original waistband. I folded it double and reinforced it with interfacing in between the fabric layers. I attached the band to the bodice and the assembly to the skirt, and worked in a few back darts. I sewed the new side seam, replaced the zipper, then made straps from the surplus skirt fabric. A few sash loops, a hook and eye, and this project was ready to go!

If you are starting without a pattern, this helpful tutorial demonstrates how to turn an ill-fitting skirt into a dress; the book New to Old is also full of adaptive reuse ideas with minimal sewing- always key in my book!

Lucy Learns to Sew: Project 2

The progress continues,

Pattern:
Simplicity New Look 6872, Option B ($3.99, Joann)

Fabric:
2ish yards, won at parish raffle

Other Notions:
Interfacing (1/2 yard @ .99)
Red thread (1/4 spool @ $2.29)
2 yards of 1 1/2" Ribbon ($1.17)
Hook and Eye: (1 @ $1.29 a dozen)

Total Cost: $6.22
Time: About 4 hours, at least half of which was because I sewed by hand
New Sewing Techniques: interfacing, zipper

Comments: I picked a trendier cut for this skirt because the fabric looks very dated, so my net effect is "vintage."

A Dress a Week

Goodness, there are some ambitious bloggers. First, there was the lady who cooked a crockpot recipe every day, and now, via Betty Beguiles, I find this lovely new blog, Sew Weekly. And not only is the blogger finishing a new dress every week, but, so far at least, they have all been from vintage patterns!

Enjoy!