Journey down the bumpy road of upholstering

That title sums up my next steps to this upholstery journey.  I left you with a fabric free settee.  I know your thinking just staple on the front and back fabric and call it a day but it just wasn't that easy.  You see this settee is curved.  The front back and back pieces of fabric were pieced together with 3 pieces sewn together.  I thought no problem.  I used the old fabric as a template and away I went.

First, when dealing with velvet remember to always consider the nap (which I forgot to check before sewing).  Mistake number one.  Lesson learned.  I resewed, stapled.  I was determined to not get any wrinkling around the seat back bottom of the settee around the curve.  I worked, cut, worked, stapled...  Took a break, then stapled on the back fabric piece for the settee.  I thought for sure I was in the final stretch of this race.  That is when my racing horse jumped off the track and headed me right for a tree!

I was utterly disgusted when I stood back to admire my work giving myself a premature pat on the back when I noticed how off the seams were on the seat back.  I tried to live with it for next two days but I knew I would not be happy.  I mean the seams were just staring at me sticking out their tongues.  Can you believe it?!   I was too mad to take a picture but here is where the seams were approximately.

Needless to say, I was not happy about removing the staples from the bottom back piece in order to remove all the staples holding on the seat back piece with the way off seams.  Let me just say that a pneumatic stapler gets the staples in pretty darn good.  After peeling away my first try with the seat back, I had learned that maybe I better make my own version instead of using the same template.  I folded the bigger portion of fabric in half and cut the edges in order to obtain the same edge on both sides.  Next, I pinned on the side portions with extra fabric to spare.  You can always cut it off not the other way around. 

After sewing the sections together, I checked, double checked, and triple checked.  Then, let the stapling begin (again).  I am pretty happy with the placement of the seams now.  I knew that I wasn't going to be recovering this again any time soon.  So, I just needed to get it right now instead of not enjoying it. 

The soap opera does not end here.  As with any good soap, I'm leaving you with a cliff hanger.  Will the settee be finished, will it be thrown off a cliff?  Tune in next time for As the Settee turns....
 

French settee reupholstering journey

I have been working hard this past week on reupholstering my french settee.  Of course, if I were a professional, it would have only taken a day but I'm not.  Let me remind you of what it looks like.  Here is a picture of the before as well as the slipcover I made until I got around to reupholstering it.

I loved the idea of bare wood verses the fruit wood look.  Enter hand sanding.  I found out pretty fast that my puny little arms couldn't hand sand the entire frame.  Here is a glimpse of what I accomplished with hand sanding.

Obviously, that method would have taken forever.  So, I busted out the stripper.  Presenting the settee with the bare wood.

On to the upholstering!  First, I've got to say I absolutely love the pneumatic stapler I got for Christmas.  It is amazing how much easier upholstering was this time around.  Anyways, as with any upholster project I've done so far I always think it won't be so bad.  It is really only three pieces of fabric, right?!  Well, this project had its hiccups too.  

As with an piece, you usually start by removing the back of the piece.  I had to be careful to save the fabric to use as a template later.  

So, far so good.  Next, I decided I wanted to be lazy and keep the decking and just replace the facing fabric only.  

Did I mention that it isn't always a good idea to be lazy?  Needless to say, my hand sewing skills are not the best.  But using the existing fabric as a template, I sewed on my first piece of brown velvet fabric.  It wasn't great but it will do.   

As you can see from the picture, I then stripped off the last piece of fabric.  You would think I would just need to attach two large pieces of fabric on the front and back and be done but it just isn't that easy.  Stay tuned while I take you on my bumpy but rewarding upholstering journey. 

Time keeps ticking away

I just don't know how some of the blog gals do it.  How do they find the time to work on projects and post about them daily.  Oh yeah, and have time for family, work, etc, etc.  Well, it is obvious that I am not one of those talented, dedicated bloggers (yet). 

Of late, I have been feeling a little stressed.  Now that I have a booth, I have to fill it.  For the past 6 1/2 years, my only concern have been my kids and hubby.  So, I have been adjusting.  I'm trying to figure out how to balance searching for treasures and working to turn something into a treasure with caring for my family.  So this must be what it feels like to be a working mom.

Speaking of turning something into a treasure.  I found this little table at the Salvation Army.  Originally, it was all black.  Someone had painted over 3 strips of shelving paper.  So, this is what it looked like after I stripped off the paper and paint. 

Not too pretty, uh?  I spray painted it Heirloom white.  Cut out the roman numerals and words on contact paper with my Cricut for the stencil.  After I painted on the numerals, I added a little glaze which picked up all the great imperfections with the table.  Here is the close up.

This now has a spot in my booth.  Hopefully someone will snatch it up because she can't live without it!

I'm sharing at:



  

Coffe table turned bench

Okay, first let me thank you for letting me have a little vent episode.  Before I share my coffee table turned bench, I'll share my find.  My last post was about my dream chairs.  Well, I found a compromise today at the Salvation Army.  They are not exactly what I want but for $10 each they will do until I find my dream chairs again.  Anyway, the first picture below is my dream chairs dashed away by a higher bidder.  They are the green velvet french chairs.  The second picture is the chairs I brought home today.

Now that I see the pictures like this, I admit they don't look alike but gave me a french feel.  I figure a little paint and some new fabric will make these chairs last until my dream chairs show up again at a price I can afford.  What do you think?  Am I nuts?

Enough about the chairs.  On to my project.  I lugged this heavy baby out of the Salvation Army too.  Not so pretty up close but I had plans.

I slapped on some paint and whipped up a cushion to turn it into this lovely bench.

Okay, I made it sound like whipping up the cushion was a breeze but not so much.  Just a little friendly advice, always stop sewing when you are getting tired.  Once the cushion was done, I couldn't resist making these cute little bunny pillows for Easter.

I would love to know what you think about the chairs and the bench.  I'm sharing over at: