Before and After projects I am loving.....

All via Design*Sponge

Spruce Austin - Chair love

These guys are just too cute. It makes me want to cry at how cute and exciting and interesting and fun they are!  Its like a group of best friends all working together on fun projects with access to amazing fabrics and pieces of furniture. I would love love love to do that!  
 

The team at Spruce Austin all happy and smiley!

They run classes on re-upholstery where you byo chair and get to spend the day learning the ins and outs of making a chair come back to life with the help of some  very talented instructors and of course gorgeous fabrics.  Here are some pretty before and after projects from their recent classes:

 

Lovely huh!  and here are 2 of my favourites......

 

 

Now to save for that plane fare....Austin ima' comin' !

Project #4 - Chair for the bedroom - More chair love

Salvos find

I bought this chair a few months ago from the Salvation Army.   It cost $11.   After changing my mind one hundred times over what fabric to use, I decided to stick with my original idea and used this beautiful Ikea fabric I had stashed away from 2008.

IKEA - Ann-Cathrine Sigrid Stahlberg 2008

After some cleaning with soapy water, I decided that I would not be painting this chair.  I liked the beech colour and apart from a few scuff marks (which I managed to get out with a toothbrush and some warm soapy water) the chair was in great condition.

The tools come out......

So began the task of pulling it all apart.   Starting with the fabric covered piping that went around the chair to hide the staples.

 

 Taking off the cream coloured fabric was easy as it was very old and had some worn out sections. That revealed this tan/green striped fabric which was also ripped

Chair after some cleaning

Finally I was left with this layer of sponge which apart from a tiny section on the corner of the chair, was also in good shape.  So I decided to stop here and gave the sponge a good vacuum.

Using the old cover as a template, I traced out the shape leaving a 2.5cm (1 inch) allowance.  I also used my brand new pinking shears.  These come in very handy when cutting fabric.  If you don't have an over locker, these are the next best thing as they help stop the fabric from fraying too much.

Once cut, I lay the fabric back on the chair and used some tape to hold it in place. Then began the fun part, the staple gun work (my favourite).

This part is what needs lots of patience as you need to secure the fabric by placing a staple in the middle of each side of the chair first.  Once that is done, take it one section at a time and tightly pull the fabric and staple as you go.   I like to stop every couple of staples and make sure that the fabric has not moved and there are no creases.  I then covered the staples with the piping I made earlier.  This was the hardest part of the chair makeover.  I used this very easy tutorial which helped immensely!


So here is the finished product:

 

 Very pleased with how it turned out and of course now I have even more chair love than before.....if that is even possible!

from Martino's studio.....

Here are some pics of what is going on over by his side of our shared art space....

fabric: linen
project: chair

Project #2 - Cushion for Martino's Chair.....

So yesterday I went to my favorite fabric shop and bought lots of really cool fabric and from there decided to make him a cushion for the chair.

This is Martino's chair.....his little space to sit and enjoy all his magazines, bicycle websites, coffee and sometimes even to do none of the above and just have a good old nap!  

I had not used my sewing machine for over a year and a half as all the projects I have been working on recently are all hand stitched.   So I went hunting around online and found one of the easiest tutorials to make an envelope cushion cover.   It is from Vanessa at Crafty Gemini.   Ive only just discovered her videos and they are great mix of sewing, crafting and cooking tutorials that are easy to follow.   So check out her blog for some inspiration and easy to follow instructions.

Here is my finished product -  hope he likes it!