My 1950's Chair ~ A Makeover Story

The cool little chair that sat in my Gram's bedroom for decades, finally got a makeover! This is the Before picture...
I agonized for several days about which fabric to reupholster her in...a fun vintage 50's barkcloth?...a pretty 1940's floral?...a tropical?...a patchwork of vintage cutter tablecloths?...or maybe the awesome Anna Maria Horner fabric I just got? You see my dilemma. So, I decided it would be best to use a plain unbleached canvas for the upholstery and make slipcover's to suit my current whim. :-)
Let me just say, that the upholstery part went MUCH faster than the slipcover part! It went something like this...First the old dry rotted fabric came off and the individual pieces were labeled with a sharpie.
Then I traced each piece onto muslin, and cut out enough to mark a 5/8 inch seam allowance.
After I had all my pattern pieces cut out and marked, I turned my attention to the base of my chair and added a bit to the existing padding by covering with several layers of cotton batting. Once I had finished fiddling with the pattern pieces and tested the fit, I was ready to cut out my canvas and staple it to the frame.

And then finished it off with the arm caps.

Altering the pattern pieces into a slip cover proved to be quite a challenge. There was a lot of wimpering and a near fatal incident with my evil serger that almost made me scrap the entire project. But I muddled through, and I have to say, I think she looks very sassy in her new dress. For the first slipcover I decided to use a bold teal and blue dress fabric from the 1950-60's and trim it out with piping made from a Garden Party fabric by Anna Maria Horner.
The back closes with simple ties.All in all it was a fun project. :-)
This DIY is also part of the link party over on A soft Place to Land.
And a big Thank You! to LuAnn for sharing this project on her Back Home Again blog! :-)

Spring Floral Fabric GIVEAWAY! and Baby Gift Ideas Part 2

* Comments are now closed for the giveaway. A winner is being randomly chosen and will be posted later this evening. Thanks everyone for entering! :)
First things first...the GIVEAWAY! Spring officially arrives later this week (Yea!) and to celebrate the end of this dreary winter, I'm giving away lots of pretty floral fabrics. * Two large pillow panel size pieces of vintage fabric. Both were salvaged from curtain panels and would be wonderful to make into pillows for your patio or front porch swing.
* Seven (7) pretty floral fat quarters. These are all newer fabrics in sweet pastels and feature roses. Ok, the black isn't pastel, but the print is little thimbles with flowers, I had to include it. :)

Giveaway rules:

1. Anyone is welcome. US and international bloggers, regular posters, lurkers, first time visitors, ...really anyone.

2. I have to be able to contact you. If you have an active blog, great! If you don't, you'll need to make sure I get your email address. (you can contact me from the side bar)

3. Just leave a comment on THIS post between now and 3:00pm EST Sunday March 22. I'll lock the comments at that time.

4. A winner will be chosen and announced that evening.

Oh, And in case you're not the winner of the giveaway, for the rest of the month (and maybe into April) there will be lots of vintage floral bouquet fabrics ON SALE on the website.

And a big Thank You to Jodi from Simply This, That, and the Other for featuring my blog today! :)

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Gift Ideas for Mom and Baby ~ Part 2

Here's a few more ideas to add to last week's post.

*1* Portable Diaper Changing Pad- This was a pretty easy project and could certainly be customized to coordinate and fit inside of a matching diaper bag.
Several layers of batting covered in Sisboom fabrics fold into thirds with handy pockets for diapers and wipes. (I may post a tutorial for this project in the future.)

*2* Diaper Bag Set - This set was made for a friend several years ago. She had her children's room decorated with Raggedy Ann and Andy and wanted a diaper bag to match. We found this cute vintage print and paired it with denim. A matching zippered pouch and roll-up changing pad completed the set. *3* Slip Covered Children's Chair- Very girly! (I wish I had taken more pictures before giving it to her.) I used an old child sized bentwood chair. It was first sanded, primed, and painted white. Next, I added water-slide decals with big pink roses. Then the pretty custom slip cover was made. I used a vintage white linen fabric for the seat and back along with a sheet from the Simply Shabby Chic line for the skirt. This one definitely required more time than money, but I think the end result was worth it.

I hope everyone is able to get outside this week and enjoy the beginning of spring. Be sure to leave a comment on this post to be entered in the fabric giveaway. :)