Jul 2, 2014

My Sewing Studio: Seating


  

  
      
For seating in my sewing studio I definitely wanted a swivel chair to make it easy to switch between my sewing machine and serger.  As luck would have it, I had an old office chair just waiting for a makeover.  I began by masking off the the black plastic wheels.  Everything else got a coat of Heirloom White spray paint.  


Originally, I had planned to paint the original fabric on the chair with fabric paint, followed by some sort of painted design.  But, I wasn't too happy with the early results and opted for reupholstering.  I had a sheet that was given to me that was going to work perfectly.  After searching the web for some ideas on the process,  I managed to recover the chair without taking the whole thing apart.

The back rest was super simple.  I began by cutting a piece of fabric large enough to cover the chair back, with a couple of inches all around to spare.  Next, I sprayed the original chair back fabric with spray adhesive.  I then centered the new fabric onto the old fabric and smoothed it into place.  Then with a real "high tech" tool, a.k.a a butter knife, I pushed the excess fabric into the space between the cushion and the hard plastic backing.  If some of the fabric was too long to push inside, I trimmed it off, then finished pushing it in place.  No staples required!  I have used the chair for several weeks now and it is staying perfectly secure.  The spray adhesive helped the new fabric conform to the curvature of the chair back.


For the seat cushion, I did remove it from the chair base.  It was just a matter of removing a few bolts.  I cut a piece of fabric large enough to cover the seat and wrap around to the underside.  Once again, I used spray adhesive and centered my new fabric over the old fabric, smoothing into place.  I did my best to line the stripes up with the stripes on the chair back.  I stretched and wrapped the excess fabric to the underside and stapled it into place, trimming away any excess fabric.  I then reattached the seat to the chair base.


I thought I was done at this point, but it just didn't look finished, so a pleated and piped skirt was added to the perimeter.  I attached it by placing it upside down, and stapling it into place along the edge of the seat.



Now it looked finished!


My sewing studio also needed some secondary seating for when I'm sitting at my cutting table.  I found a wooden stool at Goodwill for $4.99.  I painted it with the same Heirloom White spray paint and then slip covered it with the same fabric and pleating detail.  However, instead of piping, it was trimmed with some rick rack from my stash.




Total cost for seating in my sewing studio:

Office Chair....free
Gifted Sheet....free
Heirloom White Spray Paint....$4.00
Thrifted Stool....$4.99
Cording and Rick Rack...from my stash



I like to link to these great parties!



14 comments:

  1. Holy Cow, I love everything about this room. You did a fabulous job on this chair and stool both. I LOVE the hutch. Such a pretty inspiring room. I'm glad I found you via Bacon Time anything goes link up. Nice to meet another sewer. :)

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    1. Thanks Michal! It was a fun room to put together, and even more fun to use!

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  2. What a wonderful finished chair, so bright and cheerful! Good job.

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    1. Thank you! I really lucked out with the free sheet. It fit into the color scheme perfectly!

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  3. In all the chair makeovers I’ve read, this is one of my favorites. You definitely gave life and style to your old chair. For sure, this will give you one more reason to stay in your office. Cheers!

    Albert Andrews @ Pharaoh Manufacturing

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    1. Wow, its nice to be considered a "favorite"! The update definitely makes for a cheerful space!

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  4. Wow...what a makeover!! Love it! Pinning it!

    Thanks for sharing!!

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  5. SWEET!!! PINNED. Your friend, Linda

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  6. Thank you for sharing this post at City of Creative Dream's City of Links on Friday! I appreciate you taking the time to party with me. Hope to see you again this week :)

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  7. Wow, this is great! I too had a hard time finding a swivel chair that wasn't too "office-y" looking. A coat of paint makes all the difference! I added a Pin of your post to my Pintrest board "Paint is Magic".

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  8. I was in awe of the ease of making this. I said ooh adhesive spray!!! The skirt part will require more effort and concentration. I like the bright colors and would love to pull this off on a chair or too here!

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Thanks for taking the time to comment. I appreciate the feedback and always look forward to reading what you have to say! Susan