laura martin { experiment }

Life has been busy with…well, life. But I wanted to make room for a particular project because otherwise I would have had to fill the landfill with something that I’ve used everyday for the last almost 7.5 years. Well except when out of town. So let’s round it down to 7ish.

I give you the well loved rocker that I nursed and sang my babies to sleep in.

It’s been through a lot over these years from being spit up on, to being rocked and rolled and spun by two incredibly energetic boys…and I won’t even mention the toothpaste incident. The poor thing had seen better days but I couldn’t bear the thought of just throwing it out. It wasn’t even in good enough condition to give away in fear that the new owner would tip out of the chair because of the broken-in-half welded steel plates on the rocking mechanism that my boys managed to break well enough. So, after much thought (and a secret trip to the fabric store where I found the bestest fabric for $6/yard) I convinced the hubs that I could totally recover it. He laughed. I glared. We had an understanding.

So then I gathered my supplies…These are the fabrics that I spent a whopping $6/yard on. The one on the left is a very heavy outdoor quality. Sadly there were only 2 yards of this and I knew that I’d have to get creative. I found a perfectly coordinating striped fabric that was also in the clearance bin for the same price and bought 3 more yards thinking that would be plenty. So overall fabric cost = $33.30 with all that stupid tax California loves to charge me. Aren’t they perty? And they go perfectly with my living room decor. <3

Then Mason and I got our hardware store shopping hats on and went to Lowe’s for the hardware. I picked up 4 legs, 4 bases for them to screw into, and the darkest brown wood stain that I could find. Grand total $28.60 (damn that tax).

Then it was time to make the first cut…EEPS!

And then I realized that I should just remove the staples holding the skirt on. So I did that for the next two hours. Pretty sure that I burned some calories there…right? I had the hubbie take the bottom rocker mechanism off and we tossed that death trap. I also took out the piping from the arms and bottom skirt trim so that I could re-use that.

I had to decide how exactly I was going to place the fabric to ensure that I had enough. I definitely wanted the back and arms to be the heavier floral print and wasn’t ready to cut that yet so I started with the seat in the striped fabric. I kind of measured…and then cut and hoped it would work…then I tucked it in place wrong side out and pinned on the corners and sewed. Then I re-tucked and did the same on the other side making a slip cover for the bottom cushion. I flipped it over and tucked it into place. Viola!

Next was covering the back piece. I took the floral fabric which was 60 inches wide and fit perfectly across to wrap around to the back. I cut a striped piece of fabric for the backside and pinned those together making one big slip cover. I didn’t cut the floral yet until after I sewed them. The trickiest part was strategically folding the floral in a gather where it curved around. Then I sewed those pieces together on just the top leaving them unattached at the arm.

Then I cut – gasp – the floral fabrics and hoped and prayed that it would be enough for the arms. And it was JUST enough. I had hoped for enough for the front but there was no way that was going to happen so I had to improvise and use the stripes. But first I had to make some piping…something I’ve never done before. So what do I do? I winged it. And hoped for the best. Cuz who has time to research. Not me. Newp. I cut about 2 inch stripes the length of the existing piping and sewed as closely as possible to the piping. It took a couple of tries to figure out the best method. I’m sure there’s a special foot for that but I used my zipper foot which kind of did the trick.

Then I cut a piece of striped fabric for the front of the arm and tucked it all into place wrong side out to pin making sure the piping was aligned correctly. Then I sewed them up and tucked them in place.

Lookit that piping…aaaah.

Now we’re close! And ready for….the staple gun…and the hubby again because apparently this is a two person job. You’re forewarned. So we stapled everything underneath…pulled as tightly as possible…stapled…stapled some more…cursed some…stapled…then it was time for the legs. But first here’s a pic of the messy underside that nobody ever sees. That fabric bunched on the top is the backside and was then pulled down and stapled to the bottom.

I stained a couple of coats to ensure super dark coverage and then had to buy a polyurethane finish – I opted for a spray version – $7.03 at Ace, the local hardware place. The result was lovely.

Then my wonderful hubby put them on the chair for me…….and we both realized that they were way too tall. Sigh. That’s OK…I wanted to make a matching stool anyways.

So we went back to the hardware store…bought shorter (and cuter) legs with more brackets for $36.19…they were pricier but I think look so much better than the cheaper version. Sometimes you gotta splurge. I DID have a $10 coupon though so woot. While I was waiting for the stain and polyurethane to dry, I bugged the hubby incessantly to make the base of the footstool out of scrap wood we had around the garage. It didn’t have to be perfect as I’d be covering it with fabric and we just made it the size of the flat piece of wood. Cost = $0. No tax even.

I took an old throw pillow out of it’s case and folded in half it was the perfect size. I stapled that to the top and then had to buy some batting to cover it up as well as the wood. $7.26 and 105 staples later that was done. Now came the strategic part…because remember that 3 yards of striped fabric that would be waay more than I’d need to finish the chair? Well, it was gonna be close. I still needed to make the skirt on the bottom of the chair to cover the wood pieces that were supporting the new legs. I had one long piece that wrapped around perfectly. I pieced together scraps to use for the piping and put it all together to finish.

Then i took the remaining big piece for the stool and had to sew a couple of scraps to make it big enough. I sewed up the corners and then stapled it all on and done!

And really…this is all that’s left, folks.

And finally…all set up in it’s happy spot.

So for just over $100 (112.38 to be exact), I’ve saved a piece of my life from being tossed in the trash and created something new to last for many more years to come. Not too shabby.