Been away for a bit. I got caught up and the mask making craze and it was a wild ride. But things have slowed wayyy down so I'm changing my focus back to building a fabric store and that feels right. In the meantime I've been taking lots of pictures so I'll share what I've been working on.
In the spring I was invited to make a project for the Look Book (an online book of different projects showcasing the fabric) for Bari J's new 365 Fifth Avenue fabric collection. I was so excited to volunteer to recover 2 ornate chairs I'd had in my garage for a couple of years.
The fabric showed up and I thought I was ready to go. Then all heck broke loose. My husband's truck spontaneously combusted with some of the flames reaching the house. The fire department got here quick enough to keep it from spreading further than the front of the garage but still, the damage was enough to stop us in our tracks. We were now getting quotes for hauling the truck, repairing and painting the house, replacing the garage door....so much.
So we had that handled and then my mask sales went through the roof. So my terrific husband Joey stepped in and started stripping the chairs while I sewed like crazy with the help of family members who came to help me try to keep up with orders. I had planned to replace everything on the chair, including the padding, webbing, etc. but once we saw under the original fabric I said "Forget it! We'll put the new fabric right over the top!" so that's what we did. Joey spray painted them and it was an improvement but the paint wasn't gold enough for my satisfaction so I bought some nice, shiny gold acrylic paint from Michael's to go over the top and it was perfect.
Now I was ready to have some fun. I bought a set of double piping feet from GoldStar Tool (it's like Harbor Freight but for sewing tools!), found a great video by Broadway Upholstery School on making double piping, and got to work. It was a LOT of fun and I learned a new skill!
Very very satisfying stuff folks.
Once we got the fabric on (again another new tool, fun!) it was time to hot glue the piping in place. This part was fun and I hadn't realized these were glued on so it was a lot less intimidating than I had made it out to be.
I was working on a deadline and had to have these pictures to Bari before morning so we glued the rest on and ran outside before the sun went down .
I still have one more chair to go so I'll get some better pictures of the part where we attach the fabric. But isn't it gorgeous!??! More to come!
The fabrics used in this project are: Dressing Room Rouge (main) and Manhattan's Foliage (arms) and are both available in my fabric store Fabritopia as well as many other beautiful fabrics.
