Attempted Cover Up

What is happening??

How can it be the last week of November? Fall has FLOWN by, but even knowing it’s been a busy season, it’s still hard to believe 2017 is almost over!

The last two weeks were a whirlwind. Just minutes after my last post, my mom called to tell me my grandfather had passed away. (I have so many more words to say about this, but not now.) Husband was out of town, so as soon as he flew in, I flew out. I went to Tennessee to be with my family for a few days. It was so good to be with everyone during such a hard time.

Then, coincidentally, I flew back home the Wednesday before Thanksgiving on the same plane as my in-laws, who were coming out to spend Thanksgiving with us, along with Husband’s brother and his family. We spent our break playing games, running around with kids at the park, and stuffing our faces. It was wonderful.

So now, it’s a only a few days before December, and I feel like I haven’t really been home very much, so instead of getting all my Christmas decorations out, I’ve decided to work on a few projects that I’ve had on my mind for months. (I’m also planning a deep clean/clutter banishing session this week as well. I’m actually ready to bring in the Christmas decor, so making myself wait is good motivation to get things done.)

So, first project up is this leather chair.

We bought this chair (and a matching ottoman) just after we bought our first house back in 2004. Obviously this chair has seen a lot of love.

When the rip first appeared, I hired an automobile upholstery repairman to come and fix it. He did an okay job, but the rip reopened within a few weeks.

Then I got creative. I used some heavy duty fabric interfacing, placed it under the rip, applied gobs of E6000, and let it dry. It’s held up surprisingly well, but it ain’t pretty.

Then a couple of months ago, I got the idea to create a sort of half slipcover for just the seat. (The seat cushion is attached to chair – it’s not a separate cushion – so just covering the seat wasn’t going to be an easy task.)

I searched JoAnn Fabric for brown velvet – my first choice for this project – with no luck, so I settled on a dark brown fleece. (I wasn’t even sure it was going to work, so I definitely wasn’t going to special order fabric.) The back side of the fleece looks better than the front – less like fleece, more like felt – so I used that side instead.

chair seat cover

I imagined the cover in the shape of a box but missing the bottom surface. I measured the seat from the middle of the front to the inside of the back and then measured from the inside of the arms. I cut out 6 inch squares from each corner to sew those edges together to make the shape of the cushion.

I pinned right sides of the corners together and ran a straight stitch down. I did this for all four corners.

Lastly, I added elastic to the bottom of the cushion cover, stretching and sewing, stretching and sewing, until I got back to where I started.

I placed the cushion cover over the seat right side out and tucked in the extra fabric. It looks good, and so far, it’s staying in place.

(Please disregard the big black cord behind the chair. We JUST got a TV – we haven’t had one for 4+ years – since we moved into this house. I’m not sure what to do with all the wires – another project to add to my list this week, I suppose. As well as finding a home for our dumbbell collection, obviously.)