Happy St. Patrick’s Day! This St. Patrick’s is a little more meaningful for me because I now know I’m 28% Irish! You may be wondering how I know this exact percentage??
This past Christmas my Dad gave all my immediate family a present we didn’t ask for or expect but one we have all enjoyed! He gave us an Ancestry DNA kit. Basically you spit in a tube and send it off to a lab and then 3 weeks later they send you back your personal countries of origin percentages.
I now know I am 40% German, 28% Irish, 16% Scandanavian, and 10% Great Britain (and trace percent of some others). It’s been fun to see the similarities and differences I have with my parents and siblings (mostly similarities). A long story (but hopefully interesting 😉 ) to explain why I know I’m Irish and 28% for that matter!:-)
As I mentioned in an earlier post I lucked out one day (my Irish luck perhaps:-) ) while scavenging a local thrift store. Besides some décor items I found two matching green vinyl chairs for only $6.50 a piece!
The lines of the chair reminded me of the West Elm Bentwood Slipper Chair selling for a hefty $399 per chair. I thought for sure I could figure out a way to reupholster them and use them in my Living Room Makeover!
Well, I did it!! Please let me introduce you to my newly upholstered matching chairs! Only $16 a piece!
I purchased the fabric from Fabric.com. It was only $7.98 a yard and the material is the perfect weight and quality for this project.
TIP: If you are buying more than $35 worth of fabric from fabric.com then shipping is free. However, if you buy less then $35 then I usually go find it on Amazon (they sell most of their fabrics on Amazon too) because the shipping for it is only $2 on Amazon.
Okay, so here is the Tutorial! I want to preface this saying I’m not much of a seamstress so this was a big deal for me to try but I’m so glad I did!
1. Using an old sheet I held the sheet up to the chair and traced around each part of the chair (the seams of the chair).
This is me tracing the very top of the chair with a yellow marker. When I tried to take a picture the sheet slipped so the photo is not great (plus the lovely cat hair adhered to the sheet).:-/
2. Once I traced each part I would cut it out with scissors and then hold it up to the chair to make sure it fit correctly (as seen below).
3. At this point it is very important to decide what parts of the fabric you want showing where. For example, I decided that I wanted the light blue stripe to be centered to the front, back, and seat of the chair. And the side pieces of the chair to be centered to the navy stripes (as shown below).
I dedicate this step to my Mom. 🙂 Thanks, Mom, for helping me think this one through! I may have jumped into the cutting part without taking the time to plan it out! The results would have been no bueno!
4. Next I pinned my sheet pieces to the planned out parts of the fabric and cut around each sheet piece adding 1/2 an inch to every side.
NOTE: Be sure to add an inch or two to the bottom of each piece so you can tuck it under and staple it (you will understand what I mean as you read on).
5. Organize pieces together.
Top Half of Chair
Bottom Half of the Chair
6. Start Sewing Pieces Together. (Looking at the photo above) I took the piece on the left and placed it facing down onto the piece on the bottom (like you are making a sandwich with nothing in it). Then I sewed a straight line along the left side of the sandwich.
The photo below shows where to place the edge of the sandwiched side. The edge should be about a half an inch from the sewing machine needle (usually there will be a red line on the foot of the of the sewing machine as well to measure from).
The photo below shows that I have sewn together three of the sides.
(As shown below) Next, I centered the front side piece to the front seat piece and flipped it over and pinned the edge. I then pinned the left and right sides to the left and right edges of the seat.
Continue to sew it together inside out piece by piece (much like putting together a puzzle) until you are all done.
7. Next, I turned over the chair and pulled off the black backing.
This was what was underneath the black backing.
Depending what your chair looks like underneath you will either need to unscrew some screws in order to lift the seat off the frame or in my case I had to cut (with scissors) the straps in each corner where the arrows indicate below.
8. Staple the covers on. Once the seat was off of the frame I turned my striped seat cover right side out and placed the seat cover over the existing green vinyl cushion (I know, how dare I cover my Irish roots!).
Then while making sure to keep the cover centered I pulled the cover taut and stapled all around the back of the cushion (shown below).
Next put the top cover on right side out and while another person is pulling the cover down tightly, staple the fabric on the underside of the top portion of the chair. My Mom helped me with this part and we found it is pertinent to start pulling down and stapling the center before moving on to the sides (this help the fabric stay smooth and not wrinkle up).
9. Last Step!! Reattach the bottom seat cushion. Do this by either re-stapling the straps or screwing the screws back in the bottom of the chair. I plan on spraying the chairs with scotch guard to protect the new fabric.
I’m very happy with how they turned out and the price! I have a few loose ends to tie up in my Living Room Makeover but I’m hoping to be able to share the reveal with you next week! Have a great week!!
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Your chairs look great! (Love that fabric too) and they look pretty professional if you ask me! I would have never thought about using a sheet-thanks for the tid bit.
So sweet of you, Jennifer!:-)
Tamara, I did the same project a couple of years ago and still love my chairs! Yours look terrific! Hope you are doing great!
:)Amy
Hi Amy! I’d love to see the chairs you did! Maybe I’ll get a chance this Summer when I’m out there visiting!:-)
That looks great! Love the fabric you chose
Thanks, Jen!:-)
I love how they turned out and I can’t believe they only cost you $16. Nice tip about the Amazon shipping. Can’t wait to see your reveal!!
🙂
Turned out great Tamara! Way to go!
Thank you, Wendy! Miss you!
Chairs look beautiful! Thanks for the reupholstering steps. Your dad gave an interesting Ancestry DNA kit for a gift. Made me curious of my background percentage breakdown. Would have thought the Scandinavian origin be the larger percentage; what a unique combination! 🙂
Thanks, Linda! Yes, it’s amazing our saliva carries that much information about us! Pretty cool!:-)
Beautiful! Great job and very inspiring.
Thank you, Valerie!
Wow! You did an incredible job on these, you would never know they were from a thrift store.
Thank you, Gilly!:-)
Great job, I like them better than the inspiration chairs, which to me now seem too dull and clunky. Your renovated ones look so graceful and beachy. Love the blue stripes!!! Judy
Thank you, Judy!!:-). Glad you got a beachy vibe– I’m definitely hoping the room ends up with a subtle coastal feel!:-)
Great job on your chairs! Love the fabric, too. I have a chair that needs to be done–maybe now I’ll tackle it 🙂 Thanks!
Thanks, Errolyn! You can totally do this!:-)
These turned out incredibly – fabulous job Tamara!! Thanks for sharing it with us at Work it Wednesday. We are featuring you this morning!
~Krista
Thank you so much for the feature, Krista, and for your awesome link up party every Wednesday!:-)
You did a great job of showing step by step how to do this project !! Loved your using the sheet. I think now I won’t be afraid to try this !
Yay! So glad to hear it, Barbara!:-)
Tamara, wow! Your chairs came out so great! I have recovered dining chair seats before but never anything that required matching the pattern and sewing. I am so impressed at how you tackled this. The end result is so professional looking!! Thanks for sharing at Best of the Nest!
Thanks so much, Lisa! Love your Best of the Nest link up!:-)
Tamara, very impressive! Loved the tips and tutorial..from someone 100% Irish! We have to stick together…Siobhan.
That’s awesome, Siobhan!:-)
Hi Tamara…
Wow..So Happpy to find your link!
I love What you have done with these beautiful ! Now chairs, of course they would of been someone’s pride and joy one day lol
I’m excited to be able to see how to upcycle some chairs of my own.
thank you for sharing,
cheers Katreena
Thank you, Katreena! Happy to hear you were inspired!
You did such an amazing job with these chairs!! Cheers to YOU! I don’t think I would have seen the potential and walked right past the green, ha.
I have re upholstered before and I know how much work it entails. Great Job!
Darlene
http://www.BundleMeBaby.etsy.com
Thank you, Darlene!:-)
Looks really great. Thanks for the idea 🙂
Greetings from scandinavia
Greetings, Ann! Happy to have you here!
Love the finished pieces! I’m glad you didn’t remove the green vinyl. The tip about sheets is very helpful. Lovely chairs and a great tutorial.
Thank you for your kind comment, Barbara!:-)
Nice job matching the stripes. Stripes can be very hard to work with on curvy surfaces but you did it & it looks great!! Thanks for sharing!! ?
Thanks, Polly!:-)
Can you tell me the best type of fabric to use for high use chairs? I am reupholstering some family room chairs. Would you recommend upholstery grade Cotton? Microfiber? Chenille? Polyester? Most of the upholstery fabrics I have found are cotton or duck cloth. What did you ise
Thank you for sharing Must try this on my chairs
You are very welcome, Pat! Thanks for coming by!!:-)
I love the chairs and the fabric! Do you remember what the fabric was called? I’m having trouble finding it on fabric.com.
Hi Krista! I’m sorry I don’t remember what it was called…I looked for it on fabric.com too and couldn’t find it. I hate when that happens (it recently happened to me too)!:-( I hope you will find something you love just as much or more!!