Reupholstery....

I have had two chairs that for the last few years I have had Sure Fit Slip covers on.....  and have been wanting to get up the courage to reupholster them both....  In February my hubby and I were in Paducah, Kentucky with my sister and her husband.  Now you know the rest of the story .... we went to Hancock's of Paducah (they are not associated with the Hancock Fabric Stores that just shut its doors everywhere).  While at Hancock's of Paducah I found some fabric that I thought would work well in our family room.  Along comes the month of April and I still had the time nor the courage  to try reupholstering the chairs and I was back in Paducah for Quilt Week and of course went to Hancock's again,  once again I found upholstery grade fabric on the clearance table so I purchased more fabric.

In the past two weeks I have gotten brave and I am pretty pleased with the results!  I have 2 electric staple guns that I use for the tuffet classes I teach, but I bought an inexpensive staple gun that you use an air compressor with, it was definitely game changer for me.  The worst part of the whole process was pulling all the staples.  It was a tough job!  The upholstery part was easy.  Truthfully it was a piece of cake.  I wrote on each piece as I took them off and used them for patterns!  I was so tickled that it all went back together so well!  I re-used everything I took off... the tacking strips and the piping!  I really enjoyed it once I got past the staple pulling.

I will help friends and family who want to brave it and try it also, but have no intentions of going into business reupholstering!  The people who do this for a living earn every penny they charge for doing this!

the Process of recreating....  Sorry I did not get a true before picture, but this is the tearing apart!

Below is the finished chair!  I also made a tuffet to match!

Why yes, this is just part of the staples and of course the band aid was a must.

Step by Step, it really came together beautifully!

I am quite pleased with the outcome!  I have Navy Blue Natuzi leather furniture which is about 13 years old but it is so comfy and still in great shape.  Before I did the reupholstery of the chairs I was tempted to buy new furniture,  so glad I got brave and tried this!  I love it!!!

Nancy

Moon Bag Test...

I was excited to test the June Bag of the Month's LUNAR COLLECTION for Christine at ChrisWDesigns...  Christine always has well detailed patterns with wonderful instructions, but when I saw that it was going to be a BIG bag I was a little overwhelmed!  Yes, I have made a zillion purses, but never a big travel bag.  I had an upcoming trip to Florida, so I just jumped in and made the Small size  HALF MOON Bag.  I used decorator fabric on the outside (but I still ironed SF101 on it).

This Bag did not disappoint!  I packed it to the gill and used it as a carry on bag on my recent trip, it was small enough that I could put it under my seat!  I saw people looking at it while in the Security line, In my mind they were seeing the handmade label and thinking "no way"!

It really was an easy bag to make and the rewards were great!

Thank you Christine for an awesome pattern and Yay for me I did get one bag of the month completed! :)

So if you belong to the Bag of the Month Club, what are you waiting for?  Go pick out your fabric for this bag!  If you do not belong to the club it will be for sale on Christine's Website in July!  I LOVE MY HALF MOON BAG!

Happy Sewing!  Nancy