Chair Reupholstery

My first reupholstery project and it was easy!

 I thought that this chair had really cool character. The arms and legs had natural grooves similar to tree branches.

1. Remove the old fabric off the chair. This includes taking off the glued binding which hides the stapled fabric underneath. Remove all staples or as much as you can. This is the most tedious part, but the more that are removed the better. So you can staple with ease later on when you are reupholstering the chair.

2. Go fabric shopping! Measure out the old chair covers or bring them with you to decipher how much yardage you need to purchase. I bought a little over 2 yards. 

Remember to have a general theme in mind. Who is this chair for you or someone else? Make sure you can picture it in its new home. The chair needs to belong because it is a lot of work to do this project. This project is not hard at all, but it does take some time. 

I wanted to go for a Mexican American bohemian vibe. So I purchased this fabric from Michael Levine in Downtown Los Angeles. It was named Peru (Okay, so its not "Mexican").

3. Cut out the new pieces of fabric for the chair.

Decide which way you want the fabric to go. I didn't know which way to lay it out at first. horizontal didn't feel right for the zig-zag pattern. Vertical on top and horizontal zig-zags on the bottom felt to dramatic and clashing. I went with horizontal for the top and bottom of the chair. It felt more natural. Make sure you cut the fabric precisely with the pattern going exactly how you want it because at the end of this project that is the most important thing that you see. 

4. Put the new fabric on.

When you take the chair apart you will learn how to put it back together. This is how I reupholstered the top of the chair. First staple the fabric for the back of the chair. Staple one thin layer of cotton of the same measurements over that fabric. Then staple burlap pieces about five inches wide to make a T shape for back support of the chair. Next, staple the thin lining then the really thick foam+cotton piece over. Lastly, staple the front fabric over it all. Make sure the zig-zags are lined up the way you want them to be. 

The bottom of the chair piece was more tricky for me because I had to drape the fabric over the bottom seat to get the right fit for the seat cover. Once its covered with fabric cut around the seat cover until it fits then staple it to  the seat. If necessary you can stuff the sides with more cotton. I had to cut open a pillow. Its okay though the pillow won't miss the cotton much. 

5. I purchased 6 yards of piping for the perimeter detailing of the chair. I cut this fabric about 4 inches wide from selvage to selvage. Put the pipeing string in the middle of the fabric then fold in half. Sew a straight stitch on the sewing machine. Then cut the fabric in strips that are about a 1/2" wide. Lastly, tie the strips in a knot to make that fringe detail. 

6. Use a hot glue gun to glue the fringe detail to the outer parts of the chair fabric. 

 Baja California Bohemian

I had always wanted to reupholster a chair. I saw this chair at a thrift store and bought it for $20. I spent about $60 from Michael Levine. That store can be a bit pricey, but you can find fabric for much cheaper. Now its your turn to reupholster something and send me pics.  

Rachel 

Baby Pink Punk Jacket

 Inspiration for the punk jacket I embellished. Was thinking... Barbie shops at Balmain.

I found a great baby pink leather jacket and decided that it would look better cropped. So I cut it and whip stitched the jacket shorter by hand.

Hand studded and glued studs were added to the front of the jacket to give it the punk look. 

Glued spikes on the shoulder for a bad ass barbie feel.

Had so much fun DIY-ing this pink leather jacket and taking photos of it here.



Rachel

Safari Ish

Tee Shirt: Forever 21
Skirt: AIKO
Tights: Target
Black Boots: Jessica Simpson
Leather Jacket: Vintage
Belt: Thrifted
Hat: Palm Springs Flee Market

This weekend we took a drive down to Palm Springs. It turned out to be the opening weekend of the Palms Springs Film Festival. After hearing about that I wanted to try and get tickets, but it was already sold out. Thats alright I'll try for next year. We had dinner Saturday night at Citron, at the Viceroy Hotel. The food was delicious and so was the interior decorating by Kelly Wearstler. I had the Spare Rib which melted away in my mouth and he had fish. To start we had the crab cakes. They were just the right size and had a great mixture of celery, tartar sauce and capers or relish. On Sunday we went to a restaurant for breakfast called Cheeky's right off of Palm Canyon Drive. If you sit on the patio you get a picturesque view of the San Jacinto Mountains. If you go, get the Bacon Flight if you can. They change the menu regularly so you have to catch them at the right time, but the flight is great because it has all sorts of different flavors of bacon to to taste. 

Rachel

Dream Catcher

Make a DREAM CATCHER made from these materials:

- White wire hanger (My hanger was from the Dry Cleaners)

- A few different colors of yarn (I chose red, aqua, purple, and a baby blue metallic yarn)

- Faux fur fabric (Cut into strips resembling those lucky rabbit tails)

- Safety Pins

Directions: 

1. Bend wire hanger into a circle. Don't worry if your circle is not perfectly round because you can hardly tell once the dream catcher is complete.
2. Take top of hanger and bend inward, so it looks more like a loop. (So you can hang later) Then wrap  any color yarn around the loop.
3. Start wrapping your yarn around the hanger. You can come up with all sorts of different patterns within your dream catcher. Play around with it and come up with your own pattern on the inside of the circle or you can just copy this easy peasy one that I made.
4. Then add the yarn to the bottom of the dream catcher by tying a knot at the top of each yarn onto the hanger. Space out your colors and use a similar color yarn to tie on your faux fur to the hanger.
5. Lastly, add any embellishments to the dream catcher. I chose to add safety pins.



Rachel

Breakfast Pizza

Ingredients: 

- Garlic and herb pizza dough (Trader Joes)

- 5 eggs

- 1/2 cup freshly grated parmesan

- 2 cups freshly grated mozzarella 

- 6 strips of applewood smoked bacon

- 2 tbs minced parsley

- 2 tbs minced chives

- Freshly ground black pepper

Directions:

1. Prep the pre made Garlic & Herb pizza dough from Trader Joes. 

Put flower on dough let sit out for 20 min before rolling into shape on cutting board. I used my hands to press the dough into a circle. 

2. Put 1/2 of both cheeses on dough, then 1/2 of the parsley and chives, crack open the eggs neatly onto dough, then put cooked bacon bits on top with the rest of the cheeses.

3. Pre heat oven at 500 degrees for 30 minutes

4. Bake pizza for 10-12 minutes or until dough is fully baked

5. Put the rest of the parsley and chives on top

This pizza came out better than I expected it would. I love adding eggs to different things, but never thought it would be good on a pizza. 

*Since this pizza is mostly cheese, I made a little dressing from olive oil and chile garlic sauce to dip it in.

Rachel