It's a cover-up!



When September started I had that 'swimming against the tide' type feeling.  You know the one I mean?  You're paddling away, working really hard, but you're just not moving any further down the river?  Yep, you know the one.

Well, I had hoped it would go away once school started and I could get some routine back and the house in order again.  Unfortunately, that still doesn't seem to have happened yet.  In fact, it was only last week when I was thinking about writing this new Pretty Crafty Home post for October, that I was beginning to wonder if I would have anything to put in it at all.

I did manage to finish off the plan for hanging Little Madam's artwork up.  You remember we'd made the pegs?  Well, the line is up and the artwork is hanging nicely.  It still looks a little messy for my liking but LM is pleased because she can change and add new artwork by herself.


Somehow, that really didn't seem like much of an achievement for a whole month, so I carried on with my other plan, which was to disguise my old dinning room chairs.

Luckily, and rather amazingly, the job which I've been putting off for ages because I didn't really know the best way to start it, went rather well.

The old chairs, you see, are a rather dingy dark red and, after several years of use, are looking rather the worse for wear.  They exist now, not for dinning but as a computer desk seat and a kind of 'dropping off point' for my clothes in the bedroom.  So, as they need to stay, under my self-imposed rules of PCH-ing, they should be pretty!

I formulated the plan of a patchwork cover using oddments of fabric I'd brought previously for who knows what, and some left over curtain material from my bedroom.  So far, so good.  Nice and thrifty, meeting another PCH criteria.  The only problem was, I've never made a slip cover in my life.

 Still, I wasn't going to let a little thing like that stop me, so I got started.  I started sewing squares together until I had three different patched pieces.  One for the seat, one for the front of the back and one for the back of the back, if you follow me.  Then, taking my pins and my courage in hand, I draped these over the chair and started pinning away.

I did it in stages, first one edge, then another, sewing each tentative seam as I went along.  Prepared, indeed expecting, disaster to strike at any moment.  But, amazingly, it didn't and the basic chair shape started to emerge.

There's some tricky old bits of a chair to deal with, but the pinning, sewing and checking method stood me in good stead and I soldiered on, even beginning to feel a glimmer of hope as the corners came out looking rather splendid.





The only thing that remained as a finishing touch was a little bit of ribbon.


Could it be?  Had I done it?

Yes, I had managed it.  I had made a chair cover.  A patchwork chair cover and what is more, it was a patchwork chair cover that didn't look like a total disaster.  Yippee!



I can't tell you how relieved I was that I had managed it.  I'm sure it must be the most advanced sewing I've ever done in all my puff and as an added bonus, it also means I have something to show for September.

You'd probably think, after such success on the first chair, that I'd be leaping around with joy and think nothing of the dashing off another just like it for the second chair.  Not a bit of it.  I had more the feeling of someone who had walked dangerously close to the perilous edge but had managed somehow to survive to tell the tale.  The idea of jumping straight back into the danger zone didn't appeal.

But, seeing that first chair sitting there in it's pretty dressings, looking all darling and home-made, I decided to pull myself together.  I had made one, I could make another.

So this week, I dived in yet again.  Actually, I needn't of worried.  Things went much easier this time as I had a formula to follow.  I knew what I was going to do before I did it this time and that, my friends, made the whole thing a relative walk in the park.



It took a mere two afternoons to whip the second one up and I'm so glad that I didn't wimp out.  How  much nicer it looks sitting in it's little bedroom nook.  So much better than it did.

Now that I have finished both of them, I do feel a lot better.  I feel like there is light at the end of the tunnel and that things are starting to be accomplished at long last.  It was 'housework day' today, so the house is clean and tidy, two eye sores have been removed to be replaced by eye candy and my heart and mind, I must confess, are beginning to feel a bit lighter.









Now, of course, comes that moment in the post where I throw the ball over to you.

What inspiration or suggestion should I offer you after the month I have had?  To challenge yourself maybe?  To try something new?  Maybe it should simply be to decide to finish just one thing, because one thing can make a big difference.  At least, it's made all the difference to me.

I shall let you decide which, if any, of my ideas floats your inspirational boat and shall hope to see what you've been up to in the Flickr Pretty Craft Home Group.







S x




Comments

  1. I love these chairs covers they look fabulous sarah x

    ReplyDelete
  2. I just love them down to your cherry heart!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Gorgeous, your chairs look amazing now!

    My pretty crafty home is on hold, just striving for a finished home at the moment...!

    Alison
    x

    ReplyDelete
  4. Oh my, what a stunning chair cover Sandra! I LoVe the colour palette you've used! GoRgEoUs!!
    Victoria xx

    ReplyDelete
  5. Wow - the chair covers are fab, clever you! I love the children's art work - there is nothing nicer - and I so miss having my boys bring home something new!

    ReplyDelete
  6. My goodness Sandra, you made two beautiful and very precisely tailored patchwork slip covers, they are gorgeous, and you don't think you achieved much?! I am still just painting my nest of tables!!

    ReplyDelete
  7. I'm hugely impressed with your beautiful chair covers - you've inspired me to finally getting round to making a top with some lovely fabric I bought ages ago but haven't dared cut into!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Estão lindas!

    Eu quero umas para mim...

    Um Beijo
    Maria

    ReplyDelete
  9. WOW! For a person who has never made a slip cover before, you have done a beautiful job. Well done you! :)
    I'm glad you are feeling a sense of achievement. Sometimes we just get stuck in life, doesn't have to be for any particular reason, it just happens. So I hope achieving these wonderful makes, you feel a whole lot better.
    Thanks for sharing,
    Anne xxx

    ReplyDelete
  10. So effective! You did a fantastic job! Knowing me the corners would not be that perfect and I'd give up after my 3rd unpicking!

    Sophie xo

    ReplyDelete
  11. Amazing covers Sandra.....so pretty....is there anything you can't do....haha!
    Carole x

    ReplyDelete
  12. So beautiful, and I love all the pretty prints!! You are so talented!! xo Heather

    ReplyDelete
  13. Does wow sum them up, absolutely beautiful, I'm so green.....want some for my chairs ;0
    Karen x

    ReplyDelete
  14. These look great, I could easily see them in a designer furniture shop. Good job!

    ReplyDelete
  15. Oh yes, it is stunning! What a terrific makeover. I have an ugly chair in my lounge screaming out for a makeover, I must make that happen this year.
    Thanks for the inspiration x

    ReplyDelete
  16. The chairs look fab!! Well done you! There's nothing better than seeing a revamped piece of furniture in your home looking wonderful! Whenever I do something like this I spend the next few days making excuses to walk past the piece and making random comments to my family about how nice it looks!!! They think I'm insane but I know better!!!! Love all the fabrics you used particularly the dots - what is it with dots? They're so scrummy!!! lol xxx

    ReplyDelete
  17. Your chairs are truly lovely - well done!
    xx

    ReplyDelete
  18. Youv'e done an amazing job, they look fab!

    ReplyDelete
  19. Wow - you should be proud, they look really fantastic! So pretty, and they just blend beautifully with the decor around them. I am massively impressed!
    Maria x

    ReplyDelete
  20. I cannot get over how gorgeous your chair covers are!! I've been wanting to put covers on my office chair. They are made of a sort of netting? Anyway....so uncomfortable. You've really made me want to do something about it =D

    ReplyDelete
  21. Such a lovely idea. They look great! And, yes, I definitely know that feeling! x

    ReplyDelete
  22. wow you did a marvelous job there :) I love your collection of colours they look superb

    ReplyDelete
  23. Sandra,
    the covers are so pretty, I love the colours, they are gorgeous. They are perfect too, so professional you must be really pleased with them, well done you!

    Katie

    ReplyDelete
  24. Wow, your "new" chair looks amazing!!! Lovely fabrics, good job... great result! :-)

    And I agree with you: "...to finish just one thing...". It could be good for overall impression. I finally finished crochet quilt for my little son and... his room looks more homely :-)

    Have a nice time! Jolana

    ReplyDelete
  25. I love your chair covers, the bedroom one has made that corner look so pretty. And I totally get that feeling of not wanting to make the second one, so well done you for doing it!! Wendy xx

    ReplyDelete
  26. the colour combinations are amazing - thats where I fall down, I haven't got such a good aye!! These are just lovely!
    Over on IG your pumpkins were FAB! Could you please tell me where the pattern and the wool is from?? They were just so good, I'd love some!
    Thanks
    BH x

    ReplyDelete
  27. Wow!! Well done!! These look fabulous and like you say, so much more lovely to look at than their original cover. Well done you - I have a more of less identical job to do and have delayed it due to scepticism on my sewing ability!! Maybe there is hope if I pinch your idea?! J9 x

    ReplyDelete
  28. The chair looks amazing and you've fitted the beautiful cover so expertly - and the desk - and the curtains, lovely, really stunning x

    ReplyDelete
  29. Absolutely love your chair cover-up. Beautiful colors-what an inspiration.

    ReplyDelete
  30. These are beautiful..I just made my first chair cover for a club chair..it wasn't perfect by any means, but it works. I love yours..

    ReplyDelete