test driving iron-on vinyl

January is my month for decluttering and sprucing things up around the house. I've been working like a dog on everyplace but my office and studio, but at least the kids' art room is looking good. It's not really a room, more of a breakfast nook that got taken over by the rascals and is furnished with the last remnants of my husband's college furniture. Since the furniture isn't precious it's ok that paint gets on it, but it's January and I'm feeling anal. I can't stand the sight of these dirty seat covers another minute. And I'm over that floral. The original cane seats are long gone, replaced with plywood topped with 1" foam and they've been recovered over and over with the help of my trusty staple gun.

Well, I'm recovering them again, but this time might be the last because I'm trying out a new product that I think is gonna be my new favorite: iron-on vinyl! A few years ago, I looked into having fabric laminated for these chairs and it turned out to be something like $20 per yard with a 5 yard minimum, so I didn't pursue it. Then I came across this Therm O Web iron on vinyl at JoAnn's and bought some to play with.

It comes in matte or shiny & I got the matte. It reminds me a lot of the laminating stuff you can get for paper at the office supply store.

It has a waxy paper backing that you peel off to reveal a tacky side.

You place the vinyl tacky side down onto the front of your fabric and then smooth out the bubbles. You can still peel it back up at this point if you notice a wrinkle or a thread stuck in there.

Then you take the backing you just peeled off and use it as your press cloth. The directions say to do the ironing on a firm surface like a table, heat on medium. There's no toxic odor like I was expecting either.

After it cools, peel back the paper and voilà! Vinyl-coated fabric!

And my favorite part: the stapling...

Instant gratification!

making a padded headboard

The attic room is finally finished! This was a project I'd been contemplating since scoring some great block printed fabric at the Galbraith & Paul sample sale in Manayunk last December.

after

This year's sale is coming up on the 3rd, so it only took me 11 months to complete the project. I call my process "turtle mode". I'm excruciatingly slow, but I do eventually finish things.

before

We use the attic room as a guest room, and it's been slightly embarrassing to send guests up there with it being on the dingy side and not pulled together. Bad leaking in the window wells prompted me to get a contractor in there to fix the damage, but a few months later it's still leaking, I'm sorry to say. Third attempt in 9 years to fix it- oh well! That's an old house for you!

My boy helped me with a fresh coat of milky white paint. Those little rollers are great for kids. The shade wasn't hugely different than before, but it was enough brighter & cleaner to make all the difference.

I use the Martha Stewart method to place pictures and the new padded headboard. I trace the frames on kraft paper, marking where the nails need to go in for the hooks. Once the templates are arranged pleasingly, you nail the hooks in right through the paper, then just tear off the paper.

Anna See prints

I got these fabulous bird block prints from Anna See on Etsy. I framed them in floating frames like she suggested so you can see the deckled edges of the paper.

The padded headboard was fairly easy to make. We cut a piece of plywood to 21"x67" which we tested over our Ikea platform bed in kraft paper to make sure of the proportion. I left it there for a few days, ok a month and a half, before I felt totally secure with it. Then I cut some 2" foam to the same size with one of those electric meat cutters (cuts like butter!). If I were to do it again, I'd go thicker with the foam- maybe 3" or more. I cut the fabric & a layer of batting 5" bigger than plywood/foam all around to allow for wrapping around the edge. To reduce bulk, I trimmed the batting from the corner.

Am I a bad mom for letting my 5year-old use the staple gun? There was no stopping him so I supervised. it's kind of nice to have two sets of hands for this, so one person can hold the fabric taut while the other staples. To get even tension, you want to start in the middle and staple top & bottom across from each other, then repeat on the sides. Work you way around alternating like this, leaving the corners for last.

The corners are a little tricky. It's like doing origami to get a nice fold there. Patience. Experiment until it looks neat. We used two flush mount hangers from our local mom-and-pop hardware store to hang the headboard. Home Depot did not have them- the bums! Even with the Martha Stewart method, hanging the headboard was a bit of a comedy of errors. Being so wide, it was really obvious if it was a little off level. There are 30 holes or so behind it from us redrilling over and over to make it right.

after again

And here it is again in 3/4 view taken with my new wide angle lens! The final touches were switching out the rice paper lights for more more functional table lamps from Target and customizing a plain white duvet cover with a linen appliqué band (pain in the butt!). Guests, you may make your reservations now!

card table makeover

Have you noticed card tables have the same problem that office chairs do? They seem to only come in boring colors like taupe, grey, or almond. That, and they get shabby rather quickly. At least in our house they do...

Um, yeah, I let the kids trash this one with paint and I may have exactoed some stuff on it without any protection. Then I stored it in the basement before we got the dehumidifier and it got all moldy. I'm sorry, Table. I'll make it up to you.

The top is attached to the frame by brackets and screws that come apart easily with a phillips head screwdriver. Don't lose the screws- put them in a baggie or something. Pry up the staples holding on the vinyl and remove it, never to be seen again.

You don't have to, but I decided to liven up the legs with 2 coats of Rustoleum spray paint in my favorite color: apple green! I figured, I'd do that since we're planning to use it as a puzzle-making table and will need the top to be white *yawn*.

I'm attaching marine vinyl with my trusty staple gun for the new cover. It only takes about a yard, just measure your table to be sure. Actually this would be a great project to use Mexican oilcloth or laminated cotton for like Jen of Lars & Ella did here. If I can get my hands on another table or two or three, I just might make a fleet of party tables with colorful patterned tops.

Last step: screw the top back on.

Voilà! Back in service as an exceedingly useful extra table!

seating for the studio

I've had some studio visits lately and it's made me take another look at the studio from an aesthetic and functional point of view. It's functioning great as a sewing studio. But if people are going to visit, it really is necessary to have someplace for them to sit and it would be nice if the place was spiffier overall. If the space is going to represent me to customers, I think I need to step it up some.

Klippan loveseat by IKEA

My first idea for seating was this smaller scale couch from IKEA. I thought it would work for the basement because of the metal legs and vinyl upholstery. I liked the cheerful color and the price was doable at $399. Then I got to thinking... it's made largely of polyurethane and vinyl. That's gonna off-gas like crazy, and will a cheap sofa like that last? I try to be ecologically responsible whenever possible, so I came up with a new idea.

I received a set of four "Anne-me-down" chairs from my friend Anne last year and hadn't done anything with them yet. Judging from the avocado and gold upholstery, I think they are from the 1970's. They're not designer originals or anything, but I like their style. Not only were they free, but chairs probably make more sense than a sofa for my purposes because they can be easily rearranged. Plus, I like the idea of saving them from the landfill and giving them new life.

First, though, they need regluing and repegging. On closer inspection, one of them might just be too far gone, but I will try. By "I" in this case, I mean my husband. He's handier with the carpentry.

before

The wood is a bit scuffed and beat-up. To tell the truth, I've been procrastinating fixing up these chairs because I thought I'd have to strip and restain them. Then the lady at JPT caning recommended this refinishing stuff called Howard's Restore-A-Finish and the wheels started to turn in my mind. I bought it from them in "dark walnut" for about $8.

after

The directions on the can say to wipe on with 0000 steel wool, following the grain, then quickly wipe off. And voilà! The wood looks amazing and it took less than 15 minutes to do the whole chair! Nasty fumes, though. Don't attempt this indoors.

I happened to have this happy orange cotton floral fabric on hand that I got at *gasp* JoAnne's. It's a casual canvas uphostery by Better Homes and Gardens. What can I say? It caught my eye. I pried off the old upholtery using a screw driver and pliers on the stapes. Using the old cover as a template, I cut the same shape out of the new fabric and staple-gunned it on.

I'm completely satisfied with the results! Only 3 more to go...

i want to see your office chairs!

I confess to having a web analytics service that I check compulsively. It's neat because you can see what phrase people Googled that led them to your blog, what country they are from, what other posts they clicked on in the archive. So I've learned something: people all over the world are recovering their old office chairs using my tutorial! This old post from back in Novemer 2009 gets the most visitors of any other post on my blog. And that brings me to this request: please, please, please send me photos of your finished chairs!!! Just click on "email me" over in the sidebar and send me a jpeg of it. Once I get a couple, I'll post them.

how to recover an office chair

I'm almost done outfitting my studio. Today I solved my sewing chair problem. My dream chair is the Eames Aluminum Management Chair from Design Within Reach in apple green leather.

At $1749 it definitely is not within in my reach.

What I have to work with is this cast-off office chair in battleship grey. Why do office chairs always come in such boring colors like taupe, grey, black? Even at IKEA, I couldn't find an apple green or orange office chair. I will recover this dingy grey one in... apple green of course!

If you don't already have a standard office chair to recover, you can get one cheap from a used office furniture store. They have scads of them.

Most standard-type chairs have a 2-piece back like this one attached to a vertical support with either fabric or plastic on the back side. This one has a spring-loaded pin that you push in from both sides and, presto, the back is off,exposing the metal piece that holds the front and back together. Once the screws are out, the two pieces need to be pried apart. I was unsure about this part at first. What if it is glued together? Turns out it's special nail-stapes securing it that you don't need when you put it back together.The screws hold it well enough.

Getting the bottom cushion off is just a matter of turning the chair upside down and unscrewing all the screws. If there's a chipboard board backing, just remove it and save it to staple back on at the end.

Next, the bazillions of staples holding the old upholstery on need to be pried up with a screwdriver and yanked out with pliers. Patience!

I use the old pieces of upholstery as patterns for the new fabric, but cut it leaving a little extra around the edges as fudge factor. For the back piece, mark and slit where the screw holes need to go. Make sure they line up with the holes when you staple on the new upholstery to the back.


The fabric I am using is Sunbrella 100% acrylic outdoor fabric that I picked up at The Interior Alternative in Newark, DE, a wonderland of off-price home decorating fabric. The Sunbrella line is bullet-proof and easy to clean, just sponge off with soap and water. It doesn't have much stretch, though, so I run a gathering stitch close to the edge all the way around to help it cup around my seat shape. 

Stretch the fabric as taut as as it will go and start with 4 stapes, 1 centered on each side. Work your way out from there, stapling liberally, easing out the puckers as best you can.

Now it's just a matter of screwing everything back together. New life for a sad old chair!

ding dong the plaid is dead!

Aaaaah, that's better. We have finished the chair! It's still a 1970's chair, but much easier on the eyes without the rustic fraying plaid and its button-tufting. It's ready to receive a bright modern pillow or throw without danger of visual overload. In case Beth feels nostalgia for the old plaid, she needs only to lift the seat cushion where the frame still has some attached. Good times, those '70's!

chair in progress

We are using piping to update the chair cushions and it’s not as hard as you would think. The final look is more polished and worth the extra effort.


To make the piping trim, bias cut (45 degree angle to the selvedge) strips of your chosen fabric and fold around the raw cording with right side out and raw edges lined up. Experiment first with small pieces to find the right width for the strip so that it finishes with the correct seam allowance (we are using ½”) once sewed. Once you determine what width they need to be and cut several, seam them together so you have a continuous piece for your entire length of cording. Use a zipper foot to allow you to stitch as close to the cord as possible without stitching through it. The fabric should be tight around the cord now. By the way, it seems to always take more yardage of piping than you think, so measure well and then add to that for fudge factor.

To sandwich the cording between the seams, I like to hand or machine baste the cording onto one cushion panel first, then sew on the other side with right sides together. It’s an extra step, but it keeps the piping even. Be sure to start and stop the piping at an inconspicuous part of the cushion, like the bottom and allow some excess to overlap and extend off the edge (to be trimmed off later). We’ve done a two-part envelope closure on one side, so the pillow can be flipped right side out and stuffed.
Stay tuned for the final result...

that 70's chair

Friends don’t let friends live with furniture like this!

This week I am helping my good friend Beth make the best of some hand-me-down furniture. With a houseful of active young children, pristine new seating is out of the question. We are conspiring to recover and update the cushions on this chair rescued from her parents’ basement. We’ve been to Jo-Ann’s with a fistful of 40% off coupons and purchased a whole bolt of upholstery weight brushed cotton in a warm camel color as well as a few miles of cording, new batting, and lots and lots of thread. The update will come in the form of removal of the button-tufting, squaring off of the back cushions, and addition of piping to the seams.

But wait, it gets scarier- there’s a matching sofa! For now, though, I can only wrap my mind around the chair. Time to oil up my trusty Singer Touch and Sew 750 and see what happens…