Omlet cube and run

[Aunty e]

I really wanted a rocking chair for the nursery and my mum very kindly said I could pinch my great-grandma's chair, which I loved as a child. It's very old and tatty and has been recovered badly a few times, so I decided I was going to recover it better. I stripped off the old poo brown covers from the seventies and had a look at the originals.

 

http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f225/AuntyE/rockingchair006.jpg

 

Hmm. This is going to be tricky. I bought a cheap duvet from ikea and a cheap BIG cushion pad, as it's actually easier than wadding for this sort of thing. I also bought the cheapest staple gun I could find from Argos (£9.99) and it was great, although sometimes I had to really lean on it to get the staples to go in, so a more powerful one would have been nice.

 

http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f225/AuntyE/rockingchair005.jpg

 

I folded the duvet over into the three and wrapped it round the back of the chair, putting a few staples in to hold it. The backrest had sunk badly, but I couldn't quite face doing anything more complicated than padding it out! I trimmed the excess off at the bottom and stapled it down firmly.

 

http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f225/AuntyE/rockingchair007.jpg

 

http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f225/AuntyE/rockingchair008.jpg

 

http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f225/AuntyE/rockingchair009.jpg

 

Then I took my lovely ikea fabric and cut a piece that would wrap all the way from the front to the back, with a decent overlap at the sides. I just held it against the chair and trimmed.

 

I folded the raw edge over at the bottom and stapled it down, then started stapling from the bottom up on one side on the front piece first.

 

http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f225/AuntyE/rockingchair010.jpg

 

The arms are a bit tricky, but I did a single horizontal cut like this.

 

http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f225/AuntyE/rockingchair011.jpg

 

 

Then I folded the fabric in and tugged it until it looked neat. Somehow it just worked. I stapled the fabric below the arm and above the arm, although as you will see above the arms, I did it from the inside.

 

http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f225/AuntyE/rockingchair013.jpg

 

Lots of staples in the front piece until it was nice and neat.

 

http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f225/AuntyE/rockingchair014.jpg

 

http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f225/AuntyE/rockingchair016.jpg

 

Then I folded carefully near the top, and started stapling down the back piece, obviously hiding the first lot of staples!

 

http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f225/AuntyE/rockingchair015.jpg

 

Then I did the other side.

 

http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f225/AuntyE/rockingchair018.jpg

 

Now, the back needed pulling taut and then stapling at the bottom, so I did a few staple at the back to hold it in, then turned it over, trimmed the excess, folded the raw edges over and stapled it in place.

 

http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f225/AuntyE/rockingchair017.jpg

 

http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f225/AuntyE/rockingchair019.jpg

 

]http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f225/AuntyE/rockingchair020.jpg

 

TA DA!

 

http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f225/AuntyE/rockingchair021.jpg

 

Now, to recover the cushions. One of them was totally destroyed, but the bottom cushion only dated from the seventies, and was still sort of firm. I didn't really want to have to buy a new piece of foam (it's more expensive than I had thought!) so I covered the cushion in the duvet trimming and bought a new cushion pad for the top cushion. I also stuffed an old, wilted cushion pad into the bottom cushion for extra support. The new cushion pad was MASSES bigger than it needed to be, so that it would be nice and squishy, not floppy.

 

http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f225/AuntyE/rockingchair022.jpg

http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f225/AuntyE/rockingchair023.jpg

 

I measured the pad and worked out that it would be 19" by 20", and that it would be about 3" thick. I cut out a strip of fabric 21" wide (19 plus 2 for seams) and 45" long (20" times two, plus 3" plus 2 for seams), and two pieces 5" wide and 22" long. I also cut a third piece 21" by 5" for the back of the cushion.

 

 

http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f225/AuntyE/rockingchair024.jpg

 

Now, I cut the ends of the two 22x5 pieces into a curve and then stitched them along the long edges of the long piece, all the way round, so you can start to see a cushion shape!

 

http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f225/AuntyE/rockingchair025.jpg

 

http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f225/AuntyE/rockingchair026.jpg

 

http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f225/AuntyE/rockingchair027.jpg

 

Making more sense now? I'm leaving a 1" seam allowance too.

 

http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f225/AuntyE/rockingchair028.jpg

 

Then I took the third piece and stitched it into the back, leaving one long edge open.

 

http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f225/AuntyE/rockingchair029.jpg

 

http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f225/AuntyE/rockingchair030.jpg

 

If I'd been paying attention, I would have bought a long zip for this project, but I forgot, so I'm using two shorter ones. I find it easier to stitch them in when the cover is inside out, then turn it the right way.

 

http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f225/AuntyE/rockingchair031.jpg

 

http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f225/AuntyE/rockingchair032.jpg

 

I carefully inserted the pad and popped it on the chair. FAB!

 

http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f225/AuntyE/rockingchair033.jpg

 

I wanted a second cushion for extra comfiness and also so that I could use it to support the baby if my arms were tired of holding her while feeding, so I repeated all of the above with my other fabric to make a second (slightly smaller) cushion cover and stuffed it with my new cushion pad. It's a bit pouffy now, but it will settle down

 

http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f225/AuntyE/rockingchair034.jpg

 

Then to hide the staples, I popped some braid on. I had this lying around, but I don't really like it, so wil probably replace it with something orange at some point. John Lewis sell nice trimmings, so I'll have a look there. This will do for a bit though.

 

http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f225/AuntyE/rockingchair035.jpg

 

 

Really, you should stitch it on with a curved needle and upholstery thread, but as I don't plan on this being permanent, and my hands are still PRETTY numb, I used the staple gun and just popped a couple of stitches in the top.

 

http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f225/AuntyE/rockingchair036.jpg

 

 

And there we are - pretty easy and now it all matches beautifully

[Plum]

Wow, that chair looks great and I love the fabric. Goes off looking for chairs in need of attention.

[ClaireG]

Lovely Looks like it will be a really comfy nursing chair.

[Couperwife]

wow, that looks fab

 

*also looking for chairs to cover*

 

cathy

x

[craftyhunnypie]

Ah wow - fancy coming round ours sometime? We threw a chair the same as that on the tip about 7 years ago. So wish we had kept it now!

 

Emma.x

[Olly]

Wow - that looks brilliant! I love the contrasting fabric.

 

I'm a real believer in recycling things like furniture, and it's especially nice if it has family associations like this one. I had a go at upholstery last year, typically I've got one chair finished and one not even started, but although it was fiddly (I did it the old-fashioned way with tacks and a hammer) the results are really satisfying.

 

I'm not as handy with a sewing machine as you are, that looks great.

[theherd123]

Looks brilliant and you will love nursing your little one in it esp with all the great memories you have of it being your grandmas

[mostin]

That looks fantastic, I still have my Grandmas rocking chair and it is beginning to get a bit worn. It is great to know that I can have a go at sorting it out when it looks really bad, and now I have step by step instructions , thank you .

[riane]

Wow that chair is great and those instructions are amazing! i must get to grips with posting photographs, it seems to take me ages. Well done! you will have many hours of lovely cuddle time in that chair.