Sitting Pretty

Many years ago, as I walked home from work I happened upon furniture that had been ousted to the kerb waiting for removal by the council pick-up contractors a pavement acting as an alfresco bric-a-brac showroom. Amongst rather unremarkable once-loved items that certainly deserved to be carted off to the local tip, that place of refuse for once-loved furniture, there was a little woebegone slipper chair with a rather unremarkable cover. Sure, it had seen much better days, but I saw perhaps what the low-slung little chair could become. Besides, being small it certainly wouldn't take up much room. I am afraid my penchant for old and pre-loved chairs had surfaced yet again. Ho hum.....another tarted up chair story.......so, so sorry!!

Back in the day these little slipper chairs were often used when maids helped their mistress, the lady of the house put on her shoes or slippers, hence the name. Now......there is no lady's maid dashing into my boudoir each morning to help me get dressed or indeed, brush my hair, fashioning my locks into some fancy coiffured hairdo. Neither is there a lady's maid to help put on my shoes. I can do that myself.......just......BUT.....with the entry into my venerable years, I rather like the idea of sitting on a chair low to the ground to slip on my shoes; which could become no small feat in my feeble and decrepit condition as the years slip by.

So........I picked up the sweet little chair, swung it on my back and proceeded to walk home in a strained and laboured way, rather like a slow, slow tortoise lugging it's home on it's back. You can laugh at this juncture because to be honest I did look positively hilarious, but I will go to extraordinary lengths to re-home an antediluvian chair.

Upon moving to Tasmania, I had forgotten all about my little chair until recently when I was looking for something else in the man cave. Yikes.....the man cave.....where angels fear to tread.....but moving right along, I dusted the cobwebs away and hurried the spiders on to new homes where they could spin beautiful, silk-like gossamer, living quarters on some other antiquity waiting for a little tarting up (oh yes.....believe it or not there are more). After all I was in a hurry to prettify my little slipper chair.

I purchased this linen-like curtain fabric a while ago pretty much on a whim, thinking surely it would fit somewhere in my humble abode. I love the pretty blue background colour (blue is my hue) and rather like the water colour impression of the flowers.

Looking at the fabric and the chair I thought of appliqueing some Irises to the back just to add a little more visual interest. I wonder if a day will ever awake where I dress a chair in fabric and leave it be with no adornment, with no embellishment???? Somehow I don't think so. Seriously, there is an aberrant gene within my DNA!! I adore creative play. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't, fingers crossed this time it does.


For the Irises I used a batik purple to blue fabric and a Kona fabric called Helliotrope. The stems are Kona fabrics in colours Peppercorn and Jungle. The greens I think, match quite nicely with the flower stems on the chair fabric.

I drew a couple of Irises on paper, then pinned them onto the back, adding stems to add a little more interest.

Being content with this simple arrangement I traced each pattern template onto freezer paper, ironed fabric onto the freezer paper templates and then cut out each flower/stem allowing 1/4" seam allowance, which I turned under as I ironed around all the pieces. Pulling the freezer paper out I then glued the seam allowance under. With all the flower and stem pieces ready for placing  I applied dabs of glue here and there on each flower part, then arranging and placing all onto the chair back fabric. Being satisfied with the arrangement I machine stitched around the flowers and stems onto the fabric. The thought of hand appliqueing the Irises did cross my mind for a fleeting moment but I thought better of it as this would have taken a lot longer. Besides I rather like the outline machine stitching. I then stitched some veins onto the lower petals of the Irises........not too many as I didn't want a botanically correct look. Let's face it, those of you whom are au fait with the finer, more intricate details of the 'Iridaceae'  will know that my sweet little Irises resting on my little slipper chair are certainly poor cousins to those elegant, showy flowers of the botanical world. Let's just say I have taken artistic license.

Being  happy with the Irises I then proceeded to dress the chair. With my trusty staple gun and hot glue gun on hand this didn't cause too much angst.

Slipper chairs of old usually had a flounce to the floor but to give this chair a modern look I wanted the legs to be seen. I did vacillate for a long while whether to sew a flounce on or not....I went with not. This chair obviously had a flounce for a reason. The legs were made in such a fashion that not a lot of thought went into aesthetics. The legs are more to be desired but with an inclination for a more modish look I painted the legs and sanded them, scuffing them up a little. This chair will certainly not be remembered by its shapely 'pins' but not to worry, with a lick of paint they are acceptable for viewing. To add a little bit of fun I added pom pom trim and ric rac.

Do you know if I had my time over again I would love to do an in-depth upholstery course. One of those courses that takes three years to master the intricacies involved in how to dismantle each part of a chair, cover said part with fabric and then reassemble everything again. Oh, how I would love to reupholster one of those beautiful, buttoned back french chairs with the most elegant of silhouettes, sitting atop curved cabriole legs but alas, I cannot as my skills I'm afraid are not quite up to speed. I would have oodles of subjects to practice my skill on, seeing my propensity of lugging home pre-loved chairs. Come to think of it, if I had my time over again there are so many things I would love to learn the nuts-and-bolts of  as I skip down the yellow brick road of creative pursuits; instead of my usual modus operandi of winging it!

I am happy with my little slipper chair and it's pretty, new cover. So much easier on the eyes than the awful beige, faux velvet that it was draped in. Sometimes I like to sit on little chairs whilst I enjoy a little hand stitching or knitting. Being small my slipper chair doesn't take up as much visual or physical space, and I love the fact that being little it can be moved from room to room......the boudoir, my sewing room, even the family room; it will fit in perfectly wherever it sits. AND.....I can now sit low to the floor and put on my shoes!!

From this li'l upholsterer's workroom (I use the term 'upholsterer' very, very loosely) or is it an alfresco furniture showroom where tarted up chairs seem to abound.......I don't rightly know......but whatever it is, I would love to wish you all a fabulous weekend. Me thinks I might spend a little time sitting  pretty on my sweet, little slipper chair.

Until the next time................

Linking to Handmade Monday

There once was an ugly duckling.............

There is definitely no doubt about it. This pouffe is quite simply......."feio....brutta.....lelijk.....brutto.....ruma".....UGG-ER-LY, in anybody's language!

I happened upon this ugly duckling a little a while ago at my favourite market. It's beauty was long gone, hidden under years of wear and tear. But.....it had great bones, it was a great size and had oodles of squashy comfort for one's tippy toes; so of course it came home with me.

But....if this Little Muffet was going to sit on this little tuffet, or indeed rest her tippy toes on it, then it was going to need a little upholstery job. A little tarting up was needed to hide it's flaws. Indeed, this little tuffet needed a little sprucing up with some lovely  new fabric and just a little machine sketching, magic. This little tuffet needed to be transformed from an ugly duckling to a, dare I say it, a lovely new swan.

I chose a lovely grey, linen look, upholstery fabric and snipped oodles of flowers from my fabric stash. Here are some of the flowers and patterns that have oodles of possibilities.

First things first. I draped the fabric over the pouffe with the right side of the fabric facing the right side of the pouffe. I chose a wide fabric so that I could do this without too much fussing around. Who wants to waste time fussing, when one's fingers are itching to commence the stitching magic! I pinned the four sides making sure it was a snug fit with a good size hem at the bottom.

I then trimmed the sides within a couple of centimetres of the seams.

Turning the fabric right side out, now was the time to have a little fun. I ironed on vise-o-fix to the back of flowers and the other pretties and carefully snipped the flowers, butterflies, birds and whatever else founded their way onto the fabric, placing them in a meandering fashion across the fabric. When happy with my arrangement, the magic of machine sketching began.

First things first. To draw with your machine, you need to drop the feed dogs on your machine. This enables you to move the fabric under the needle in any direction, as fast or as slow as you desire. You will need a free-motion embroidery foot, also called a darning foot. With my stitch length on the machine set on zero, I was ready for a little magic.

Drawing around the outside of each pretty with my machine, moving my fabric as one would do with a pencil is truly the best fun. Normally I would only 'draw' around each piece a couple of times but as this fabric was polyester, I found three or four times was better. As it wasn't 100% cotton each smidgeon of a flower frayed within an inch of it's life. This step took a lot longer than would normally be the case. I do wish I had selected cotton, but this fabric was on hand and I didn't have enough cotton fabric with suitable flowers; and of course these flowers were pretty, giving me the look I wanted. What's a couple of extra days sewing, pulling one's hair out by the roots, anyway. Remember.....it is always about the look. I know, I know, it is a shallow gal that I am....but you knew that already. =)

Flowers meandering their way prettily around the fabric with butterflies fluttering their wings to the sweet tune of the nearby bird song.

I patiently machine stitched around each piece, going with the flow; really. I wanted a flowing, organic look. I didn't want any of the sides or the top to look the same. I wanted a feeling of whimsical whimsy.

On two of the sides I thought I might machine sketch some sweet birdies in bird cages, hanging from the flowers.

Oh look, there's Maisie peeking through the flowers. She is patiently waiting outside my sewing room window for her morning walk. Not today, Maisie, there is more magic to be stitched.

After days and days of machine sketching, the finished fabric is now ready to cover that ugly duckling.

I affixed the cover to the pouffe, pulling it firmly for a snug fit, stapling the fabric to the underside of the  pouffe, all the way round.

Voila, my new pouffe.......Miss Muffet's lovely new tuffet. So much prettier, than what was before.

Not an ugly duckling any more.

After all that machine sketching, surely it must be time for a spot of tea.

It must be time for this little Miss Muffet to rest her tippy toes on her gorgeous new tuffet and enjoy a little viewing of Miss Elizabeth Bennett and Mr Darcy......oh and of course knit some more of her pretty, aran jumper. I am afraid this woolly has been rather neglected this week. Perhaps some of that stitching magic can be transferred to a little knitting.

Have the most wonderful week, everyone. Until the next time......

Linking this week to Stephanie's, Roses of Inspiration
Bernideen's BTTCG Blog Party
Jann's, Share Your Cup Thursday
Mary's Sweet Inspiration Party