You Can Make "Real" Oilcloth

The post I did over the weekend for Curbly sheds some light on what real oilcloth might be. After you read all the comments, you can decide if you'd like to try the old fashioned way or just stick with what is being sold as oilcloth, but is really laminated fabric. All I can say is that there's a reason people stopped making their own oilcloth with linseed oil and moved on to a modern laminated cotton duck, canvas or linen.

Before and After: Gray and Orange Chairs

BEFORE:

AFTER:

It's not surprising how much I love an ambitious chair rehab. I was tickled to see the before and after photos over on Curbly of the chairs Yannick and her boyfriend aggressively made over. Not only did they do a beautiful job reupholstering the chairs, they even painstakingly sanded and varnished the wood to get just the right look. Nice rehab and I love that fabric. Read the entire post here.

Refresh Your Furniture

For anyone with disgustingly ugly or dingy furniture, check out this How To Spray Paint Furniture mini-tutorial over on Apartment Therapy-Chicago. It could be a lifesaver before the in-laws come to visit.

DIY: Make Your Own Modern Chevron Upholstery Fabric

No, this isn't a blanket hanging on the fence. Just a handy place to snap a picture of my newly sewin chevron fabric.

I may dress up a low, rectangular coffee table with some white lacquer legs and turn this into an upholstered coffee table. The black and white striped fabric was a remnant and, believe it or not, it isn't outdoor fabric, it's simply striped upholstery fabric. This was one of the few times I found exactly what I was looking for. To see the entire tutorial, check out

http:/http://www.curbly.com/ModHomeEcTeacher/posts/4852-DIY-Sew-Your-Own-Chevron-Upholstery-Fabric/ or

http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-Make-Your-Own-Chevron-Design-Upholstery-Fab/

Striped fabric ready to take a 45 degree turn.

DIY ModUpholstery 101: Chair Makeover

The upholstery projects I'll be demonstrating have been streamlined and simplified for the DIY Upholsterer. With the techniques I'll cover, and practice, you will find yourself improving from project to project. Don't give up, it does take practice.

You probably have some of the tools that are necessary to get started. The electric staple gun can be found at a Lowes or Home Depot. The cording and curved needles can be found at a Hancock Fabrics and possibly JoAnn. Most all of you DIY-ers have a glue gun which isn't pictured, but handy.

THE TOOLS:

tack hammer or small hammer
measuring tapes
twine
thread
staples/electric staple gun
large scissors
utility knife
crescent pliers
flat head screwdriver
double welt cord
single welt cord
fabric for cording
gimp

If you love tools and supplies like I do, you can buy all sorts of upholstery supplies later but this will get you going.

The first project I'm going to make over is a Goodwill chair (found on one of my Goodwill Hunting trips and snagged for a mere $9.99). Someone replaced the legs and put them on backwards so we'll have to fix them right off the bat.
Find yourself a chair, check the fabric yardage estimator chart linked below, purchase fabric and let's do it.

MY 70's CHAIR


(notice "Vince Vega's" autographed pic in the background)

Go to:
http://www.fabric.com/ and click on the fabric estimator for upholstery and add in 1/2 yard more for good measure.


I'll need 7 yard for this excluding repeat. I'll add 20% more for a large repeat.

next class: Tear down and Assessment

Places To Visit

One year ago I only checked email and read the headlines. These days I am scouring websites for fabrics, old furniture, architectural salvage materials and other people who love design.
One of the first sites that I came across was http://www.curbly.com/.
I spent hours pouring through the postings of modern furniture enthusiasts and other self-proclaimed DIY-ers. It was just what I needed to get hooked on spending way too many hours in front of the computer. Recently on Curbly I came across http://www.islandgirlsalvage.com/. They are located in Chicago, not too far from me, and a great reason to plan a weekend trip to Chicago, see the Cubs play and spend hours hunting through the possible goodies I could (could being the word that impels me to hunt for great, discarded possibilities) find. With a garage stacked with tables, chairs, trunks, anyone with a drop of good sense would know there is a problem here. Nonetheless, I will keep hunting for that discarded or unwanted piece that needs a little imagination and a great piece of fabric to make it live again!!!