I Love My Job

How about some old school garage band punk for a Friday workday in the shop? I watched VH1 It Might Get Loud last night and looked up this old Jack White (The White Stripes) recording from when he was a teenager apprenticing at an upholstery shop in Detroit. I had read an article about this early colaboration, but didn't know they recorded an album. They worked all day, then swept up a place large enough to make some music.

I play lots of music while I work. Well, not personally, but it plays on the stereo computer. 

The White Stripes are a favorite from when I had to borrow all my son Billy's cds to play before internet radio or spotify. 

Funny story about Billy and The White Stripes...My mom got me a guitar for my 46th birthday. I struggled to learn a few chords and practiced until I could haltingly strum through one song. I sucked. Billy picked up the guitar one day and mastered it in like...an hour. (I gave him the guitar.) The first thing he played for me made me think he was a little slow in the head though. Duh da duh duh da duhhhhh duhhhh....

Then I heard this on the radio and had to laugh. He'd figured out the first seven notes of this song:

This post is dedicated to all of my creative upholsterer cohorts everywhere!

Oh, and go kiss your mother.

Happy Mother's Day!



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Welt Cord Tutorial

It's that time of year to update outdoor cushions, change out the sofa pillows, and put on the spring slipcovers! 

When sewing a pillow or cushion with covered welt cord (piping), you can join the ends by simply lapping one side over the other and sewing down, or you can actually sew the ends together for a nice professional finish.

It takes a bit of practice, but once you get the hang of it, it's easy. Refer to this post to see how I cut the welt cover in strips and join them.

(for single welt, I cut the strips 1 1/2")

Have you tried this method? How do you sew welted pillow covers? Would love to hear from you!

Have an awesome weekend!

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April Showers Bring...

Aw,look! The faeries got their May Day flowers planted!

 Cute little garden, huh? I got all the accessories at The Wild Bird Shoppe. This is one of 2 planters on either side of my shop door. My friend, Janice planted the Irish moss last week. (And, hey!....how about those outdoor cushions? Have you got yours reupholstered for the summer?)

I'm looking for a few other plants to fill in. Kind of like this:

Last spring I planted pansies in the pot on the other side of my shop door. They lived through the heat of the summer and all winter - they even bloomed in the snow. What a crazy winter here in Indiana. Here they are today:

Happy May Day!!!

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Purple!!

Purple as a home decor color.....risky?

Purple could come off as an Easter pastel.

Or....

The color of Royalty.

While working on this beautiful camelback sofa in Michael Jon Designs Prima Velvet (gumdrop), everyone who came into my shop commented. "Oh! Look at that beautiful purple couch!"

This picture doesn't show the richness of the color and sheen - but I wondered how many of them would actually be able to pull off the look.

But when I saw how my customer had accessorized...whoa! THIS is how you do purple!

Next post is another tutorial...

Happy Easter, y'all!

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Antique Indoor/Outdoor Chairs and Double Welt Tutorial

Peggy and I got 2 chairs done!

They're so pretty. Remember that old eastlake style chair I was going to start on? It's been painted (love it!!), but put that aside while we worked on 2 others. I'll post pics of that when it's done. We got these chairs sprung up and upholstered. All the padding and fabric is appropriate for use in a protected outdoor area, or a powder room.

What we started with

And now!

You can see them for sale at The Wild Bird Shoppe and at our etsy store.... just as soon as I figure out how to do that :)

As promised, I'm going to show you how to make the double welt that is used to trim out the edges

How to sew double welt on a walking foot machine

My industrial machine is a Chandler that I bought last year from Bob at Toledo Industrial Sewing Machines.

It's the second machine I got there - great place. Go there to buy yours!

Ok, start out by cutting your fabric strips on the bias. I cut mine 2".  You'll want enough strips to make the length you need...

Then sew the strips together like this. I don't show it, but trim off that corner to reduce bulk.

I use a double-welt foot. Makes life easy. The 2 channels ride right on top of the cords. This is for 5/32" cord - which is what I use in my shop.

It's a 2 step sewing process. Sew in one cord, then the other. With fabric right side down, place cord on the left.

  Fold the fabric over the cord from left to right, just enough to cover. That cord will be fed in to the left channel of the foot.

(when you come to where you joined the strips, finger press that seam open and continue folding over and sewing)

Next take the welted fabric out of the machine and turn it around so that you can sew in the second cord. 

Notice you start right side down, second cord on the left. Now tuck it in close.

Hold on to both cords and fold over from right to left. You'll be sewing on the right side of the fabric now. Makes a neater double welt and draws the 2 cords together nicely.

Stitch in the ditch...or right over the first stitch.

See how the 2 channels of the welting foot ride on top of the 2 cords?

As you feed it in to the foot, use your left hand to tuck the cord in close, the right hand to fold the fabric snug over that cord.

Then trim off the excess fabric

And you've got yourself double welt trim to attach to your chair!

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When I Needed Sunshine I Got Rain?

I have to admit, it was Mickey's picture I cut out of Tiger Beat Magazine and taped to my bedroom wall... but you were also in my heart, Davy. 

With the sun gone I'll look to the moon. Oh Cat - take it away!

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I'm walking....

I'm walking to work now.

At my last checkup, the doctor told me I have bone loss and am anemic. 

Yikes! 

I'm to be pumped up with extra vitamin D so my body will better absorb calcium, and because I balk at the idea of taking an iron supplement, I'm to literally beef up my vegetarian diet. Last week I ate meat for the first time in 

 5 years. 4 oz. twice a week will do. 

 The caesar salad topped with grilled steak from 

Baja Penninsula Restaurant was tasty.
I didn't gag at all.
The iceberg lettuce topped with processed italian beef from Arni's...not so much. 

(burp)

I live a couple of miles from the shop. It's kind of a country road, or used to be. I need the excercise...my stretchy jeans that fit nicely months ago are 

now my workout walking compression pants.

 At no time did I feel like diving into the grass to avoid being run down by an aggressive driver. Although I did move over off the pavement each time a 

car passed - which was not as often as I thought! 
It's nice. Very nice. I get to the shop in a terrific mood! 

How about an update on that chair?

It's a team effort - me and Peggy from Cover That Pretty Please. 
We started with chalk paint in fresh green. 

Then we painted over that with a creamy white latex. Distressed it by sanding and the wiped on glaze. 
Behr glaze tinted espresso brown. It's awesome. We 

won't be upholstering until next weekend, but here's a sneak peak:

♥ Happy Valentines Day!! ♥

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Just a quick post to get started here. I'm starting to really enjoy painted wood.
Especially like on these sweet dining chairs I reupholstered this winter.

I like the light, clean look.
Sometimes it's distressed and worn looking like this set I saw over at Dreamy Whites

Or not so distressed like this one at Kate Forman's

I'm going to try my hand at recreating the painted look of these antique painted chairs

using Miss Mustard Seed's technique which she offers Here and Here.

I happen to have an Eastlake style chair begging for a makeover.

I've also got a crazy notion to put outdoor fabric on it so I can put it on the front porch.

These fabrics from P. Collins, Ltd. are yummy.

I'll let you know how it turns out.

I'll even throw in a tutorial on how I make the double welt trim!

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Great news! I'm in the process of updating this blog - stay tuned for a fresh new look and lots of new posts!

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Buckminster Upholstery: How to Reupholster a Damaged Chair Cushion

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