More Progress on the Upholstering Front

Every once in a while, I look at those two unfinished chairs in my front room and sigh.

This weekend, I went from sighing over my chairs to actually doing something with them. Partially, it was the whole blog thing - being accountable for finishing a project I start on my blog. Mostly, though, it was Malena begging me to do her Halloween costume.

Halloween starts early around here, especially if the kids want me to make a costume for them (which hasn't happened in many years). Malena has a plan, and she has lots of energy to bug me about said plan. So, I turned to my sewing room, which currently has three projects strewn not only all over my sewing table but also all over Doug's desk. Sorry, Doug.

I took an afternoon simply cleaning stuff off - not all of it was mine (I swear!). There was sawdust from the paneling project, and tons and tons of leftover craft stuff from the girls. And let's not even mention the beading projects that have been started and left all over since my sister gave me her beading collection for the girls. Which they have enjoyed immensely, I must say.

Once it was cleared, I was able to find the pieces of the chair I had been working on. And I finished putting on its skirt. Here are the chairs as they existed last week - the ghost and the leggy thing.

And now...with a skirt and everything!

Granted, the cushions still leave a lot to be desired. I did want to get all the big pieces done on both chairs before I move on to the (relatively) easy job of recovering the cushions. So I cut out pieces for the second chair, marking them along the way with a Sharpie.

You can see the dashed lines - that's how I marked the staple lines. Then I just stapled on the lines. I used a solid line for folds, and wrote on the edges what piece it was, where it went, how it related to other pieces, and so on. Luckily for me, this is thick fabric, so nothing would show through even if I started drawing pictures. Which I didn't. I mean, who has the time?

So anyway, I spent today putting together my second chair. And, yee-haw, I now have a leggy thing again, but thankfully, no ghost chair.

And the entire ensemble looks like this today:

Way too many patterns for one room, I have to say. These chairs might just end up downstairs. Which would mean I'd need new chairs in the front room. Shopping, anyone?

This picture is just to remind you (and me) where I started. This whole project has really been a learning experience. Not sure if I like reupholstering, to be honest. But there is still a sofa (in the middle of the two almost-finished chairs above) that needs recovering. Maybe I should just use a slipcover?