Make Yourself Comfortable!

Chairs.... Take Two.....

The search for the Elusive Perfect fabric for the chair was resolved, Dear Readers, in part by me lowering my standards and in part by me wrestling with the original fabric choice until it behaved a little bit the way I had envisioned. I had wanted a "tapestry-like" effect.... but this is a VERY TINY scale.... and I at last acknowledged that short of finding and hiring tiny elves to Weave me some fabric.... I was not likely to find something in a small enough scale... even if I were to try to stitch the needlepoint myself.... the seat is about three eights of an inch wide! So I worked harder at making my first choice look sort of like what I wanted... finding a piece of the pattern that had enough variance in color and texture.... and then gluing it on without any padding or hemming because the fabric is fairly thick! You can see below the results......

You will have to think of it as a very worn out killim rug used as upholstery....

I could not prevent frayed corners and edges.....

But at least now the chair is a bit more comfortable!

And here below you can see it in solitary splendor in the Library.....

But you must understand that this chair was never meant to be the "cozy" chair! This is to sit at the still unfinished desk..... there was always going to be a soft over-stuffed easy chair by the fire!

So I started to make one.....

Here is the basic framework made out of a scrap of wood and cardboard.... 

the legs are added next.... and are cut from matchsticks....

And here you can also see the beginnings of gluing on the fabric 

over a layer of cotton batting .....

The fabric is a lovely rose colored cotton velveteen.... cut from used trousers....

It is very soft and pliable and does not fray too easily!

The shape is cut to fit and glued into the valleys of the frame with no hemming.

Here you can see the batting for the inside of the arm and headrest... 

it is loosely shaped and glued to the framework.....

And the fabric is glued at the same time..... 

just pressing the edge of the fabric into the glue in the valley 

using the tip of my awl....

And you can see that the fabric is left over large until the glue is dry.

Here you can see both side pieces are gluing.....

Here I have rolled and glued the armrest portion of the side... 

wrapping it around to the outside of the frame.

It was important to wrap and glue tiny sections at a time..... 

allowing them to dry thoroughly before gluing the next piece. 

This made it easier to prevent excess glue from getting onto the good side of the fabric 

as well as allowing for careful and precise fitting of the curve of the fabric.

Here you can see one side is partly glued......

One side nearly done.....

The other side too..... you can see the bare outside surface....

And here is the seat cushion being added.... 

I borrowed an idea I saw on Someone's blog 

(forgive me that I cannot remember whose!) 

to cut the center out of the padding so the seat will have a "worn" dip 

to look like it has been sat in for ages...!

Again, the fabric edges are pressed into the valley with my awl... 

making contact with the glue only along the edges.

 

 

Here the front of the seat fabric has been glued around to underneath the base....

cut away around the legs and wrapped to the sides.

The front end of the armrests have not been finished yet, 

and the outside all around still needs to be covered..... 

and the legs will be painted....

But for now.... here you can see it with the Jacobean chair.....

And here you can see them in the Library.....

Hmmmmm.... there's not a lot of room in there! 

It is amazing how much floor space was used up with the shelving units......!

I may have to adjust my ideas of what goes where.....

And the Rose color seems so Bold! 

I may have to "age" it a bit.....

But for now....

Why don't we light the fire.....

Pull up an (easy ) chair....

And Make yourself Comfortable!