Another upcycle project!

You may recall me mentioning a while ago that I was still looking for a chair to go with Brian's awesome new desk. I have been trolling Craig's List and Freecycle, hoping to stumble across something that would go with the 100 year old desk. While Brian didn't mind using my old kitchen chair, I have been wanting to get the trestle table posted on Craig's List to sell, and couldn't really do that until he had a chair. So last week I stopped by the furniture sale on base and found this sturdy, though kinda pathetic, office chair. I knew it wasn't exactly what Brian had in mind, but I had an idea that I thought would please him.

First I had to take the whole thing apart and clean the fabric (although it was dusty, the fabric was still all intact. So I decided to leave it as an undercoat, so to speak, instead of trying to remove it all). Once all the metal was cleaned up, I sprayed it all down with some silver spray paint. You might think that it looks a little like chrome. That, of course, was the idea!

Once all the metal was repainted, I started on the upholstery. I had to make all the piping from scratch because, for some odd reason, no one seems to sell bright orange piping in canvas. Bright orange? Has she gone mad or just color blind? Wait and see...After careful measuring, making paper templates and trial and error, I was able to start assembling the fabric covers. The arm rests needed all new padding, so I manipulated some polyfoam to fit over the metal covers.

Unlike the rocking chair face lift, this project required a lot of sewing, both on the machine and by hand. I would have loved to use plygrip again, but the frame is metal and I would not have been able to tack the plygrip down to anything. As it is, the handstitching on the seams went pretty quickly and looked just as nice. Hmmmm, orange and black? Wonder where this is heading...

Once all the seams were secure, I started to reassemble the chair. This went a bit slower then the disassembly, and I had to take things apart and put them back together again more than once. Lesson learned: take pictures of EVERY PART before you deconstruct!

Once all the bolts were tightened and the chair pads reattached, the chair was finished.

And the best part, of course, is that it is a Harley Davidson chair! I found it funny that the most expensive part of this upcycle was the Harley patch for the back.

Beat up old office chair: $3
Harley Davidson patch: $17
Fabric, piping and foam: $28
Awesome, one-of-a-kind chair for my hubby: Priceless!

I wanted to have the chair done for his birthday, but was a day late. However, I did have his originally planned birthday present done and wrapped with a day to spare!This was my first real attempt at embroidery. Brian already has an awesome embroidered Harley shirt, so I decided to go with the Mustang on this one. I'm pretty happy with how it turned out, but I am not a big fan of embroidery and probably won't attempt anything else again soon.

A Busy July

What a wonderfully fun and busy month so far! The kids are here for two weeks and, just like in Savannah, I always seem to see and do more when folks are visiting! Unfortunately I haven't brought my camera to all the festivities (missed out on pictures of El Paso's Downtown Streetfest, the Old Ironsides Museum, and Wet n' Wild waterpark), but here are a few pics I have snapped.

I got to see my first Diablos baseball game! I haven't been to a baseball game in ages, and even though Brian wouldn't let me bring my knitting for the boring parts I still had a great time.

And there were fireworks!! We could actually see the fireworks show from the house the night before, but it was more fun to watch in the park after the game.


When the weather is hot, there's no better way to cool down than fresh, homemade ice cream!

I was super excited that K was interested in crafting during her visit. The first project: a teddy bear! This was a pretty ambitious first step and she did awesome.

After the bear she picked out some cheerful pink Batik and made this sling purse.

Of course, I can't spend that much time in my craft room without something to show for it myself. So I made a new bear out of some lingering fur scraps. I know it looks like he doesn't have a nose or mouth, but he does I promise!

I was also feeling the urge for a new purse, so I made this frilly little messenger bag with an adjustable strap. Once the purse was finished, I decided to whip up a matching wallet.

The wallet actually turned out a lot larger than expected. It's almost a clutch purse itself! I'm not sure how this will work out exactly, but I'll give it a shot for a while. (I used a combination of this and this tutorial to make the clutch, in case you were wondering.)