I Have a Short Memory

Some readers may recall the big slipcover project from 2009. I swore I wouldn't do another... except I forgot about that, and am now determined to slipcover the old, but really comfy, wingchair.

I spent the afternoon selecting a fabric, and went soooo out of my comfort zone: there is yellow involved, and flowers.

(I also found a remnant of gorgeous black leather for $1, which won't be used for the slipcover; you'd probably figured that out already; but I'm sure I could make into some sort of jewellery, maybe a choker or something. It's so soft. OK, enough of the leather rant, and back to the wingchair).

I'm not putting a timeline on this. The sofa had to be done before Christmas, but I figure this chair might take me into my summer vacation. Anyway, watch this space.

/// UPDATE ///
Life's too short. I ditched the wing chair. There'll be no slipcovering here. :)

Final Cushions

I have a box of fabric treasures, mostly smaller sample pieces and remnants. Most of these came from a great sale at a very good interior design shop. When my mother was visiting, she immediately espied a gorgeous Nina Campbell pattern, featuring a moghul scene with parrots, etc. This was perfect for the final cushion for the wicker armchair, and a very good pale green damask covered the cushion that you sit on! That was last evening's task.

I'm done with home decorating, etc. for a while, but here they are, the final cushions:

The candle is vanilla scented, and I think it's time for a nip of Cardhu. Good night all!

Sofa and Scones

Well, at last here's a picture of the finished sofa. I spent the week looking for cushions and ended up back at the fabric store on Friday night, determined not to wait another day for cushions! And so I attended the theatre that same night, the opening of A Midsummer Night's Dream at Hart House Theatre, weighed down in a most unseemly fashion with bags of goose-feather cushion bases and lovely fabric. Saturday morning I was up early to stitch them up. Today the parentals came for tea and we christened the sofa with scone crumbs and a really good catch up.

As for the theatre, I am so behind in my blogging! More on that in a post to come.




The cushions tie in well with the newish wing chair.

Done

The slipcovering is done. I finished about an hour ago, and - as much as I have nitpicked on the errors in my work - I am weirdly exhilarated. Now I have to wait till I am home during actual daylight to get some decent pics... that will be this weekend. At work I've entered probably the four most intense weeks of the year, but it's always exciting. I just have to remember to keep some balance, especially as I so enjoy the run up to Christmas!

Thank you for your comments and encouragement!

Top Ten Things I Have Learned Recently... Very Recently

10. Watching The Prisoner (2009) is not conducive to accurate fabric cutting.

9. Pins like to lay pointy side up in thick carpeting.

8. Ultra-suede, while washable and hardy and soft and lovely, is very "grippy"... and getting the slipcovers onto the pieces is like dressing a reluctant child, who happens to be the size and weight of a pro wrestler.

7. I am not a natural slip-coverer.

6. I am getting more impatient as the years go by.

5. Piping is best created with a proper piping foot (sewing terms... sigh).

4. I don't function at all well if things are not harmonious around me, and that includes the squalour into which I have descended the last few days.

3. I will be buying a replacement sofa sooner than later.

2. Drinking Guinness is not conducive to accurate sewing.

and...

1. After all my pathetic whimpering, it doesn't look as bad as I thought it did!

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh...

The main part of the sofa is done, just the seat cushions to do now. Oh, and I have to buy more fabric! Also, shopping for some fancy throw pillows or something to tie it all together. I'm too tired to dig up the camera. Final pics tomorrow, I hope, if all goes well. This will be the first and last slipcover job I do. Heh heh.

I had a Guinness tonight to celebrate that today is 35 years to the day that my family emigrated to Canada. It's been a good home. More on that tomorrow. I'm off to tidy this crazy place up.

The Fabric has Landed

It's a glorious sunny weekend here in Toronto, but I am about to hurl myself into the Big Slipcover Challenge. What I'd really like to be doing is walking a trail, hugging a few trees and hiding behind a few to watch some birds.

But I've thought about this too long and I have a Christmas deadline. Yards of sage-green ultra suede are covering my dining room table. The piping rope isn't strong enough to hang myself with, so all is good.

I'll be posting updates.

Put the Guinness Away, I Need a Clear Mind for This

Ack! The sofa swatches have been rented. The exquisite agony of decision making is upon me. Weirdly enough as I was selecting them at the store, I realized they were - in colour and fabric - an almost perfect match for the shirt I was wearing.

I'm a predictable BPG in some ways and that's okay with me.

Enough Already

This summer I painted my entire place. Every last sodding square inch of it. And what an agony the choice of colours was. And now that it's done I've been spending far too much time basking in my achievement in an effort to avoid the next big project: the Big Slipcover Challenge. This is a challenge I have given myself: To slipcover my sofa and one wingchair as part of a learning process. Like so many other things I do, I will only do it once, then I will lose interest and start torturing myself with a new challenge. I could buy a new sofa and wingchair, I could have them professionally recovered... but oh no, it's like a low-simmering fever in my addled mind. I *have* to do this and I've been blethering on for far too long about it.

Watch this space. The paint swatches are gone. The fabric swatches are coming in. And I have till Christmas to get both pieces done.