Minted "Take A Seat" FFFC November challenge **PIC HEAVY**

November's Fab Furniture Flippin Contest challenge is called "Take A Seat" sponsored by Minted. This is going to be the most challenging contest for me as of yet as I am stepping out of the box and going to attempt to do a major upholstery project. Minted supplied fabric for each contestant, how fabulous! THANK YOU!

Minted has endless fabrics, I managed to get it down to 8 choices and chose this one in the end called "not your mamas paisley" in teal of course.

The chair I plan to do is a chair I bought at an estate sale of a family friend. I love the shape, swivel, softness this chair provides but it just is not current in my décor. It spends all its time hidden under a pretty throw. It is time to let it shine on it own.

I was so excited to open my Minted package, even to Canada it did not take long to arrive. My sweet daughter dropped it off along with a Tim Horton's pumpkin spice tea, delicious!

 I threw the material over for a test run.... oooo pretty

Eagerly I got started taking the swivel base off and dust cloth

 moving to the piping layer

 but over an hour and a half later, 2 broken finger nails, 3 screwdriver stabs and 1000 bent staples, I was this far..

This is when I realized the back was stapled on visibly all around the edges but the original fabric is heavy and textured so easily hides them, now what?  Google.. and an answer came now to find the planned item.

With a good nights sleep and a deep breath I got back to the disassemble and 3 hours later I had all the pieces off and apart ready to cut material and reverse the order BUT again nerves hit. What if the material is too thin?, what if I cut the pattern off? what if staples end up showing? This called for a couple days hiatus and more research. And build up courage ;)

apart and then deconstructed even further

I also had to finish up custom projects I had on the go for my Creative Moments customers. SO after a few days, ok maybe a week I finally got brave! The material is just so darn pretty I did not want to mess up. It took me a very long time to arrange and rearrange the payout of pattern pieces on it then finally came the first cut. Cutting went well after that but the kooky non symmetrical pattern pieces drove me nuts and after cutting out I folded most in half and trimmed again. It took 2 1/2 yards of material.

 layout your material and then your pattern pieces

 everyone needs a fabric weight

I did not see the point of cutting and sewing the back portion so used the cardboard form as the pattern piece

 finally the lay out seemed right and the first cut made, no turning back now

this was all that remains from original material and new after cutting

 Next, to sew the seams! I was keen and off I went on the first only to find I missed adding the piping on the interior side.. opps. Lets try it with out. The seat proved patience are not my strong point. I pinned and took apart a few times and retrofit. Finally I got at it and then found the bobbin tension was off.. good grief! Around a few more times to reinforce seams. Being a recycler I removed the old piping cord and sewed up a new one in the solid white portion of the material. 

removing the old piping cord 

and make new

testing the now sewn seat cover 

old furniture always needs repairs, this held true for this chair, for some reason a huge gouge was missing from front edge so filling it back in gave a smoother edge and I finally opened my new electric heavy duty stapler, it works lovely!

 My Mom had new stuffing so added some of that then stapled the newly sewn seat cover on temporarily to be sure looks right then went around with my new heavy duty electric stapler. After a full day's work, I have the top of the seat covered.

The next morning I was back at it and by 2 pm I was finally finished the chair!

iron your material for crisper cleaner look and if you cant find white headed brad nails make your own ;)

of course the base needed an update so it got 2 coats of crisp white paint and sealed with 2 coats of wax

I like to think outside the box so to avoid the 100's of visible staples on the back I used hot glue and it worked fabulous, besides the fact I glued the bottom up nicely only to have to unstick to staple to bottom.. silly me

the seat back was screwed back on then the lower edge piping stapled on

the one issue was a misaligned brad nail which snagged the edge but minor in the large picture, the white head did not last after requiring hammering further in to secure but I will touch it up now. Finally the chair was all back together and ready for someone to TAKE A SEAT!

Tips I learned along the way

• take tons of pictures when disassembling
• fold old pieces in half and cut to be symmetrical before using as new pattern pieces 
• increase seam allowance on curvier edges
• make sure your hands are super clean any time touching material
• ironing pieces makes for a cleaner look

If you want to see more projects in the running for this months contest stop by any of the hosts pages (Stacy or Coleen ) and scroll to links at the bottom of their pages or if you want to enter a future month's contest, email info@fabfurnitureflippincontest.com

Thanks for stopping by and checking out my greatest challenge yet, many more one of a kind pieces can be found on my Creative Moments page.


**Disclosure**
I have received some of the product used in this post, but ALL the opinions are entirely MY own.  This post contains a sponsored link for Minted

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