January 25, 2009

A new look : 2

There always seem to be a multitude of projects percolating in the back of my mind. But, I need some sort of push to take action and get started and then another good push to finish. The baby deadline had my sewing maching in high gear over the weekend.
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I hadn't given much thought to the baby coming early. I have had February 6th locked in my mind for the past 38 weeks give or take a few. Until the doctor (and some well-meaning friends and co-workers) pointed it out last week, I hadn't considered the possibility that the baby would be born early, thus thwarting my plans to finish up a few projects around here.
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This lovely rocking chair seemed a steal at $10 last summer. Note the packing tape holding the stuffing in. I was sure that among all the sunny days off, I'd find the time to give it a facelift.

Fast forward 7 months. I drew patterns based on the lovely original cushions and tried to fashion new ones. The batting I chose for the back was too thin, and the seat cushion puckered and pulled. I ruined the fabric originally intended for the project by cutting it before I really knew how I was going to accomplish the task. So, I gave up.
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At the end of last week the realization hit, "Oh my God! There's a baby coming and we have no place to rock her!" My nesting urge kicked into a flurry of activity. New fabric was purchased at a local quilt shop, and said fabric WAS NOT cut until a suitable mock up was completed. See below.After much contemplation and discussion with Kole, I began construction on the real cushions.
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FULL DISCLOSURE: I'm not that skilled on the sewing machine. I abhor following traditional patterns - I am too impatient. (This explains the piles of half-cut pattern pieces stacked in the craft closet.) The pattern for this project was drawn on the back of some Batman wrapping paper. And although the directions were all in my head, the project went more smoothly than I had anticipated.
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5 hours later we arrived at this.

I'm not going to lie - I love it! The fabric has nursery rhyme sayings on it, and the colors mesh well with the decor in the baby's room. What do you think?

3 comments:

  1. Nice work!! It looks GREAT!!!
    We, too, have a rocking chair that needs a face-lift soon. It's a newly-acquired family heirloom that need to be refinished, reupholstered, and to also have the seat cushioning rebuilt. I've declared "uncle" and proposed that we take it to be professionally done. What a nice treat!

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  2. that looks awesome kari! nice job! can't wait to come see the baby's finished room!

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