Tuesday Tutorial .. Chair Cushion make over

Just to give you some background, up till the end of 2010, I lived and worked in the South Of Spain. It wasn’t only due to the recession that we made the decision to return to the UK, but Alex’s adult educational needs were the biggest influence as there were no provisions for him in Spain. So consequently, when we came back its was as if Richard and I were a newly married couple having to set up home all over again…..but with a 20 year old in tow too!

As you can appreciate, when I moved into our apartment, money was on a strict budget and I had to “make do” with the furniture in place, including the 1950’s kitchen chairs! So, I wanted to re vamp them as economically possible… Why not “mend and make do”!

The green corduroy cushions are made from fabric remnants I bought to make Alex a pair of dungarees from when he was a baby and off I went to borrow Mum’s sewing machine.

But, Alex being Alex, he’s a little “rough” on furniture and after one year they were well overdue an overhaul.. so this is what I came up with.

PS… just double click on the photos to get a bigger, more clear view if you need!

 

As you can see the chairs were pretty shabby.. so going back to a previous tutorial of my vintage blanket, ( https://helencrochet1.wordpress.com/2012/01/23/tuesday-tutorial-vintage-blanket/)  make up your Flower in circle grannies..  measure out how many you’ll need and don’t forget you can allow for a little “stretching” here.. You’re better off making the final blocks a little smaller than the fabric you’re going to attach it to.. you wouldn’t want it to sag now would you! In this case 6 were just fine using the join as you go method to attach them together.

 

NB….Once you’ve established your sizes, give your crochet work a final round of single crochet around the edge, for a nicer, neater finish.

 

Essentially what you’re going to do now is a blanket stitch all around the edges of your fabric.. this is going to be your “anchor”.. What you’ll eventually “sew” your grannies to… Use the same yarn as the colour that will be on your final round… in this case navy blue.

If you’re not familiar with the blanket stitchthen this little  video explains it beautifully. Don’t worry it’s a silent video but shows you exactly how to do the Blanket Stitch

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eXkSE2TTF4s

If you are going to sew to anything with zips then be sure not to stitch too close… or buy a cover with the zips perhaps in the centre of the fabric

Ok.. Once you’ve gone all around your fabric, with the blanket stitch, measure your piece of crochet and secure either with stitch markers like I have or safety pins.. just to make sure that you get a nice even finish as you sew along

So now its time to drop down to a 3. 5 hook. Just to get a nice snug stitch all around in SINGLE CROCHET..

Place hook into the first corner of your work and through the blanket stitch on the fabric, yarn over and pull through, two loops on hook, yarn over and pull through both loops as in the pic .. Place at least two if not three single crochets in your corners….

Then, continue working all the chain stitches on your crochet work with a single crochet attaching the wool to the fabric/ blanket stitch in this fashion.. all the way around , ensuring you’re working tight into the fabric.. almost sealing it.

Now, weave in all lose ends, sit back and admire 🙂

If you have any questions, drop me a line on the comments… have a great day … Helen xxx