Mr. Wheat's Rockers

Mr. Wheat replaced his front porch rockers.  He gave the four old ones to me.  The bones were good and sturdy but had definitely seen better days.  Time for a bit of rocker resuscitation!

The first step was to remove all the seat rushing.  This was no small task.  It was messy and dusty.  Mr. Wheat keeps a spotless home, but anytime furniture is left outside, even on a covered porch, the are places that even a clean freak can't clean.  Between the rushes is one of those places.

Next I painted the rockers white.  Painting chairs and rockers is very tedious, so I decided this was a fine time to finally try out my new power spray paint gizmo.

That may have been my first and last time using a power sprayer.  I have a love/hate relationship with the thing.

LOVE:

• It covers in no time.  

HATE:

• It uses up paint at a shocking rate.  
• Each time the container gets a little low (which is very, very often), the paint spits out, making blobs that need to be touched up immediately.  
• At one point I didn't screw the container on correctly and when I picked up the sprayer, the container dropped and paint went everywhere.  
• I used three large dropcloths.  (The photo above doesn't show them all.  I had already started moving stuff when I remembered to take a photo.)  Three dropcloths was not enough.  
• The sprayer should not be used when there's any wind at all.  
• The sprayer needs to be cleaned up very, very well, otherwise it won't work well the next time you use it.  It takes a long time and a lot of water to clean all the parts. 
• By the end I was exhausted and covered in paint from head to toe.  I am not a power sprayer kind of girl.  I'll stick to my nice and slow and slightly meditative old fashioned painting.  But the chairs turned out great.

Note - If you had two very organized people working together and you had a lot of things you wanted to paint the same color and  if you were willing to use up a lot of paint and if you had a great place to paint with lots of drop-cloths, the power sprayer could be a very good thing.

Once the paint had thoroughly cured, it was time to weave the seats and back. 

I have a chair-weaving tutorial in a previous post.

Even though I stuck to a color palette of red, green, tan, and white, the pattern is still a little busy.  I'm not worried.  Once I add pillows and cushions, not so much of the pattern will show up.  Meanwhile, the pattern hides dirt and fur.

Once I sat in the chairs, I realized that they weren't all that comfortable.  They could use some cushions.  Not a problem.  I came across four old cushions at a yard sale that fit perfectly.

 

The cushions are weathered and worn, but that didn't concern me.  I'm planning to make covers for them in a pretty fabric.  That means I can't mark this project off my list.  I also want to add small pillows on the chairs.  That's not a huge rush.  I'm keeping my eye out at yard sales.  Maybe I'll even come across some that don't need to be re-covered! 

I have shared this post on the following link parties:

Saturday Nite Special at Funky Junk Interiors

Favorite Things Saturday at Bargain Hunting with Laurie 
Weekend Wrap Up Party at Tatertots and Jello  

Sunday Showcase at Under the Table and Dreaming 

Chair Weaving Tutorial

Here it is.  The much requested how-to on weaving chair seats.

Preparation:

Find a chair that needs a new seat.  Ladderback chairs are great. Lots of rockers are suitable.  Remove all the old chair weaving.  Clean up and paint or stain if necessary.  If you paint it, give it plenty of time to cure before weaving.  The yellow chair in this post came from a recent yard sale.  It was already an interesting chippy yellow so I didn't even bother to repaint it.

Find material - lots of it - and rip or cut it into strips. I usually make my strips about 2 inches wide, but you can vary that for different looks. I mostly use old sheets, but sometimes I use tablecloths, curtains, or nice fabric.  I love finding sheets at Goodwill or yard sales to re-purpose.  You can use a wild assortment of colors.   Sometimes it looks good.  Sometimes it looks obnoxious. I've done that in the past with awful results.  You can use a single color. (I recently did a set of 4 chairs with dropcloth fabric.) My favorite thing is to use a limited color palette for a more coordinated look.

Weaving:

Find a good movie to watch.  You're going to be here for awhile.

Put all the fabric strips where they are in easy reach.  Have scissors nearby.

Start tying the strips across and under the chair.  If the fabric has a good side and bad side, make sure the good side is facing out where it'll be seen.  Don't worry too much about loose threads.  You want the strips fairly tight, but there's no need to be obsessive about it.

I like to tie the knot on top where it's easy to get to then slide the strip around so the knot is on bottom.  You can only do that for the pieces going across.  (Is that weft or warp?  I've forgotten weaving terms.)

Scrunch the strips together towards the front (widest end) as you go.  Keeps adding more strips til you get to the end.  I ended up with 12 strips front to back on this particular chair.  There will be a lot of knots with pieces hanging down underneath.  I cut those ends to about 4 inches.

Now for the weaving.   You have to know at least a little about how to weave because I don't think I could adequately explain that to somebody who has no idea at all.  If you ever did a paper weaving project in elementary school, you probably know enough.

Top

I weave a few strips on top, then turn the chair upside down and weave it on the bottom.  I weave so the ends meet somewhere in the middle of the bottom and then I tie the two ends together.

Bottom

I cut the ends to about 4 inches and tuck them under so they don't show from the top or the bottom.  Try not to put all the knots in one spot.  Try not to put any knots too close to an edge.

Turn the chair back over.  Scrunch the strips together.  Weave in more strips. Keep adding more strips til you finish.  Clip the loose threads. Stand back and admire your chair.

By the way, this is not my favorite chair that I've done.  This one is very chippy and rustic.  I'm in love with greens right now and the last green chair I wove is probably one of my favorites.  I have 4 rockers that I hope to do soon.  I'm thinking about doing them in a similar look.

How does it hold up?  You won't believe how well!  We have cats and dogs.  I have  rockers with woven seats and backs that have been on a porch year-round for over a decade.  The fabric is a bit faded, but the seats (and backs) are still strong and sturdy.  They are comfy, too!

If you use this tutorial to weave your own chairs, I'd love for you to let me know how it came out. Send me a photo if you can!

I've linked this post with the following blog parties:

• Saturday Nite Special at Funky Junk Interiors 
• Favorite Things Saturday at Bargain Hunting with Laurie  
• Air Your Laundry Friday - Freckled Laundry 
• DIY Project Parade at The DIY Showoff
• Metamorphosis Monday at Between Naps on the Porch

Chairs with Fabric Woven Seats

That title sounds horribly dull, but hopefully the post will be interesting!  Years ago, I figured out how I could re-do chairs that had damaged woven bottoms without having to spend a fortune taking them to a pro.  I could weave new bottoms and/or backs from leftover fabric or worn out sheets or dropcloths.  See tutorial here.

I recently wove a set of four ladderback chairs using dropcloth fabric. I put them at my store.  They aren't in my booth.  Another vendor had a vintage library table from Auburn, Alabama and the wood from that table went perfectly with my chairs.  The look great together.

The dropcloth fabric was a real mess to work with.  It ravels horribly.  On the other hand, the messy edges of each strip really give the finished seats more character. 

The color and texture look really nice with this dark wood.  It looks a bit like linen, but of course it's much tougher.

I wove another lone chair with brighter fabrics.  I used to use a real mix of fabrics and colors.  The last time I did that (see my Rocker Re-Do) I decided it turned out way too busy to suit me.  This time I stuck to a bit of a color palette - red, white, and pale green.  It's bright, but in a nice folksy way.

It's in my booth on top of a table.  There's another photo of it in yesterday's post.

You might recognize the green paint on this chair. It's one of the ones I painted while trying to find my perfect green. (See Experimenting with Green Chairs and one of my favorite posts - Smitten with Green) I really roughed this chair up, going for a very chippy vintage look.  It was fun to do.  I put the chair out on my porch for a photo and almost didn't have the heart to take it to my booth.  I'm selling it for $24, which is ridiculously low for the work I put in it.  Oh well.  It was fun. I saw a similar version on Etsy for $140 plus $30 shipping.  I wonderful if she has ever actually sold one of her chairs for that much.  I should probably mark any future chairs I weave a little higher.


The woven seats hold up well.  I have one that I wove over a decade ago.  It has been on a porch the whole time.  The fabric shows some fading but is still very strong. It's in better shape that a chair with a rush bottom would have been!

The next seats I weave will probably be for me.  I have four wonderful, large, oak rockers given to me by a friend, waiting to be cleaned up, painted and woven.  I'd really like to tackle that project in the next month or so.

Rocking Chair Slipcover

Yesterday I posted about the rocking chair I re-wove from fabric - my Rocker Redo.  The colors are a little much for the look I'm after.

Well, now I'm gonna show you my rocker RE-re_do.









Today, this rocker has another look thanks to a slipcover I made at least 5 years ago.

The slipcover fabric came from curtains I had made for my bay window 15 or 20 years ago.  I still love the fabric - it's timeless.  At some point I realized the curtain pieces could be converted to a cover for the rocker with very little modification - mostly adding Velcro.  All the pieces are secured with hidden Velcro strips. 

With all our pets, I swear by slipcovers.  If company is coming fast, I can take the slipcovers completely off.  If I have more notice, I usually wash the slipcovers.  I wash them all pretty often anyway.  I do not  like sitting on fur.

Here's the rocker all dressed up.  I think I prefer the look with the slipcover on.  It helps to tone down the too-bright chest. But, if I get into an "I Need Color" mood, all I have to do is undress my rocker! 

I love, love, love the little pillow.  I found it at a thrift store this past week.  It was love at first sight.  I didn't even have to debate with myself over whether to get it or not.

I think maybe tonight I should check into learning to make mint juleps and sit a spell out on the veranda.  Y'all come on by!


I have linked this post to the following parties:
Anti-Procrastination Tuesday (flexible theme) at New Nostalgia
Anything Related at All Thingz Related
Trash to Treasure Tuesday at Reinvented

Rocker ReDo

Close to 30 years ago, my hubby gave me a wonderful rocker to use at school.  I was recuperating from a surgery at the time.  It was such a sweet gesture and the rocker is very special to me.

I used the rocker in my classroom for years.  Then at some point I brought it home to use on our porch.

We have cats. Luckily for them, they are very loved.

Cat claws are not nice to woven seat bottoms. I tried keeping cushions on the rocker, but that didn't keep the cats from getting to the bottom and the back of the chair. It wasn't long before the rocker needed a new seat and back.  There was no point in having it rewoven with rush or cane or straw or whatever it is a professional might use.

At some point it occurred to me to weave it myself using fabric.  I had plenty of scraps and nothing to lose but a bit of time.  I tried it.  It worked and it looked great.

That was more than 10 years ago.  The cats loved to play on it, but they couldn't tear it up.  Still it was in need of a redo.  The fabric was still strong but very faded and the chair needed painting or sealing or something.

I nearly forgot to take a before shot.  In this photo, you can see that I've already begun to cut the fabric off. 

I primed and painted the wood last week.  Yesterday, I began weaving.  First, I tore lots and lots of fabric into 2 inch strips.  Lots of fabric!!!!   From, there, it's sort of like weaving a potholder. It was a big mess.

See tutorial here.

Today, I finished.    My hands are a little sore, especially a few cuticles.  But, the rocker is on the porch and ready for action.

Here it is with a comfy pillow.  The pillow is not quite right. It's a little too big and the fabric is just so-so.  I'll have to watch for something better or make a better one myself.

I interrupt this post to give myself a much needed talk.

Dang!  I think everything in our house is in need of an upgrade.  I need to adjust my attitude and enjoy what I have.  That rocker looks wonderful.  Plus, it's comfortable and the cats like it, but can't destroy it.  It's a brilliant solution.  The pillow is fine - cute, comfortable.  Redoing the rocker was a lot of work, so ENJOY IT!!! ....Ok.  I'm better now. 

I used fabric scraps and leftover paint - what I had on hand.  Pretty much, no extra money was spent to make this rocker happen.

The possibilities for similar redos are endless.  Wouldn't it be great to use only black and white toile?  Or  cranberry toile?  Mmmmm. Or different fabrics all in the same color family - for instance, many green prints. 

I'll be doing this technique some more.  I have more rockers to refinish.  I have some ladder back chairs that I was thinking of redoing as well. 

I have linked up to the following parties:

The DIY Project Parade at The DIY Showoff
Making the World Cuter Monday at Making the World Cuter
Motivate Me Monday at Keeping it Simple 
Something I Whipped Up Monday at The Girl Creative