DIY: Party Dress Chair

I have not been making hay while the sun shines. This glorious autumn, I have, in fact, been napping while the sun shines.

Yesterday's cold snap woke me back up. The days of outdoor sanding and spray paint are at an end this year in the Northeast. Time to move indoors and finish what I started....

One August evening, I had a real win-win kind of night. After a great date with my hubby, I dropped off our kids' favorite teen-aged babysitter at her home and returned to my home with several fascinating items from her neighbor's curb.

One was a single straight-back chair. Intriguing lines, but with a hideous yellow-toned glaze and seriously chipped veneer seat panels.

First things first: strip off the seat and apply paint remover to the glaze. GLOVES and GLASSES, Friends, are essential. One drop of paint stripper will burn a hole right through your heaviest pair of jeans in about a minute. It will eat your skin for an afternoon snack.

I envisioned a kitcheny 50s turquoise blue for the frame. Ikea's been doing a lot of this lately, too, so I figured it would be available for regular mortals. Not so, but I was able to buy a tube of tint in the right color and then add it to a base paint. Again, Wallauer's employees rock!




After paint-stripper and thorough sanding. Mixing the color tint into the base paint--super easy. (Note the FrankenGrill in the background, glaring at me with accusing eyes.)

Two coats of paint and a different camera angle, showing even more of the chaos that is my back patio.



On to the seat cover. I was feeling the goofiness of this chair now, so I decided to echo that in a polka dot pattern. Since polka dots were cool a few years ago for clothing, but not for upholstery, I plowed through a few Goodwill stores. Two girl's size 16 party dresses looked right.

To get a sense of what potential buyers might like, I posted this pic with this caption:
 "Two girl's dresses. One must die to make a seat cover. Choose."

Friends got emotional about this imperative, and we had a lively discussion of market tastes and 80s kitsch going for a while. But, really, there was no choice in my mind. The pink had to die to make the chair live.

Last night, I finally got to work.

The materials: 1. Vintage (pronounce it this way: "Old") cotton batting, 2. Staple gun, 3. (not shown) Fabric shears.

 

 

 Our victim: The party dress. Relax, it won't feel a thing...

First off, the built-in white cotton underskirt. It made an excellent base to contain and reshape the seat's old batting.

Treat the fabric like a gift box and get wrapping! Tuck your fingers in...or else.

 

 Ready for layer two.

 

 I checked the dots to make sure that they lined up evenly on both sides of the chair. No tape measures for me, but I think I did OK. Symmetry counts, so if you want to try this, pull the fabric evenly for each staple and switch from side to side of the seat.

 

 A staple here...

 

A fold there....

An unexpected staple to my stomach.... KIDDING! But, please, don't imitate my style. I am just glad that this move didn't go terribly wrong.Probably that stool was the worst work surface ever. Anyway, I trimmed off the excess fabric with the fancy shears, shot in a bunch more staples for fun, and here it is!

What a cutie. Don't you want this in your daughter's room? In yours?? Fine with me!

In the end, I know I made the right choice between the two party dresses. The other dress had dots that were too small.

Now, I wonder if I can convince someone to wear what's left of the dress as a top with a tiny peplum look...

 

 

Copyright 2013, Tanya Monier