Kitchen Stool Slipcover Tutorial

The kitchen stool slipcover tutorial from my August 17 post was requested so here goes:

This is the stool that I wanted to slipcover.  I used some left over drop cloth fabric that I already had. 

This crude sketch was what I hoped to accomplish. 

First I made a pattern of the top of the stool.  I added about a ¼ inch all the way around for a hem.  In hindsight, that was not enough because the thickness of the fabric makes the top of the slipcover fit too tightly on the stool.  I should have added ½ inch all the way around.

I cut a circle out of the fabric for the top of the slipcover.

Since I wanted the sides to be about 3 inches long, I cut a 4 inch wide strip to allow for seams.  To determine how long I needed to make the strip, I used geometry.  The circumference of a circle is p d (pi times the diameter).  To make it easier, just measure the finished diameter of the stool, which is the distance across the top of the stool, and multiply it by 3.14.  I used that distance and added about an inch for seams.

I sewed that strip around the edge of the circle and this is what it looked like.

For the ruffle, I wanted about an inch to show but because I was doubling it, it had to be 2 inches plus the seam allowance.  I cut a strip about 3 inches wide.  I folded the strip in half the long way and did a pleated ruffle as I pinned it to the edge.

After I sewed the ruffle to the bottom, I ran a top stitch along the seam to keep the seam from unraveling.

Here is the finished product. 

This was my first foray into slipcovering but it was an easy project.  I hope someday to slipcover one of my sofas but will probably do a chair first.  I have to thank all the wonderful gals in blogland for sharing their slipcover projects and their tutorials. 

Cindy

Brass Lamp Redo

Well, I decided that I really needed to try spray paint on my old brass lamp.  I got married in the mid-80s when brass was really hot and originally had lots of it.  I’ve gotten rid of most of the brass stuff I’d collected through the years but I still had an old brass table lamp.  I saw this picture in a magazine and figured my old brass lamp would be perfect for this transformation:

Of course, I forgot to take a ‘before’ photo but just imagine this primed lamp in brass. 

It was pretty dusty from being stored in the garage since our move in July so first I used TSP to clean it.  The brass actually looked really pretty after being cleaned but TSP took the lacquer finish off so it would have been needing constant polishing.  (I like to sound like I know what I’m talking about, but really, my husband is the expert on finishes of all sorts so he was the one to tell me this.) 

I didn’t use any sand paper but I did use a metal primer, Rustoleum Primer Sealer, for use on metal and all sorts of other finishes.  I gave it one really good coat of primer.  The cap on the primer was black so naturally I thought it would be black . . . but it wasn’t.

After sufficient time for the primer to dry, I coated the lamp with, I think, three coats of Krylon Cherry Red gloss.  I made sure to spray into all the nooks and crannies of the lamp.  I even got up real close to it make sure I didn’t miss anything.  I also sprayed the finial that goes on top of the shade. 

I let it dry overnight then used Minwax dark walnut stain.  As I said before, my husband is the expert on finishes and has lots of different stain colors on hand.  I picked the darkest, non-red wood stain.  I applied it heavily it to the lamp and let it sit for about a minute, more or less.  Then I wiped off the excess while still allowing it to stay heavily in the crevices and lightly on the rest of the piece. 

My husband told me it’ll take about a month for the oil-based stain to dry and cure thoroughly.  In the meantime, I’ll make sure it’s out of the way of traffic.

I’m very pleased that it turned out just as I hoped it would!  And it’s a real close match to the original in the magazine picture, don’t you think?

Thanks for stopping by.

Cindy

I'm linking up to:

Domestically Speaking's Power of Paint Party
Blue Cricket Design's Show and Tell
The Shabby Chic Cottage's Transformation Thursdays
The Shabby Nest's Frugal Friday.

My latest creative endeavor . . .

Just yesterday I decided that it was time to dress up the little stool that I keep in my kitchen.  I had some drop cloth fabric left over from a previous project and it was just enough to make a tailored slip cover for the little stool.  I wanted to add something feminine so I added a pleated ruffle.

What do you think?

I took pictures of the process of making it if anyone is interested.  Please leave me a comment if you want the tutorial.

Thanks for stopping by!