love like flowers: Director's Chair Tutorial

Kyle and I got this lovely chair from friends who cleaned out their attic. They had left a bunch of stuff on their carport for people to just come by and pick up. Kyle actually picked this baby up out of their trash pile ha :) It needed a little working on as you can see from the picture below (crack in one of the legs and missing back panel). Kyle thought this chair would be perfect in his office so he picked out the fabric for it on our amazing Hancock trip. He picked this blue Moda Home Dec Fabric pictured above.

So here was our revamp process:

Use Liquid Nails (or a similar adhesive) and glue the broken pieces.

To help it set tight tie a rope around it and let it set for 24 hours.

We hammered in two nails to make the leg even stronger after the glue set.

Of course you may not have to do this step if you are working with a chair that isn't broken.

When picking your fabric choose a strong fabric, home dec weight preferably.

To make your new seat use the seat you already have as a pattern.

Measure length and width (the fabric we were using was already the correct length)

Your seat should be double layered for extra durability and support so cut a piece of fabric that

is twice as long as the length. Also keep in mind how stretchy your fabric is, you may

want to cut it just a little bit shorter to make room for that factor.

Once you cut your fabric sew the ends together so you have a loop of fabric.

(Note: I didn't have to hem the length raw edges because my fabric was already the correct width and came hemmed,

if yours is not though you should hem raw edges before you sew the ends together to form your loop)

These wooden pieces are what goes in the side of our chair to make the seat stay in place.

Put the pieces in the edge of your fabric and mark with pins where you need to sew for the correct fit.

Once you have sewn your seat and placed the wooden pieces in them

put the bottom of your chair together.

Now to the back part of your chair.

Notice the grooves where the back of the seat go. Measure that to see how wide your seat back needs to be. Our seat back was missing but if you have yours you can just measure the width of that like we did with the seat. Also measure length, allow for a double layer and keep in mind stretch of fabric.

Once your fabric is cut, hem the raw edges of the length and sew the two ends together to make a loop. Place on back of chair where it goes. Now mark on the inside of your fabric (because you don't want the markings to be seen on the outside) where you need to stitch to make the places for the back pieces to go through. I ended up making mine about two inches.

Once you sew that and it fits correctly you are almost done.

Either serge or zig zag stitch where all your straight stitches are to make the seat stronger.

Now enjoy your new, comfy seat!

Most importantly, have fun :)

(just had to include this pic, i married the most fun man ha)

Kyle wanted something simple for his office but there are so many directions to go with this project!

I think it would look so cut in a kids room.

Amy Butler
Paradise Garden

Daiwabo House Designer
Elephants in Ivory

For a little girl I would love this print Paradise Garden with the chair spray painted that pink shade at the top (but I also think that would look awesome in my sewing room, I mean our spare room ha). Or for a boy (and girl too!) this grey elephant print would look amazing with a bright yellow chair frame! I mean picture a kid sized director's chair, how cute!! Keeping this in mind for when we have kiddos ha

Or how about this fun Tour Bus print!

That would make a real fun Director's Chair :)