Sofa Cheat

Some of you might remember when I reupholstered my sofa- over a year ago! What I didn't tell anyone until now is that I totally cheated there, at the end. I made the cushion covers, but didn't put the zippers in them. I just safety pinned them shut and put them on the sofa that way. So here I am, coming clean, and finally putting my zippers on. It's still not entirely done. I want to put extra fabric around the bottom back of the sofa, with cording through it for a little extra designer touch. But since the sofa is against the wall, I will probably not do it any time soon. Maybe next year!

Have a Seat

Two views of my chair- all done! It's already been adorned with pepperoni slices and has had juice spilled on it. Welcome to the family, new chair!

Adventures in Upholstery. Friday.

This is the piece of fabric taken off of the arm. This piece has three separate channels with cords sewn in. I picked it apart and gave it a good look. Hope I don't mess it up. I may not have mentioned- I am going to do all the sewing by hand because my sewing machine is broken right now. I think doing it by hand will help me to take my time, too. I have trouble being accurate with a machine.



Lastly, I took the seat cushion apart. The cushion insert had deteriorated into a lot of orange dust. We were sneezing a lot that day.



Then I bought the rest of the stuff I needed. Upholstery tacks, tack hammer, upholstery needles, cotton cord, a zipper, upholstery thread, and the foam for the cushion. That all came to $112.00. I knew the foam cushion was going to be expensive. Half of that bill is the foam cushion. I was hoping they would be free that day, like the staff at Jo Ann Fabrics would just say "oh, no! We have much too much, why don't you just take some?" That is not what they said, though.



Then I had to cut some of it away! That's about $20.00 worth of cushion I had to pare away. But I guess it doesn't do any good if the cushion is not the right size for the chair. I just used a serrated kitchen knife. So it's not perfectly shaped, but I don't think it will matter because it is bigger than it needs to be, and the cushion cover will keep it in shape. I hope.



Then I spread all my old pieces out on the kitchen floor, to get an idea of how much yardage I would have to use.

Reupholstering and Monessen

Now the back is off. I pried off these little cap pieces on the front of the arms. They are flummoxing little bits. There is cardboard, padding, fabric, and welting, and now that I've taken it apart, I think it's going to be a difficult to reassemble. They are the only pieces with long nails, they come out the back, but don't show in the front. The back is stapled liberally, which also doesn't show in the front. There is a lot of invisible construction in these little pieces.



Husband stepped in at the end when I got really tired of pulling staples, especially these oddly angled ones under the chair arms. My womanly little arms just gave out on me.... ok, not really, I raced him, ripping the staples out of the other arm. I won.... not that it matters.

My grandmother bought this furniture in Monessen- a town in southwestern Pennsylvania named for Essen, Germany and the Monongahela River. The dictionary says you pronounce it MonongaHEELA, but everyone I ever knew says MonongaHAYLA. At its largest, about 1940, Monessen had over 20,0000 residents and now it is down to about 8,000. The largest employer was U.S. Steel, and it was customary at that time for the employees to have different pay rates based on their ethnicity. A practice I had hoped this country had come to realize was grossly unfair, but at any farm in America you can still find this practice is quite common.

It was also common for ethnic groups to cluster around each other and speak their own languages and carry on their own customs. One custom that they all seemed to share was going for picnics. At the time of prohibition picnics in the country were great for drinking and gambling. Different ethnic groups went to different farms, but did the same thing- they called it "going to Canada". My grandfather was a bootlegger, and I didn't find out until after my grandmother's death in 2005 because she never allowed anyone to talk about it.

Thanks to winning Jenny Matlock's AlphabeThursday drawing, I am going to buy a book about Monessen's history that I've had my eye on. Thank You, Jenny! (around our house I call her "Arizona Jenny". Arizona Jenny said this and Arizona Jenny sent me that and do you know what Arizona Jenny did today??) I bet you don't know what she's doing right now! Why don't you go to her blog and find out?
Monessen Today
Monessen Then

Checks Furniture- Reupholstering

I got super excited about this! When I took off the seat and some of the front upholstery, I could see that the springs were Flex-O-lator springs made in New Castle, Pa! Right where I live now! They are not there anymore, of course, but I just thought it was weird. My grandmother bought this in 1955-57 in Monessen at a high end furniture store called Checks. It's not there anymore, either. They spent 50 years in Belle Vernon. Then she gave them to me. I brought those springs back home to New Castle! I know it's not a very big circuit, but we are not a people much disposed to traveling. I just thought it was neat. Next time I'll tell you some stuff I found out about Monessen.

Sorry about the lack of updates on my art projects, but I'm not doing any of them! I am entirely single-mindedly devoted to this project. I would like to not eat or sleep and just keep doing it until it is done. But I won't, because I'm no longer inflexible like that. Like the time I sent my husband out for Christmas lights after Thanksgiving dinner.... that's not me any more. I make dinner and bathe my kids and play with them outside, and I'm not entirely obsessed with one thing... much.

The Continuing Saga of Reupholstery

Removing removing removing. I'm starting to feel sad. Like I'm disemboweling the poor thing.


I went to a Cancer research fundraiser garage sale at our Lawrence County Fairgrounds and got this great little mid-century table with magazine holder underneath. There seemed to be something oily and sticky on one of the wheels. It seemed like a bit of black garbage bag that someone had tried to get loose with oil all stuck around one wheel. I was able to pry it out and get it clean with some ammonia + dish soap + water mix that I always keep in a spritzer. It is great for getting spots out of the carpet, or if I have an extra greasy pan I'll give it a spritz. I had intended to re-sell this because mid-century style is hot, but I just love it too much. And it is perfect for my crafty bits. The formica top means I don't need a coaster, I can put my coffee cup right on there!

Reupholstering is Sometimes Ouchy

I've taken a few pieces of the old fabric off. I didn't find stacks of money or stock certificates concealed inside the chair, but I did find a bingo marker and a length of yarn the perfect size for a hook rug. My grandmother liked to go to the bingo and my grandfather liked to do hook rugs. So it was kind of nice, I sort of felt like these little tokens meant that they were with me, and, you know, watching over me so I wouldn't get tetanus.


I was really curious about how the buttons were attached to the front. I took one off. It seemed painless enough. The prongs just poke through the front, then the stuffing. Then you slip on the cardstock and spread the prongs apart. I can probably manage that.

I have been using a small screwdriver, pliers, and a dental implement to remove the various tacks and staples. There are A LOT of staples. The middle of my right palm is starting to get very sore from digging with the screwdriver. Hence, the potholder. I fold it up and use it to pad my palm. No pain, no gain.. of nice furniture.

My Good Babushka, Dave and I, and even our helpers Matthew and Justin, will be appearing at New Castle's First Riverwalk Arts Festival. Come down and say "hi" if you are in the western Pennsylvania area.
New Castle Riverwalk Arts Festival info here!

Reupholstering. Day One

The first piece I took off was the back of the chair. Everything I've read about reupholstering says that it is a good place to start. Once the back is off, you can get a much better idea of how the rest of the chair is put together. I am carefully labeling my pieces, and also writing down, in order, what I am doing so when the time comes to build it back up, I can follow my list back up to the top, and hopefully, have a nice chair.


Here is something funny. I took my husband's pliers in my enthusiasm and didn't tell him. He uses them everyday for his chainmaille jewelry making. He was looking all over for them while I was taking a bath. Then he took a break and just by coincidence, took a picture of the sky from our backyard. As he checked on our camera to see how the picture came out, he found this picture of his pliers in my tupperware container that I am using to put all the tacks and staples in. He gave me an earful after my bath! Jeez! I'm just trying to make HIM a nice place to sit! He should just chill.



This is how a chair looks, tipped over with the back off.


These are two dangerous looking metal strips with tacks in them, that I hope I can re-use.


Then I put the chair back, enough for one day. Justin came running into the room to see something on TV and he got in my shot.

The New Upholstery is Here! The New Upholstery is Here!

The first fabric is velvety with small checks of very subtle light and dark variations of red. The cording is very pretty, but hard to photograph. It has red and gold and also pale blue. I plan to use these on the chair. The other fabric is very textural, with a raised chenille-like red floral pattern on a ground of very fine gold and blue threaded base. I got all this for $180!!! The reds don't match exactly, but I did the best I could with the online pictures provided. I think with gold curtains and maybe a nice blue wool afghan on the back of the chair, it won't be a very obtrusive difference.

I know that is not the total expenditure because I still need upholstery tacks, batting, staples, and foam cushions, and probably some cording because I'm going to make my own piping for the sofa out of the sofa fabric. But the sofa is for later on. First thing's first. As soon as I got the fabric, I started to take the chair apart right in the middle of the living room!

Old Furniture

Here is my very spare living room after a good spring cleaning. I got the sofa and matching chair from my grandmother. I adore both of them, but they are in terrible shape. I keep sewing them up. The chair I gave up on and just threw a blanket over it. I recently got it in my mind that I would reupholster these myself. I have read a lot of blogs that promise it's not too hard. There are a lot of reasons I want to save/rehabilitate this furniture. It came from my grandma, my original Good Babushka. It has retro class and style, which I love more and more all the time. And this is a lo-o-o-o-o-ng sofa It would cost too much to buy a new one like it.

Now my objections to new sofas: They are too fat and overstuffed. They don't have any detailing like the trim and buttons like this one has. You have a choice between dirt brown and dirt gray and dirt green. No color, no class, no way.

I have taken the plunge (and I'm taking you all with me). I ordered some upholstery fabric online. Enough for both projects according to their yardage calculator (hope I did it right!) The fabric and trim came to $180.00!!! You can't get brand spanking new fancy furniture for that, can you? Let's see if it's as easy as they say...