One Room Challenge: Living Room -Week Four

Alright. I'm back for week four of Calling it Home's One Room Challenge. Two more weeks to go and my living room is going to be looking fantabulous. Week four has felt productive, even though my work output hasn't been off the charts. I've sorted a lot out in my mind though, so I'm feeling pretty on top of things.

This week I finished making the backrests for these chairs (I had the seat cushion made because it has a feather covered, foam core which I thought beyond my skill set). I have spent a fair amount of time contemplating the scale and material of these chairs because they have significant importance to me.

They belonged to my grandparents and I remember them so vividly from my childhood. This is me with my grandfather sitting in one of them when I was about four. They are Heywood Wakefield from their Ashcraft line, made in the fifties. I dug up these photos because I was trying to figure out what the original treatment and scale was for the cushions. I'm not even sure if this was the original upholstery because my grandparents would have had them for some time by the time this picture was taken.  

Curiously the back cushion is different on this one, where it is t-shaped. The other chair and the couch (which I also have) have a straight back cushion.

They had these super rad striped vinyl covers, I guess because they were in a sun room that was opened up in the summer. My grandmother had a good eye. Their house, which they built in 1942 and lived in for 60 years, was just perfect in its scale and layout.

Ok, enough with the nostalgia... How'd I do it? First I made a smaller scale box pillow out of plain cotton sheeting. I measured a zillion times to arrive at the proper size.

Then I took the existing backrest pillow and boldly cut it open in the back yard.

My method was to just grab a handful of feathers from one side and stuff it in the other. I worked on the trampoline because I'm a professional. 

I found it easier to keep a pretty big opening in the pillow for stuffing and to just hand sew it shut after. This opening took about ten minutes to close by hand.

I made the two cushions separately -the first one being a sort of prototype, so that in case the scale was wrong, I hadn't wasted too much time or material. The first cushion was perfect but of course it began raining on the day that I set out to make the second one. 

Oh. my. god. Working inside, I made such a mess.

While I was at it, I made some other pillow forms for which I will also be sewing covers. I have so many extra feathers! 

I am still waiting on the fabric I ordered for the cushions. It should arrive by week's end. I have a buttload of sewing to do, but I love to sew so everything should be cool. 

Next week we'll be in the home stretch. I've got some other things up my sleeve for that so be sure to tune in. If you need to catch up, here's week one, two and three.

To see more fabulous One Room Challenge action, click away here and here.