Slip-covering the cats' chair

 Umteen thousand years ago, a relative of mine worked at a fancy furniture store and several very nice pieces entered the family.    Over the generations, they have been abused, by children and pets alike, and a rather battered arm chair, with good bones, has come to rest in my apartment.     It still has its original covers, but has spent the last 30ish years with a pink corduroy cover that I've never really liked.

fort cat-beast

Until I took the pictures for this post, I didn't realize just how much time the cats had taken to spending sitting in it.   So.... I guess it is now mentally tagged as theirs (although I reserve the right to nudge them aside and lounge there myself, as it is really very comfortable.)   

scissors for scale

In my continuing adventures in stash-busting, I chose a thick purple denim-ish woven that has been kicking its heels up for years --- and it was just barely enough.   The scraps above are all that I had left after cutting the pieces out.

                                     

slicing and chopping to get it all in the fabric available...

As the original slip cover never quite fit correctly (sorry Mom)  - I decided to start from scratch - and measured every part of the chair, added some ease, and cut out the shapes and just started pinning them in place

She knows it sets her fur off nicely

I've been working my way along the seams, pulling them tight, pinning everything in place, and sewing them down.

Pudgo here likes to pull out pins.  

 To get around flipping and whatnot, as I had the right side out when I pinned everything to the chair, I'm doing french seams on everything.   After marking where I want the final seam to go, I've been marking 5/8" up, sewing that as my inner, trimming, flipping and generally frenchifying the slip cover as I go.

math!

As it stands, I have the main body and each arm put together.   I still need to add the sides and pull it all in, so it looks neat and tight, rather than the floppy mess currently acting as the focal point of my living room days before my housewarming this weekend.   So, no pressure.  Not like basically everyone I know is going to come over and ask me if I made it. Nope.  Not at all.

it looks so much better in person

T-4 days until the ravening hoard arrives and the chair must be finished....

RennFesting Stashbusting Costume of ..Getting There.....

Since moving, I've been forced to go through my stash, and have realized just how much fabric I have - despite some downsizing during the move.    As such, I've put myself on an all-fabric-fast-all-the-time diet (with the exception of halloween and presents for other people) until I work through a good hunk of things. (And have space to physically store more yardage....)

Anyhow - following my own rules, I made this costume entirely out of fabric I already had.   (Notions are new - but realistically, I can hoard them in a much smaller space, so it works out.)

didn't notice how squished the straps got....   hello interfacing.  you and I will become friends.

The corset/bodice/stays/pair-of-bodies/whatever-your-favorite-term is my own pattern and not at all historically accurate.   I just wanted something reasonably comfy that would be fun to wear and look the part.

It is constructed of three layers - brocade, denim and gaberdine, with channels sewn through all three layers and stiffened with poly boning.  As such, everything is quite firm - and as the pattern was traced off my body - pretty darn comfy for something of this sort.    My only complaint is that is is slightly too large and provides insufficient bust support.    I plan to take the front panel in an inch or so on each side, which will let me loosen up the laces all the way around.   (This is really just an aesthetics thing - all though the 7 sets of lacing is to allow me to adjust the fit as needed should my body change shape.)   (I want this one to last.)

The shirt is a big rectangle, with two other rectangle sewn on as sleeves and a neckline cut out.   I ended up sewing the gathers into the neckline 'cause I felt like it.

The skirt is a regular half-circle skirt.   Not really wide enough for the era - but not out of place in this one either.  I used my own half-circle skirt tutorial, cause I'm kind of a bum like that and didn't remember the equations.