Dropcloth Upholstery

I had another big project I wanted to tackle while Wendy was here. (Before I go any further, I just want to let you know that my sister Laurie is also very capable, and a fabulous remodeler and decorator. She, however, was only here 3 days, while Wendy was here for over a week, so there wasn't really enough time to put her to work.)

So, the project was a pair of chairs. They were actually waiting room chairs from one of Craig’s offices, and somehow we ended up with two.

They’ve been knocking around the house for several years, not really going with anything, and I have been planning to make slipcovers for them. I thought Wendy could help me figure it out. As it turned out, she had just reupholstered a very similar chair of her own, and ripped right into these.

As luck would have it, these were much harder to take apart than hers was. These were put together very well. It was taking so long that Firstborn even offered to help. I spray-painted and distressed the arms and legs, but after that I must confess that I didn’t pay a whole lot of attention to the reconstruction process. I know she used the blue fabric as a pattern for cutting the dropcloth, and that she made welting. Then she tucked, and stapled, and glued. Here is the result.

Look at the nice corner, and the finished look the welting gives.

On the back, she used upholstery tacks.

Aren’t they loverly? Left to my own devices, I may have been able to come up with some kind of slipcover, but I’m pretty sure it wouldn’t have turned out this well.

As for using the dropcloth fabric for this project, it’s sturdy, and it’s cheap. A 9x6 cloth was $9.49 at Lowe’s. That’s 3 yards of 72” wide fabric; typical home decorator fabric is 54” wide. That’s just over $3/yd for extra wide fabric. Can’t beat that!

Don’t forget that tomorrow I’m going to start up Thrift Store Thursday again! I’ve got a couple of really cool things to show you that I found on my thrifting trip with my sisters. I hope you’ll link up with your fabulous finds!