The side story

First and foremost, I’m on the hunt for a new sewing machine (I’ll tell you why in a minute). Preferably something slightly more industrial than my Target-purchased Singer, yet affordable. I’m hoping Craigslist can pull through on this one. If you find one, let me know!

Second, onto those chairs.

I focused on the side panels this weekend – only to be slightly delayed by my malfunctioning sewing machine. It’s a fine little machine for quick projects but it’s now about 5 years old and I just don’t think it can keep up with me anymore. It was my first machine and I feel slightly sentimental about it, but it just isn’t cutting it (or sewing it!) anymore.

It certainly doesn’t appreciate when I attempt to sew several layers of thick upholstery fabric together (as was attempted Sunday morning when I needed to sew my piping to the side panels) and the tension issues this machine has have been giving me a major headache. It eventually did its job though (although not well), and that debacle prompted me to start saving my pennies to purchase a beautiful new upholstery-comfortable machine. The hunt is on.

Anyway – the side panels of the chair have a strip of piping at the top so I needed to get my piping and panels measured, line up my patterns, and oh-so-carefully pin everything together.

After that was sewn together (which of course took so much longer than it should of because I had to struggle with my machine) it was time to start attaching to the chair.

I used cardboard tack strip to ensure perfectly straight and neat lines . . . . .

See how crooked those staples are? Without that tack strip, that's how crooked the fabric would be

And voila! A perfectly attached front panel (I had to put some padding in there first to cover the tack strips, fabric edges, etc).

Next up: attaching those other panels.