Monday, March 7, 2022

Copper Arm Rests

 Project Dates: 1/26/2022 - 3/6/2022


1/26/2022

Morning tradition is coffee, now tea for me, and knitting or some other fiber project also only for me, and conversation with my spouse.  Our spot is a couple of orange faux leather recliner chairs that we purchased some years ago.  We noticed recently that the arms are beginning to wear.  The solution, a fiber project, or in this case, a quilted sewing project!



3/6/2022


Seems like it took much longer than it did.  This project was a bit laborious.  But, we are done!  Born from a functional need and a desire to make things last, the arm rests look nice.  Despite using metallic copper thread, the quilting is understated. The photo color makes the arm rests fabric differ slightly from the chairs, but in reality, they are a near match.

The design morphed throughout the project.  The original plan had a lot more quilting.  Once the foundation pieces were put together, sewing based to hold the backing and padding in place, I tested a stippling quilt pattern one of the arm end pieces.  It seemed like that would be overkill, plus the lines of the chair seemed to want something more subdued and linear.  So, I added a couple of lines across the middle in both directions of the main arm piece to stabilize the quilted pad.  That coupled with a little stippling on the ends makes a nice compliment to the modern lines of the chair.  


Quilting sixteen end pieces and eight thirty-inch long arm pieces took quite some time.  Though it was meditative, it was also a bit boring.  I did that in little spurts interspersed throughout my day to break it up and mixed in some mending to boot.


I was going to use a typical quilted binding edge across the entire bottom. But, funny story.  After the quilting was done, and I pieced the ends together, I looked for the remaining fabric to use.  I searched the house and basement one end to the other.  I could not find what I did with the remnants!  A couple of frustrating days later, my spouse inquired “ what the heck are you looking for?”  Upon mentioning I misplaced the remnants, he reminded me that I used up the remaining bolt, and there was no remnant.  OMG, gotta love the amount of time I’ve spent on this planet!

 

So, online I hunted.  My tendency is to over-engineer.  A wee voice said, why not just turn the hem?  It was a suing fit, and adding the bulk of the extra quilted binding might make them too tight.  Low and behold, that was perfect.  Edged stitched, turned and quilt stitched, and they fit perfectly with a little snugness.  Thank you for simplicity!

 

Voila, my little project born of necessity made a great distraction and respite before moving onto more involved and serious projects!




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