Many of us are spending more time indoors these frigid winter months. The afterglow of the festive holidays with lights and decorations has long gone and the little house may appear lifeless and drab. So, look around and decide on one thing that will help put some spark and a suggestion of spring into your rooms.
I have made my first project choice - a shabby upholstered chair with matching hassock. I donned my warmest slacks, coat, hat scarf, gloves, boots and headed off to the fabric shop. Real upholstery fabric of course is out of the question, but a soft cotton ( calico ) will work. Much to my surprise, I found a wealth of choices, solids and prints in the quilting section. Why hadn’t I thought of that? Many of the prints are small enough to be in proportion with the scale we have to work with.
Speaking of scale, if you would want a ‘mod’ look, you could choose a design with a flower of about one inch. Carefully place the fabric so you have one flower centered on the back of a chair and one on the seat. Different! Or maybe in the center of a bed cover.
One idea for getting a perfect fit on your chair is to cut a pattern by laying soft interfacing on each section of your chair - mark it and cut with scissors. Transfer to fabric and glue it onto the original cover. It may take a little trial and error.
If you purchased a print and a solid color to coordinate, you could re-decorate an entire room. Consider - - drapes, bed spread, pillow top, dust ruffle, chair back covers, etc, I was buying window dressing fabric today for my real house. I took with me the stick that was used to stir the paint of my walls. I wouldn’t have come close to the same hue without it!
Ahhh, my finished chair looks so inviting. I think I’ll sit, put my feet up and dream up my next project.