We love to hear stories of the cute and innocent things we did as children. I remember my mom telling me, when I was five, my Sunday school teacher Charlotte asked me where I got my beautiful dress. I told her matter-of-factly, my mother made it from one of her old suits that was out of style. Evidently, Charlotte was very impressed with the sophisticated rich colors of the woven tweed and beautiful buttons made into a smart-looking jumper. After church she made a point of complimenting my mother on her resourcefulness. My mother said she was a little embarrassed over the whole thing, especially when her friend kept going on and on about it! She wasn’t upset with me of course, for telling the truth. After all, we were at church!
My mom did have an amazing talent for stretching a small budget. My “what’s old is new again” is almost as clever and I didn’t spend a dime.
After combing through a couple of fabric stores, looking for fabric to recover the cushion on the newly painted wicker chair, I came back empty-handed. Determined to find the right material, I started going through the linen closet and discovered a euro sham I saved from Pottery Barn.
The sham hardly looked used, so I saved it after the last master bedroom update. Now it has a new purpose.
Fitting sham to cushion
I decided to approach this project just like the slip cover I made for the love seat.
The sham was turned inside out and the cushion was inserted. After centering the cushion inside and pinning the opening closed across the center, I proceeded to pin all around the edge.
After stitching around the edge the extra fabric is trimmed away.
Then I carefully removed the cushion and sewed where the pins marked the outline of the cushion.
Next, I carefully cut away the extra fabric.
In order to make the corners look fitted I made a little triangle, pinned it in place, then ran a seam across each corner.
Sandy under the guest bed watching me taking photos.
Cushion finished
The cushion with its coordinating fabric is reversible but I favor the small stripes. Velcro (my trade secret) was used to hold the opening in place and navy buttons finished the project.
Wicker chair after new paint and a slip covered cushion.
The slip covered cushion completes the chair. One step closer to finishing the guest room!
Check out the before picture of the wicker chair in the post Color Refined.
Cheers!