Chair-y

 Several years ago, I thrifted this chair

Yeah.

 

I re-covered it with the same cotton I would later use to cover boxes for doll storage

And I loved the look!  But.  The thrifted cotton of unknown age...was really not a good choice for upholstery.  After a very long time of ignoring the thread worn and ripped areas, yesterday I finally got the stapler--and other necessary tools--and decided to do the new fabric

The seat cushion is twice as thick as it was before, which, yes, looks odd, but feels better. Adding the extra layer--the original cushion + foam--meat I didn't want to just slap the new bit on top and encase it all in the new fabric, so that's why I took the time to remove the old fabric.  Well...most of it.  There's still a lot stapled to the bottom, hidden inside the newly-stapled fabric.

I waffled a lot over what new fabric to use.  I knew it absolutely should be proper upholstery weight, and I still have a stash of that from when Mom and I would go t the "office furniture factories mill ends and scrap fabric by the pound (and hot sauce)" place in southern Indiana years ago.

But.

I was also in A Mood, having had period crankiness end only to be followed by me accidentally jabbing myself in the eye with my thumb while trimming my hair, and the medicine I'd  taken to get through that had given me horrible and annoying medicine head.  I was physically drained and fuzzy headed and DETERMINED to get SOMETHING accomplished, but didn't trust myself to do clothing sewing and somehow thought this project would...be...better.

It was not.

I had a big case of "I don't want to use any of this fabric" which I pushed through and chose this acorn jacquard and then it turned into "WHY did I change the original cover AT ALL yeah the color wasn't great but the fabric was DURABLE and I have only MADE it WORSE" but I persevered (and looking at the original photo again...yeah.)

 I did pick off all of the upper back fabric, because I needed the bit of cardboard to wrap around to make the cover for where all the fabric comes together on the back.  There's probably a clean way to do it without so many staples, but I was in no mood to, y'know...put any more effort than needed into this.

Husband did hold the seat in place while I screwed it back together, even though he had started with jokes about how much he doesn't trust this chair (among other things, it is old enough to have only four spokes on the base, instead of the five harder-to-tip spokes of modern office chairs, so the mistrust isn't entirely unmerited.)

I'm not ecstatic about the result, but it's better than the torn and worn fabric that was on it before...although that fabric matched the rest of the room better...but this is a very nice fabric, so.  Uh.  Yeah.  It's done.

Edit, January 13, 2023: After increasing hip discomfort, I took the seat layers apart again, removed the extra thick padding, and stretched the acorn fabric really tight over the original seat cushion, to compress it even more.  I also realized that using the random pillow I had made behind me in this chair had been forcing me to sit really close to the front edge of the seat, which I suspected was doing my hip no favors.  And while my hip is not, of course, restored to its youthful insouciance, it did improve remarkably after making those changes.  The chair honestly looks better, too.