DIY upholstery with Laura Ashley fabric

10/05/2016

Last year we were given a beautiful vintage Ercol chair and matching footstool. Since then it has been at the top of my diy upholstery list. We use the chair on a daily basis, quite simply because it is very comfortable.

Here is the chair in question, posing for it’s ‘before’ photos…I have to warn you, the green velour is not a pretty sight. The awful green ‘nylon velour’ is usually covered with a huge welsh blanket, therefore it is all so easy to forget what is underneath… out of sight out of mind!

So when Laura Ashley got in touch to ask if I had any diy projects, that they could help with. I knew exactly what I needed to do. I chose some of their beautiful Greenwich Steel floral fabric A large modern floral print in a perfect weight for covering our chair; a mix of 49% linen and 51% cotton. The grey and white colourway is so fresh and pretty too!

I set to work on my diy upholstery

My first task was to make a paper pattern from the old covers. I unpicked them, separated them and made some notes about the order they had been originally sewn in. Next I traced around the original covers and and cut out some brown paper pattern pieces. As an alternative you could just pin the original pieces to the new fabric, but then I always worry about getting the new fabric dirty.

It all came together very fast and according to plan…for a change!

Here is the obligatory ‘before and after’…

Then that moment: you know the one? When you set up the shot and its looking mighty fine…then he wanders in and settles down to observe the proceedings…!