Salvedge chair

Welcome to my salvedge chair blog series. Basically I salvaged a chair and used selvedge's to give it a new life and space in our home.

House renovation is expensive and since I love old furniture, I am more than happy to save some pennies buying old and up cycling. Last year I have discovered Facebook marketplace. It’s fair to say it’s been amazing if a little bit dangerous. I will get around to doing my other bits of furniture but with a good wash they are usable so painting can wait. However I spotted a chair for free! The magic word is free. Did we need another chair? Probably not but I couldn’t resist. In fairness I had been looking at chairs when searching for our sofa and had tried to buy a couple of others but was too far or had gone already. It was local and all the woodwork had been prepped and sanded, which was an amazing time saver. The lady had started recovering the chair but had got stuck and abandoned the project. It looked a bit of a mess and was missing the seat entirely but I hoped I could just either finish it or more likely recover it. I have done a few bits of re upholstery before so wasn’t worried. When it come to taking all the staples out and getting it ready, we discovered some random bits of foam tucked in and foam that had been added to the back which was making the shape of the chair very dated. The more we took off the worse it got so we took it back to springs. That was a little bit more scary and required a touch more research, it also meant the project got moved up the to do list. 

I have always fancied putting a quilt in the festival of quilts and had decided this was the year. Then after starting to sew my Ruby Star Society stash this year I wanted a selvedge's project. Me and Abbie were chatting one day and decided a quilt coat made from them would be fun, and different for the entry too. When we went to collect the chair, I joked with the lady about maybe even doing it patchwork and Abbie said no! However after me suggesting the selvedge's would be quirky she liked the idea, it would mean I couldn’t do the coat and enter the competition. It is a quilt creation category though and maybe a chair would count, after a quick email I got my response… Yes, you can enter a chair! That moved it up the to do list, to the best get started list, as the festival of quilts deadline was soon. 

There was some struggles along the way. My health conditions mean I’m not very strong, I wasn’t strong enough to use even the electric stapler we bought. So Abbie was on staple duty, both pulling out and putting in. We actually used a regular hand held stapler for most of it in the end and think the electric one isn’t worth buying if you only plan on doing a couple of small projects. The arm fell off and when it come to getting it back together we couldn’t manage it. My neighbour ended up helping and putting a fresh screw into it to fix it, we used the original screws for everything else though. I had an accident with the seam ripper, which followed with many tears and hours of redoing things to mend that. This added to the stressful deadline that was getting close. However we got there in the end and it looks fabulous (if I am allowed to say so) so well worth all the effort. I have had many lovely comments before and after on Instagram and at the festival of quilts, with many people wanting to do one for themselves. I never expected it so hopefully this blog series inspires and helps if anyone wants to have a go. 

Firstly you need a chair, ideally one that’s free or cheap. You might even have one that’s at home you love but needs a facelift. Go for whatever budget suits you though, if you love a shape or style it may be worth the extra cost. Remember as well as money for supplies and fabric, you will be adding time and energy, you need to like the shape and style ideally before you start. You can pick whatever style you would like, some will just be a bit more of a challenge than others. Some chairs will be in better condition, they might be more money, but won’t need taking back to springs so you can save on supplies. 

Stay tuned for the next blog, with hopefully some helpful tips on putting the chair back together.

Mx