Yes, it's a hobby but... how do you expect to do work without the right tools? A second sewing machine was/is absolutely necessary!!!
Here's the advice I was given before buying the first sewing machine (a Sailrite Professional) by several people, including some of the folks at Sailrite. The Professional (a 4-point zigzag machine) is not an upholstery sewing machine. It was specifically designed and built to sew sails, canvas, and flat tough materials. While it will punch through upholstery fabrics with ease it has some limitations, to which I'll address shortly. But, I feel it's important to understand why this machine was purchased in the first place.
Have you ever watched a herd of human children run rampant through your living room? Playing tag, or follow-the-leader, or perhaps let's-jump-on-all-the-furniture? Yes, that'd be the image I want you to put in the back of your mind as you read this article.
You see, here's a perfectly good ottoman that was once subjected to some punishment - while I can't prove it, I can speculate on how the damage might have originally occurred. Given the household where this piece of furniture came from I'd say there's a high probability the damage stems from some small creature, or one of her friends, who shall remain nameless at this point. Or I suppose it could have resulted from an extremely heavy individual who may have inadvertently plopped themselves down on it without regard to finding the center of the frame, but this option if far less likely.
OK, technically speaking it's been more than a day since this project started but... WOW!!! The chair is beautiful!
At first, I was somewhat concerned the color combination of the chair and piping weren't going to go over but those concerns vanished the moment I sewed piping into the seat cover.
Tami's husband Wyman took on the tasks of woodworking and frame restoration and to his credit, he did a terrific job. I'm sure Tami will be delighted.
This project provided a few new learning opportunities, it turned out great, I'm impressed, and pleased with the outcome, and I hope Wyman and Tami will enjoy the chair for a lot of years to come!
I'm delighted to say this project has been completed! Lots of learning opportunities and it provided good reasons to buy new toys. ;-)
All that's left is to make arrangements with Habitat for Humanity to deliver this beautiful piece of furniture but there are two little problems... you see, I made the mistake of moving if from the basement into the living room near the Christmas tree. The following morning the three females I live with were all giddy, well, I guess I really shouldn't speak for the dog, but the wife and daughter we pretty excited about it and its transformation and the dog seemed to be just as happy.
We've decided to hold onto the chair for a few more days as we have out of town family coming and we could use the extra furniture but after Christmas really need to move this chair along as promised.
First this started as a hobby with the idea that maybe we could make enough money to let us play. So we remodeled a basement, bought some equipment and thought we would spend some time learning how to upholstery and sew and repair the occasional sail. After all, this all started because we tried and did repair our friends sail but pushed Russ's home sewing machine almost to the breaking part. We thought if we bought a sewing machine that could sew sails we could make our own and save a lot of money. Let stop there and clarify that is not really a reality. We, and mainly Russ have spent more money then it would cost to go out and buy a new set of sails for our small boat, but it is not about the money, at least when we have some, it about the adventure. So hold on, it looks like we are about to embark on an adventure that my push the three time categories to the limit. If you read all our stories you will know what I am referring to.
We are having a lot of fun learning new things and meeting new people along the way. So please, keep following us and drop us a line via the "contact us" link, look on the login page. We would love to have the chance to visit.
Wait a minute Russ, you said we need a second machine?
Here's the advice I was given before buying the first sewing machine (a Sailrite Professional) by several people, including some of the folks at Sailrite. The Professional (a 4-point zigzag machine) is not an upholstery sewing machine. It was specifically designed and built to sew sails, canvas, and flat tough materials. While it will punch through upholstery fabrics with ease it has some limitations, to which I'll address shortly. But, I feel it's important to understand why this machine was purchased in the first place.
