Funky Felt Furniture

Chair

Bumstead cardboard chair by Mixed Nuts - #30056
1-1/2 yards each of Kunin Rainbow Shaggy Plush felt in Groovy Green (J4X), Moody Blue (J6X), Purple Passion (J7X) and Marmalade Sky (J2X)
Crafter's Pick Ultimate tacky glue
paper scraper of some kind
scissors

Steps:

1. Marking the chair: Assemble chair and with a pencil, mark all of the areas where the boards meet, creating pattern sections and gluing guidelines for the fabric. Note that the inner seat support inside areas of seat supports will not have to be fully covered with fabric. The back of the seat can be covered as you would like. Pick three colors you would like for the seat and back area. The fourth color will be an accent to the sides and front of the base pieces and will cover the two outer seat supports.

2. Cutting the swoosh: Place fabric over seat. Use the upper corner of the fabric and mark as close as you can to the edge of the fabric, minimizing waste. With your finger, mark a swoosh in the fabric. On the seat, the "swoosh" should go diagonally from the center back edge over the front edge. To change swoosh, brush fabric flat and start again. Take another color of fabric and place it over the corner of the seat where it will be glued on, lining it up with the back edge of the seat and allowing roll over onto side edge of chair. (For easier cutting, trim down the size of this piece, giving a one-inch additional cutting allowance.) Place your original swoosh on top of the second color. Both pieces should be placed exactly where they will be glued (figure A). Cut along the edge of the "swoosh" line, cutting out the second color. You will do the same thing for the other side of the "swoosh" line. Glue down pieces (refer to step 6).

3. Do the same for the back of the chair. Start with the "swoosh", lining up with the seat pattern for a flow in your design. Match your colors, cut and glue down (refer to step 6). Tip: Slide seat and seat back together. Mark on the back of the chair where the swoosh starts. Lay down fabric and finger mark swoosh. Minimize waste!

4. For all the other pieces, remove the piece from the assembled chair. Lay fabric down on piece, minding fabric nap (direction). Using your pencil lines as a guide, cut out sections while holding down in place. Once a basic pattern shape is cut, use it to cut out all other pieces. You can cut pieces down to manageable sizes, using a one-inch overlap as a safety zone. Remember to leave enough room to cover edge. Use this a guide for cutting out all the other colors.

5. Glue down the one edge of the section along the pencil line (figure B), then glue down the section close to the other pencil line, and cut. The glue prevents the section from moving.

6. Cut these piecs: two full arm support outer edges; four partial arm supports (four inches shorter than full); five front corner covers; two seat support rectangles (figure C); back of seat and seat support cut as needed.

7. Gluing down the pieces: Cut a large opening on the top of the glue bottle. Squeeze ample glue all around the area to be glued. Use a scraper to evenly spread a thin layer of glue (figure D). Cover the entire section, or glue may get on subsequent pieces. Along edges, glue and hold in place until glue sets. Trim excess off edges after glue is set or dry.

Tips:

• Keep direction of fabric lined up.
• If you miscut, don't cut away the piece as it can be glued down without a problem. If you slightly miscut, Shaggy Plush will stretch slightly, so hold in place until glue sets.

Valance

Try this idea for making window valances to match your chair. Follow the instructions below to make two valances.

Materials:

12 Boardering the Norm frames from Mixed Nuts #30010 - You may need more or less frames depending on window size. The frames are nine inches square.)
1/3 yd of Kunin Rainbow Shaggy Plush Felt in Groovy Green (J4X), Moody Blue (J6X), Purple Passion (J7X) and 1/6 yd. of Marmalade Sky (J2X)
Crafter's Choice Ultimate tacky glue
12, 1-1/4" wood dowels
scraper made of thick paperboard or plastic
scissors
blade

Steps:

1.Prep: Cut one of the cardboard frames in half, including the small inner square. To make patterns, lay down actual pieces of cardboard on material (figure E) and cut around piece, leaving a one-inch allowance. Cut out master patterns for full frame, center square and half frame and center half square. Cut out the following pieces for each window: blue: one full frame; magenta and green: two full squares and 1/2 square. All small squares (halves included) are covered in the orange here but you can alter color patterns if desired.

2. Joints: Make two holes in edges of both sides of three frames. The hole should be the width of the dowels and half the depth. Tip: Lay frames on edges to make holes. Use a pen or sharpened wood dowel to help keep the alignment. On the other two frames (end frames), make holes on one side. On the opposite side and back of the end frames, you will make two holes to insert pegs from the edge of half frames. This makes the corner of the window (figure F). To line up these holes, insert two pegs into edges of half frames, one on each side of the half window (figure G). Remove pegs and rub with paint. Align half frame with edge of end frames. Press to make markings. Make holes.

3.Fabric application: Apply glue onto frames in an even layer with a scraper. Press down fabric centered over frame. Refer to figure F line art for color scheme. On three center frames, trim fabric off of sides. Glue fabric over top and bottom of frames and trim (figure H).

4. Cut out center square of frames. On end frames, glue down top, bottom and outer edge of fabric on exposed end and trim. Tip: To clean finish the corners on the end frames, lined up with the outer edge of the end frames, cut down to the corner. From the side of the end frame edge, cut 1/4 inch above the top edge. Glue down the side edge, and gluing the 1/4 inch trim onto top of frame. Glue down top of fabric. Fluff edges (figure I-2). For center squares: Spread glue evenly and press fabric down, centered over square. Cut square out of corners (figure I-3 ). Trim overlap to desired depth of dimension, and glue down sides. Fluff out the center square holes from the large frames. From the front, re-insert the center squares. Fluff to hide seams

5. Final assembly: Insert dowels into left side (felt side up) of the center three frames. Glue dowels in place with hot glue. Run a line of glue down side of corresponding edges with out dowels. Press together, inserting dowels into holes. Do the same for the half frames, gluing to the back of the end frames (figure J). Attach onto wall with L-shaped brackets.

Tip: Attach bracket onto wall first, then the frame. Add glue onto frame to secure hinge.

Options: If you wish to use a rod, glue half frames on with half window to the rear. Curtain rod is supported through the half square. Rod can be inserted into half square for more support.