Progress on the chair seat

Previously, I had stripped it down to the frame and springs.

Going by the careful notes I had taken while stripping off the old upholstery, I tacked on the new old burlap.

For the crocheted "rug" padding that I had made, I decided that the best way to attach it would be to crochet a round of single crochet 1, chain 1 around all four edges, doing slip stitches to get around the corners. That gave me a less-dense edge to tack to the seat frame.

Next came the thin pillow that I planned to put over it, which was a bit smaller than the crocheted layer. I decided to sew it directly to the crocheted layer, using some very strong thread that I have.

With that done, the seat is ready for the outer fabric, which still needs some preparation. It is a heavy canvas-like fabric, with a waterproof backing, which a friend of my mother's gave her along with a big load of other fabrics.

I made a page of little concept sketches for possible stamping designs, to be done with potato stamps, and chose one. After carving my two old, sprouting potatoes, and picking the best one, I mixed my two colors of fabric paint, and did some test stamps on a sheet of paper.

I did not like how it looked, at all. The paint was thinner and drippier than I expected, and the potatoes had become uneven in texture. Also, the paint color was not good--so I added a lot more brown to it, which gave a better color, but with a lot more contrast with the fabric than I was planning on.

Since I had given up on stamping, I went with scribbling on the fabric with a bamboo skewer. When I got done, I still was not very happy with the result, so I rinsed the pieces in the utility sink with hot water, which shifted around and rinsed off much of the fabric paint, depending on how much it had dried, leaving a combination of scribbles and splotches.

I hung the pieces outside to dry. Looking at them now, my first impression is that they are "too yellow", but really the color is only slightly brighter than a tablecloth I already have in the room. Hanging the pieces up made the splotches tend to turn into streaks. From across the room, the pattern looks like an unnatural color of marble.

This chair has wooden arms, and no skirt, so only the seat and back will be upholstered. I think this fabric will be tolerable for that, but I would not want to use it over a larger area.

If I find that I really don't like it, I can always make a slipcover.