Transforming an old footstool - makeover

I found this little conservatory seat at the local amenity site. It wasn’t amazing but I could see the potential and thought it work brilliantly as a footstool for my newly reupholstered chair.

I followed the same pattern as with the chair, first I cleaned the cane frame and steam cleaned the cushion to make sure it is nice and clean.

I sanded the cane frame a little to get rid of the varnish that was flaking away.

I had never painted cane before so I wasn’t sure what would be easier – paint or perhaps spray paint it.. I decided to try spray paint primer to do this as I got a bit nervous that I will have a lot of work in store to get into every single corner with a paintbrush! I only had one can of spray paint primer as I didn’t realise how much spray paint I would actually need so after using the whole can I was left with a little bit of untreated cane so I opted for my usual primer to finish off the job.

I used Craig & Rose paint, the same shade I used for my chair.

I put on two coats so that the finish would be nice and neat. Getting in every single corner was a bit of a challenge, but even after the first coat of paint I could see that this will be turning into something gorgeous very soon!

It was then time to get rid of the old cushion cover and create a new one using the same Toile du Jouy fabric I used on the chair.. Sewing again…

I undid the seems on the cover and immediately cut out the fabric and pinned it together. I used the old fabric as a template again and put it together as the old cover.

This was also the first time I ever put a zip on to something. Again a little bit daunting at first but after research and some online tutorials it turned out not to be as hard as I first thought. Before sewing everything together pin it and double-check it!

So I cut out the fabric using the old pattern, pinned it together and stitched using the sewing machine. Putting the zip in wasn’t as scary as I first thought.

So first of all you will need a zipper foot for this (I used it on my chair reupholstery project already). As I didn’t want to go blindsighted into this, I looked online for some expert help! I found this online tutorial on Make it and Love it and think it brilliant as it explains in great detail how to put a zipper on with pictures (which I find really helpful).

Then piece all the fabric together following the old pattern.

When you have finished sewing, just put the old seat cushion in. At first I was a little scared it will not fit as it was quite tight, but for this project you really need the cover to be nice and tight as it needs to ‘hug’ the cushion rather than be loose.

Also make sure when you cut the fabric you keep an eye on the pattern and how it runs.. Accidentally I stitched one piece of fabric in the wrong direction, I was way too tired to do it all over, so I decided no-one would notice (it was only the small side panel), so I kind of just left it! 🙂 I will know for next time though!