Indigo Station

My mystery indigo project is finished and I am quite proud of it! 

This is what I began with…

The sofa seat in its grey avatar…

Under this badly fitting, really loose, grey cover was this…

…The grey cover was removed to reveal this rusty orange inside.

This sofa seat has seen several avatars before this and has an ignominious past, but that story will have to wait! What is relevant here is that I thought it needed a fresh new look! Encouraged by my successful transformation of a couple of folding wooden chairs a couple of weeks ago, I embarked on a much more challenging project now. 

Quilted fabric to give a new look to old canvas backed chairs!

The Irish chain block has been on my bucket list for ever and that is what I decided to use for this. The only problem was I had no idea how one went around making new upholstery for a sofa seat and the net wasn’t particularly helpful. I would have to make and use my own pattern. As it was going to be a loose cover, one would not need to be very accurate. 

Making quilted fabric and then cutting and sewing it to fit the seat was not an option, because then it would be impossible to ‘match’ the blocks. Each ‘panel’  in my ‘quilt as you go’ project would have to be designed to fit in with every other, blocks and corners matching. I would need the two sides, the seat plus overhang, the back rest, the rear besides the two strips for the front of the arms:

These are the basic measurements…

The good news was that most measurements were such that a 7.5″ square would be a great unit to work with. The piecing was quick and the panels came up in no time. 

The piecing of the four panels in progress…

For the rear of the seat, I decided not to do any piecing, I would use a yardage of the printed fabric. For the quilting, I followed the print of the backing fabric and yet it took much longer than I had anticipated. However, it has a wonderful texture, so all the time was well worth it! 

The heavy quilting was tedious but adds great texture!

Finally the panels were done and stitched together. And then I got stuck! 

What do I do with all that fabric and the loose ends?

How on earth did one deal with that? There was so much fabric and I had no idea how to stitch it in place. So I fitted the cover inside out over the seat. I took a needle and thread and just gathered all the extra fabric into one big dart/ seam. It worked! My quilted sofa seat cover was ready, except for one thing. It seemed to be hanging loose all around at the bottom. 

The solution was inspired by what had been done in the old, grey sofa cover. I sewed a doubled up strip at the bottom edge and pulled a string through it. ( The string also came from that old cover!) 

The string at the bottom edge.

This ‘stringed’ portion goes under the seat. 

So here we are, all done!!

The back…

The right side…

The left side…

And the seat finally in its corner, all dressed up in its new clothes! 

A friend had suggested the name ‘Indigo Express’ for this project, but I think ‘Indigo Station’ describes it better! What do you say?