Tuesday, March 9, 2010

Mystery project revealed!

Here it is... what you've all been holding your breath waiting for! (Well, okay... maybe a couple of you have been waiting for it, anyway.) This is my latest sewing project, FINALLY completed!


It has a carrying handle, plus a large pocket in the back for storing books. The cover has zippers in the bottom to remove it for washing... but I hope I never have to take it off, because it was a wrestling match to get it stuffed. ;-)


It's for Courtney, of course. To stay at Grandma's house, though.

Jess was offered a free pattern from an Etsy seller, Abbiesolutely, to try out and possibly blog about. Since I've been Jess's official 'sewer' for her Etsy items, she asked me if I wanted to give it a try. I said "sure".

I'll have to admit that it was a challenge. Not quite a pull-my-hair-out experience, but it did make me have to think a lot. ;-) It was not a project for the novice seamstress. I learned some things, the most surprising of which was how expensive high density foam is!

I'm glad I made it. I'm glad it's finished. ;-) And I'm happy with how it turned out. I believe Courtney likes it, too. She seemed to enjoy giving it a toughness test, so it was kind of hard getting a good pic of her on it, but here are a few.







She seemed to think it made a great launching pad. :-)




I was really glad I spent some extra time reinforcing seams! It is a tough little chair, and I hope it'll last many years.

Update: She discovered the chair was also good for reading. She didn't even know I took this picture. She also thought it was great to be able to store some books in the back pocket of the chair. All in all, it's a winner. :-)

(For anybody wondering, the fabric was designed by my daughter, Jessica Jones.)

22 comments:

KV said...

Good lord, that is an adorable video!

I made my niece and nephew a couple of bean bag chairs using McCall's 9665 pattern (http://sewing.patternreview.com/cgi-bin/patterns/sewingpatterns.pl?patternid=8926). I opted for recycled styrofoam bits instead of polyester stuffing because of the huge price difference, but the chair's kind of mushy and loses its shape easily. Cheap is good, but your chair looks so much sturdier!

cHim-prints said...

I am sooo impressed! The chair is adorable and looks perfectly stitched!
Little Courtney is blessed with one good grandma.

Vanessa said...

Can you make this in adult size? It is beautiful! She is blessed to have a grandma like you!

I'm going to link from my blog. Amazing job!

CitricSugar said...

Grandma G, you're awesome.

And that little muffin! Just want to squeeze her!

3Ms +1N said...

Awesome chair! I would love to make one for my 3 yr old son!
(I came from Jess' blog...had to look at the video test!)
:)

Larissa Holland said...

I'd like to be able to sew something like that when I grow up. :-) your granddaughter is just adorable. Good genes.

Live a Colorful Life said...

Oh, so cute!!! And the chair is really cute too.

paperseed said...

Love it! Lucky Courtney!

Grandma G said...

Thanks, everyone!!

Sorry, Vanessa... the pattern only comes in the one size. You'd have to talk to Abbie to see if she'd make you an adult size pattern.

Larissa... I bet you could make this now. :)

grace said...

Oh, I just love it. Nice job.
.From the grandma with way fewer talents. (:-}

Grandma G said...

Grace, you have other talents that I couldn't begin to match!

jenny said...

wow! It´s lovely! What a nice work! Really!
greetings from sweden

Mary said...

This is fantastic! Congratulations on such a wonderful job!

JHNickodemus said...

That chair is SUCH the best! I'm pretty smug for guessing what it was! It is def. a good thing you reinforced the seams!

Grandma G said...

Thank you!

JHRME, you have a right to be smug! I don't know how you ever figured out what it was from that pic of it just partially completed. (You do deserve a prize. If I think of something, I'll send it to you. ;) ) And yeah, on the seams... especially when she took a big jump and landed on her bottom in the chair. Li'l stinker must play with her boy cousins too often... or is just as tired of being cooped up in the house from our yucky weather as I am. ;)

Jessica Jones said...

Oh, nice update, Mumsy. I'm glad to see the chair can be used properly in addition to recreational sports.

Becky said...

Nice! Great job too. Every thing looks so straight and true.

I hear ya on the foam. But the extra spent on the really good stuff is well worth it in my humble opinion.

Auntie Kris said...

Amazing! Great Job, Grandma G!
Looks like a great reading chair- and just her size.

Grandma G said...

Thank you, thank you!

I agree, Becky... I wouldn't have wanted to put cheaper (wimpier) foam in it.

Laura Argelati said...

faboulus!

Laura from Italy

Heather said...

great chair!!! I've been wanting one for my kids but refuse to pay pottery barns prices.

check out my blog for free tutorials:
http://callmecraftymomma.blogspot.com/

Grandma G said...

Thank you, everyone!

Heather, you really aren't going to be saving much over Pottery Barn's prices. But you might end up with a lot better quality. Lotsa work, though.