Weekend projects

 I have these 2 older mismatched stools that I have in my kitchen. They are very comforable stools, but I had things draped over them to cover the ugliness. I decided to make covers for them. I have done this before, though am no expert.

 These chairs don't look so bad in the pix, but are stained and dinghy looking.

 I started by making a pattern, tracing the shape of the chair onto newspaper. You then have to cut it out and lay it on the chair to make sure it is the right size.

 Then I cut the seat out with about an inch extra added for seam allowance and fudging if it doesn't really fit.

 I added a 6" band around the outside edge of the seat, and turned it up with a one inch hem. I put a drawstring through this hem so that I can draw it up to fit when it is finished. You could also use elastic. The color shows up the truest in the above picture. The fabric is a dark red.

 The seat on the blue chair fit perfectly. The orange chair seat was a little large, so I adjusted a bit and it worked out ok.

For the back I cut two back pieces, and added a gusset for depth. You have to add a couple of inches and  square off the bottom end so that you can hem it and put a drawstring through.

 Doesn't look too bad from here....

 but I had trouble with both backs fitting well. This back bar is part of the problem. I have it tucked up right now and pinned. I think I will go back and hand sew it shut across the bottom of the back. It would look pretty much the same as this, but not so obvious across the bar.

This chair has a funny curved back, so  it was hard to get it to fit right. I added a layer of foam, but then the cover was too short.

I had some leftover pieces so made little "towels" to hang over the backs. Not sure if I like it, but they hide the backs.

These chairs might have a little bit of a redo yet, as I play around with those backs. But they definitely look better than they did before!