Stenciled Grain Sack Chair Seat

Hey there, MRL fans, it’s Angie from Knick of Time here to share how easy it is to transform a  chair –  even one in bad condition, with fabric and a stencil. Your chair will be one of a kind, and there’s tons of ways to customize it.

Here’s how my chair started out. Bad, right? I won it at an auction several years ago. It’s been in my barn loft and I forgot all about it, but the bats and birds have enjoyed it. 🙂  The front corner of the chair needed repair and the seat cushion was totally trashed.

 

I had to laugh though, because the white strip on top is a faded old bandage someone stuck on it! Well, the bandage stayed put while the rest of the seat fell totally apart.

Here’s how I transformed it, and it only took about a hour.

How to Make a Stenciled  Seat Cushion

The seat was beyond repair, so I used it as a pattern to cut a new seat out of scrap plywood.

I wanted to get the same look as the stenciled grain sack chair I did a few years ago (seen here), so I wrapped the fabric around the seat, just to see how to space the lines on the fabric with the seat edge.

I bought the fabric from Decor Steals, but drop cloth fabric would work great too.

These number stencils are part of my stencil line. The font came from an 1800’s sewing pattern (seen here).

I used painter’s tape to hold it in position while I painted over the stencil.

I masked off the No. 1 and No. 2, because I just wanted the No. 3 on my cushion.

Stenciling on fabric is easier than other surfaces, because the texture of the fabric helps prevent the paint from bleeding underneath, but no matter what you are stenciling on, always have VERY little paint on your brush. I wipe most of it off on a paper towel before I start pouncing the brush on the stencil.

 

I used fabric paint, which has to be heat set with an iron.

 

You don’t iron on the paint, you hover the iron just above it. Follow the manufacturer’s instructions on the bottle.

 

I used the new wood seat as a pattern  to cut a piece of 1″ foam for the cushion, then positioned the fabric over the cushion and wood seat, flipped it over and started stapling it into the wood.

 

Trim the fabric on the bottom, so there isn’t a lot of bulk left.

 

And here it is finished, and ready to put on the chair.

 

My husband repaired the broken corner on the chair, and I cleaned it up and gave it a fresh coat of wood stain.

It is beautiful wood, once I got all the bat and bird droppings off it!

 

When reattaching the seat, it’s best to have someone sit on it to hold it down firmly, while you screw it back on fro the underside.

 

All finished, and I’m so happy with how pretty it looks now.

You can use any kind of stencil to transform a chair seat, but if you like my vintage number stencils, they are available in two sizes in my Etsy shop HERE.

I have another broken chair that I repurposed, and I’m sharing this evening at Knick of Time.

I hope you’ll drop by and check it out!

See you next month!

See more of Angie’s projects here

 

See one of my first, and an all-time favorite chair projects here