May 1, 2011

Upholstery With Vintage Grain Sacks


Don't you just go gaga over vintage grain sacks?  No?  I just can't understand that, because I adore them and look for them wherever I go when I am out and about.  Hard to find, even harder to find without holes and stains.

My son Chris and I went to pick up a sweet little dresser that I had purchased earlier in the week and the owner, Corey encouraged us to go upstairs to see the new things he had brought in since my last visit and we found these great industrial looking stools.  Chris had been looking for a stool to play his guitar and I wanted to make a footstool out of mine.

Chris' stool had this great white vinyl covering and chrome legs - no improvements needed there.  Mine however, had burnt orance upholstery that was...kind of gross and the legs were a bit rusty.  Hated the orange upholstery, but loved the patina on the legs.



Once I got my little beauty home, it was time to match it to a grain sack.  The one that seemed to fit had one quarter size hold and two smaller worn places.  I rummaged through my thread stash and found some vintage ivory button thread to mend the holes before attaching them to the stool.  I knew that I wanted to patch the holes using an old method of placing running stiches close together in a criss cross fashion with a patch piece on the underside of the sack.  I didn't want to match the sack exactly I wanted my repairs to be visible adding a bit of character to the piece.



Dan supplied the electric staple gun which was fun to use and made the job easy.  It was a basic job of stapling opposing sides pulling the fabric tight as you go, then adding filler staples to hold the whole thing in place.  I think this little stool may have been an office chair in a former life due to the shape but I couldn't see where the top would have attached.  But, I think it makes a nifty foot stool.




Other really great grain sack foot stools...

Miss Mustard Seed - etsy








2 comments:

Caterina Giglio said...

I get you... totally...

Jenni said...

What a wonderful thing to do. I will keep my eyes open for these now, then again you need the stool too....!
Your designs always look just so perfect.
Jenni