Get Crafty: Nursing Chair Make Over, Part One

I was lucky enough to inherit a glider nursing chair when Lena was born. It is remarkably comfortable and has seen us through many a night feed and evening-teething-soothing session.  To be honest, I'll be sad to see it go when the time comes. The gentle creak it makes as I rock with my baby has become almost reassuring.

The issue is that it's over a decade old and the cushion covers are showing signs of their age. When Lena was a few months old I clumsily made covers for the cushions but none of them fitted particularly well. Hence, why we find ourselves with a handy, yet mismatched and ugly chair in the middle of our bay window.


Stage one of "Operation: Jazz up the chair" involved replacing the cushion covers. Unfortunately I don't have cheap taste in fabric. I have been putting this endeavour off because all of the directional printed cottons that I lusted after were at best £12.99 per metre, at worst £25 per metre.

Luckily, Asda sell some wonderful duvet covers. A single gave me more than enough fabric and at £10 in total I am pretty chuffed with how this turned out.

I started by ripping the seams open. The reverse is a bright aqua polka dot print that I'm hoping to use to make a little cloud cushion to sit on the chair, if and when I have some time.

Based on the fact that my window of opportunity to make this happen was restricted to about 20 minutes at a time, either due to baby or toddler interruptions, I decided that the glamour and precision of making a pattern was utterly unnecessary. The below photo happened far too often when I tried to tackle this project. It must have been a Wonder Week!

Instead, I just covered the cushions in the fabric, right sides together, and used my entire stash of pins to create an outline. I then took the cushion out of the pocket that I had just pinned and machine stitched, closing each cushion with a double turn hem and Velcro. For the arm cushion I made button holes for the existing cover presser studs to protrude from for added ease and security.

One of the arm cushions has vanished, but I think this pretty little geometric blanket from Bonnie Baby does the trick quite nicely.

It is by no means perfect, but I am chuffed with it nonetheless. 

Marni absolutely loves the shapes and colours. Plus it really perks up our room and will look great in their shared bedroom when she is old enough to leave our room. 

Next job on the list is to venture into the world of chalk paint and give the wooden frame a new lease of life, any tips would be much appreciated!