Making Over A Camp Chair

There's a big push in the barony lately to reduce the appearance of mundanity.  That means finding ways to obscure the modern and blend it with the historical - things like phones, coolers, tents, chairs, mugs, tennis shoes, etc.  In one of those things I found an opportunity to do my part:

BEFORE

This is my camp chair.  It's brand new, really comfy, and even has a little table that flips up from the side, with a cup holder in it.  Neat!  It is, however, glaringly modern with its metal frame and nylon upholstery.  Fortunately, I've solved this problem before.

The first order of business was to remove the upholstery from the chair and spray paint the frame.  I wiped down the frame to clean off any dust, then sprayed it with an automotive self-etching metal primer (2 colors, not that it matters).  Once that was dry, I sprayed it with a brown spray paint.

PRIMING THE FRAME

I painted the plastic flip-up tray with dark gray all-purpose primer, then the same brown spray paint. I clearcoated the entire tray with Polycrylic to seal the plastic.  With the metal primer, the paint won't flake off the frame, but the plastic might flake or chip if not protected.


Next I made copies of the seat and back pieces that I removed from the chair in a blue polyester upholstery fabric with a swirly Italianate design on it.  I made these double-thickness, the seams reinforced with two rows of stitching on the inside, and the seat 5" longer than the original, so that the ends could be wrapped around the frame and sewn in by hand (which was a big pain in the butt!)


This chair had armrest pads, too, which I copied, and used the velcro and interior padding harvested from the original pads to close.  And yes, the cloth seat and back will be just as strong as the original nylon pieces - the red chair I made over in 2013 held up just fine until the frame itself broke.

AFTER

Now, does that look like a period piece of furniture?  HELL no.  But it looks less modern, and when placed under a tent with wooden poles, next to wooden chairs, it kind of blends in because of the frame color.  It's by no means going to fool anyone, but every little effort helps the overall ambiance.  I do need to re-do the back piece:  see how it looks all twisted?  I tried to cut my fabric as straight as I could, but I was cutting it out of an old dress, and I think I got this piece a little on the bias.  I'll fix it. 

What's Next?  

I'm working on a little painted wooden box right now, and on some embroidery on a new Viking apron dress that I made last month.  Show you soon!