Glider Makeover - Part 2

This is the second post in a series about salvaging a glider we owned. Read the first one here. 

I knew this project would take a couple weeks so I chunked out the work.  I decided to start on the seat rest cushion cover because that piece needed the most help  

I showed my son how to take the seat cover off the foam using a seam ripper. That was relatively fast. 

We then created a paper pattern by laying down the old cushion fabric on some tissue paper that had been once used for packing paper and traced around it.  The existing cushion cover was in terrible shape and I didn't know if it would make a good pattern so we added 1/2 inch extra all the way around so that we could have some wiggle room. 

We used the paper pattern to cut out the first piece of fabric. Then in order to match the design on the fabric, I used the first piece of fabric as a pattern for the second. 

I hand basted the cover, right sides together, with about a 1/2 inch seam allowance.  Keeping the cover inside out, we inserted the cushion  Then we hand basted some more to get the correct fit, including adding a couple gathers on the front. My son was not not happy about this task. 

Then I went to my sewing machine and I sewed the two pieces (still rights sides together), stitching just inside of where I had hand basted,  leaving an opening on the back of the cushion. I removed the hand basted stitches and turned the stitched cover back right side out and inserted the cushion to make sure it fit. 

The I turned it back inside out, trimmed some of the long edges with scissors and finished the edges by serging them. You could simply use a zig zag stitch if you don't have a serger.  Then I turned it back right side out. 

With the cover on the cushion, I turned down the seams at the opening, folding twice and pinning. I took the cover back off and then I topstitched those seams, with two rows. I had several sew on snaps that were part of the jumble stash I acquired.  As you can see they were quite old as that the package originally sold for 10 cents. I hand sewed on five snaps.  I used the ties from the previous cushion cover. I top stitched those on just on either side of the closures so the cushion could be secured to the chair. 

Then I put the seat cushion back on the chair. It looked pretty awful with the other fabric, which was a motivator for my son to work with me on the next part. 

We finished the back cushion in a similar fashion, but we didn't remove the cover fabric because it was stitched to the foam. To obtain our pattern, we traced around the cushion and then added enough extra all the way around to take care of half of the depth of the cushion (in this case about an inch), plus 1/2 inch for the seam allowance and another 1/2 inch to give us some wiggle room.

I used the same method to fit the backrest as we did for the seat cushion, hand basting one time around leaving an opening at the bottom of the cushion, inserting the cushion, hand basting again to get a good fit, then machine stitching to the inside of the hand basting. I removed the hand basting, trimmed some of the excess edges and serged to finish. 

Then I realized I forgotten to add the ties. So  I had to undo a couple inches of the topstiched seam at either edge of the cushion. Then I inserted two pieces of ribbon in two places on the the inside of the cover pinned it in place and then stitched over the ribbon. You can't see too well what I did here because I did not turn it back right side out to attach the ribbon. 

I hemmed the closure the same way I did the seat cushion and sewed on snaps. 

At this point the project was two-thirds done. Stay tuned for the final third of the project.