Madame Theresa’s Handy Craft & Recycle Tips

YOU know the kind! The ones with the rotten, splitting, UGLY as SIN webbing that you hide from Aunt Agnes (and possibly Becs… LOL) when they come visit????

I am flat gonna have to learn how to take pictures AND post them, pretty soon.  This is one of those “recycle projects” that you’re gonna have to close your eyes to “see” it, but take my word, they are so dang cute!!!

You do need a basic knowledge of weaving, or how to weave, though.  If you are unsure or unable to fully understand these directions, do not attempt this project.  It is a simple over-under (in and out, left to right, etc)  procedure, but this level of recycling may not be your bag.  If it is not something you want to do, save your junky lawn chairs for me, please!  LOL!  I just ask that you please, drive up to the house before you chunk ‘em out in the yard… I don’t do “ditch trash” because of my dislike of things that slither when its 65+ outside…. LOL!!!

Prepare:

Strip all the old webbing/weaving straps  off the chair frame. If the old webbing was held to the frame with screws, save back 8 or so, screws, and chuck the extra  screws and washers into your recycled screw jar for another project another day. Wash and dry your metal frame, and use aluminum polish on it if you want the frame to shine like brand new again. 

Construct:

Next, you want to get about 5 -6 yard length of a  pretty, miniature print, fabric.  I like old chintz dishes, so I lean toward tiny floral patterns on a white or light yellow background… something that looks shabby chic.  The famous EVILY box store, IF you are lucky to have one with a fabric department still in it,  will have the perfect fabric for this project on their $1.00 a yard table.  You do NOT need expensive fabric like quilt fabric, because you are going to rip the fabric into 1″ wide strips   and connect end to end, making a slit like a buttonhole in each end of the first strip,  and one in each end of the second strip, and connecting them ( like you would loop together rubber bands when you were a kid, making  a rubberband chain).  Do this end to end with a little over half your strips. (28-30 strips) roll into a ball that we will call “ball A”.  Do the same with the remaining strips that we will call “ball B”, and put that one to the side for now.

You now have a ball of fabric in one continous 1″ wide strip.  Do not worry about the frayed strips, it adds to the charm of the look.  starting at the top of the metal chair, tie on to one of the top corners of the frame.  Bring the fabric strip straight down to the back seat piece of metal frame. wind the fabric around the back bar and then procede forward, toward you, to the front seat frame piece. Wrap the fabric strip around the frame and head to the back seat bar, and again, wrap around, the up to the top bar, wrap, etc and do this until you have a frame FULL of up and down strips on the frame , in an EVEN number of strips, anywhere from 30 to 40.  Tie off the fabric strip at the top bar edge.

Now you are ready for the left/right ~  right/left weaving. depends if you are left or right handed I guess…LOL!

Starting at either the left or right hand side of the top back of your chair frame, tie on again with your “B” ball of fabric strip material.  It may be difficult to get the ball in and out of the strips, going sideways, so if you want to unwind part of the ball and take it apart at one of the joinings and just join more strips as you need them, feel free to work like that with the shorter strips.  weave over and under, in a downward fashion, till you get clear to the bottom  where the back set frame piece is.  You can tie off on the same side you tied onto at, after completing the back of your lawn chair.

Now it is time to weave the seat. tie on at the frame at the back, and weave over and under until you get clear to the front of your seat.  I forgot to tell you, when you get close to the end of the seat back and now the seat bottom, you might want to make yourself a weaving needle out of a large 2″ office paper clip. (You tie the end of the fabric to the clip and use it like a needle.)  Tie off when you reach the front end of the bottom seat. 

The screws you retained from stripping off the old webbing, can be used, if you desire, to attatch the knots you began and ended with, to the frame and can be inserted in the same holes in the frame if you so desire.  Its not neccessary, but you can use them again if you want to. 

Using plain fabric on lawn chairs like this gives a charming “garden” look to your patio or porch.  However, the  fabric from any regular fabric store  is NOT “UV safe”.  This means that the sunlight can fade and rot the fabric pretty fast in the summer sun. So, store the chairs inside or in the garage until you need or use them.   There are fabrics that ARE UV safe, available where awning and patio furniture  is recovered or made or you can buy it on the internet.  But it is expensive,  and you’d be better off buying new chairs if that were the case.   This is a fun, cheap way to recycle the old chair frames with a neat “cottage look”.  And it’s a look that looks cool enough to use indoors as extra seating if you need it!  

If this is your first attempt to weave a chair, practice the weave technique with an old sheet you tear into strips, before you invest any real money into fabric at the store. 

If you know how to crochet, with intermediate/advanced skills,  you can even crochet the strips of fabric onto the frame  for a neat look too!

Happy weaving from the merry recycler. Hope your team won the bowl!

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