Fresh updates! Feat. chair slipcover (glitter and at-home car spa as bonus)

So in one of my first posts, I mentioned that I had a project I wanted to do that concerns this office chair below.

This office chair is a massage office chair.  Yes, I realize that sounds nice and all... but it's annoying.  Especially, for making slip covers because it is not symmetrical and the massage-remote sticks way out on one side of the chair.  I tried disassembling this.  I took apart this side of the chair and then discovered that the metal "shelf" that the remote is attached to is literally glued to the chair as well as bolted in somehow.  No matter what I tried, I could not pry it off. I gave up and figured... maybe I'll bother using the massage feature someday ... if I ever figure out where the charger for it is.

Stage 1:  Cut the pieces necessary by laying fabric on the various parts of the chair.  This is very much a figure it out as I go type of project.  I also ironed on fusible fleece on the back and bottom seat part of the chair for a little more structure and that it would lay more stiff, making it easier to see how it is turning out as I make adjustments here and there.  The top middle photo shows pinning of the curves of the seat.  The bottom middle photo demonstrates how I drew the outline of the back... around the shadow.

Stage 2: Put the pieces together and trim.  The top left photo depicts pinning one of the two back pieces of the chair to the front back of the chair.  Top right is pinning the curves of the seat. Bottom left is trimming the fabric (akin to trimming hair) so that when the pleats are sewn on, it's straight.  Bottom left shows fabric having to be cut so it fits around the various objects of the chair interrupting the fabric.

Stage 3:  Make & Sew Pleats then Hem edges.  Then fold in the sides of the fabric so there are no frays sticking out, and sew along the edges.

Stage 4: Finishing touches to the slipcover.  For the gaps, panels of fabric were made and then sew-snapped onto the rest of the slip cover for continuation.  Some modifications were to make the slip cover appear more smooth such as taking the cover in here and there, nip/tuck-ing.

Done!  The back of the slip cover is sew-snapped together.  I'm a big fan of sew-snaps.

Definitely will have a large desk for my future home office after the move this summer though.  Plenty of ideas in the works... though likely not acted upon for months to come just because it's a hassle to move more furniture.

The arms are left bare mostly because I ran out of fabric and I was concerned it would interfere with how I sit in the chair (I don't sit straight in the chair like most people, sometimes I like to sit side ways or with legs crossed on the seat...).

I'm contemplating adding a really plush blanket or some faux fur to drape along the arms though.

Love this desk and the clean lines! and of course, the faux fur.

Though, this is not really a tutorial I'm hoping this gives you some inspiration and ideas towards how to go about doing this.  Each chair is different but the fundamentals are the same.  

TIPS:

1.Make sure you have enough fabric
2.Think about how much you need
3.Make sure that when you sew two pieces of fabric together that the "right/patterned" side touches and the "wrong/blank" sides face out
4.Basting is the best!  Baste really wide (obvious to see) and then sew along those lines... then cut the basted thread out.  This is especially useful for trimming/nip-tucking here and there because the fabric doesn't fall the way you anticipate it will because... let's face it... you sit on the chair a lot and there's an indent in the middle of the chair which therefore changes how the fabric and skirt will fall.
5.BE REALLY PATIENT, this is very tedious and a lot of adjustments are made continuously...and this is very time consuming.  I'm not a complete novice and I'm no pro but this did take me like 5+ hours.  Of course, if I space it out more it would have felt less laborious but when I start something, I don't typically stop until I finish it unless it has nice natural stopping points.  That and when you get in the swing of things, it's just easier to remember all the places on the chair that will need adjustments and such.

But wait... THERE'S MORE! 

Made another throw pillow cover!  This is very similar to the bow pillow post from before (TUTORIAL HERE).

Here is how the new green pillow differs.

1.It's made of snuggly flannel, the fuzzier side facing outwards.
2.For the two back panel pieces, the panel that faces the outside is half the width of the pillow while the one under it is a good 3-4 inches longer so no sew snaps or buttons are needed.  Of course, you could opt for zippers or something here as well, but I like the simplicity of just fabric.
3.IRON ON GLITTER (Tutorial for when I used it in a previous post).

So not only does the inside of my home get some freshness, my car got a bath! Well, the equivalent of a sponge bath.  I drove around town doing errands and noticed that all the car washes had huge lines.  Good thing I have EcoTouch at home! I've been using their products for years.  The products are environmentally friendly, don't require a water hose, smell wonderful (reminds me of going into an Aveda spa really)...and I got to be a little active doing this.

My car's at-home-spa treatment.

EcoTouch sell a lot of products such as this waterless car wash featured here, interior cleaning, tire shine, quick wax, etc.  I bought mine from amazon and they also sell concentrate versions that you can mix with water and just put in a spray bottle!  Now my garage smells like a spa :-)