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Thursday, May 28, 2009

Where's Balthazar?

I finished the chase lounge for Zar's bedroom and he is nowhere to be found. I have my suspicions.....Tessie has been sticking to me like Aileen's Fast Grab Glue all morning. Here is some of the action of putting together the chase.

I cut two layers of ceiling tile that were 5"x 2" and rounded the corners. One, I left the way that it was and the other I slanted one end so that the back would be fit in a fan shape. I used the straight one for the foundation of the piece. I have a bunch of teak wood beads that are a quarter of an inch high. I used those for the feet as they will never be seen. They give a really stable base. I covered the ceiling tile piece with fabric and wrapped it around to the other side and glued.

Then I cut a strip of poster board 3/4" high. I used pieces of this covered with fabric and turned under on three sides(one long and two short) for the outer skirt. For the inside of the pleats I simply cut a small square of fabric and hemmed it with glue on one end. That piece got glued to the base so that the bottom edge was even with the floor.

Next the piece of covered poster board with mitered corners was glued on even with the floor on the bottom edge and the loose fabric on the fourth side was glued up over the top edge. I then put a strip of fabric around the second piece of ceiling tile,gluing the edges up over the top and under the bottom. That piece was then glued to the base.

The back was a curved piece of poster board that I covered with two thicknesses of quilt batting. I put channels in the back with thread and then curved it around the chair. The sewing for the channels doesn't have to be neat. It will all be covered and you want it as tight as you can get it. The piece that you see on the table in front of Tessie is the outer back piece. It was cut the same as the inner back but about a quarter inch shorter, so that the padded part would stick up over the edge of it.

As you can see, the next step was clipping and gluing fabric straight to the backboard. Then that was glued around the seat and pinned to dry.

The last piece was a piece of poster board cut to fit the seat. I marked it with a pin where I wanted to tuft it. Then I put on two layers of quilt batting and wrapped and glued fabric over it. Lastly, I tufted it through the holes and made french knots on the front in place of buttons.

I glued this piece to the seat base, pinning it down all around. Then I finished all of the edges with a small braid.

Strangely, Zar hasn't been by to look at it. Even more odd.......Tessie is "trying it out for size" and humming to herself......I keep hearing "New house and new cha-ase." and "Zar is stuck with a wing chair." These are both to the tune of the "Na-Na-Na-NaNa-Na" that we sang as kids when we got the better of someone. Then once in a while I hear a mad cackle that I didn't even know that Tessie had in her vocabulary.

My next project for the day is to try to find Zar. I have a feeling that he is tied to a wing chair somewhere in the house. Tessie is very good at tying knots with spells.........

See you tomorrow.

14 comments:

MiniKat said...

Huh?!?!

Caseymini said...

LOL Gotcha! I accidently pushed the wrong button twice and somehow published the blog the first time with just the title. Sorry about that!

rosanna said...

How good!! can I copycat it? I love upholstering.But to be certain: what ceiling tile? and which are the measures? thank you for this new great tut.

Katie said...

I love how you show us what to do.....although I'm going to have to read that a few times...I'd love a lounge chair!! Thanks for the eye candy, Casey!

Ara said...

What a gorgeous chair!!! I love it as much as Tessie! I'd love to see a shot of the back sometime :) -ara

MiniKat said...

I wondered. But now I'm still wondering! ;-)

Caseymini said...

Thanks for all of the nice comments. This is one that would be very difficult to teach on line. Each one will be a little different, depending on the angle of the back. I can give you the pieces, but I don't guarantee that they would all fit together. I always have to trim some here and there.Let me think about it a bit to see if I can make it easier.

Tina said...

Casey,
I love the chase.. You did a wonderful job. And Tessie fits it perfect.. I am late getting on today, so wondering has Zar appeared yet?
How is Mookie feeling today? Better I hope.
Tina

Caseymini said...

Oops. I forgot to answer Rosanna. The ceiling tile is also called acoustical tile. It is made of some kind of fiberboard. I am not sure what. It is used for suspended ceilings here. It's about 1/2" thick and finished on one side with a white pattern.There are different designs. It is soft enough to stick pins in. I use it for a lot of pinboards, workboards and it is the base for my beds and some other furniture. I don't think that I would build with it. It would probably wear down around the edges after a while. I never thought of it for roomboxes or anything like that. Hmmmmmmmm.

Here you can buy it by the sheet 4'x6' and it used to be sold in 12" squares. I am not sure if that is still produced.

rosanna said...

Thank you very much! I'll go to my colour shop and ask if they have something of the sort.If not, can I use balsa wood?

Crafts From The Stash said...

Casey that chaise is outstanding. I love it.
Debie xxx

Pubdoll said...

Beautiful work! Love the fabric!
And as always, Tessie put a smile on my face! Good luck finding Balthazar!

wenlaine said...

The lounge is just gorgeous, Casey and the rug is superb. You are such an inspiration.

Lena said...

Hello!
I just love the lounge that you´ve made! Your so talent! It´s very nice to follow your blog!

Lena!