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Wednesday, January 25, 2012

Almost There.....

OK. Here we go on the upper chair. Start where you started the bottom, in what is now the left hand corner...Yup. You heard me right. Once you turn the chair right side up. That's where it is. The two thread ends should be in the same place.

Straighten the wires as much as you can. Then start working from the outside as much as possible. You may have to work some rows from the inside, but it is much easier to see what you are doing from the outside.

This time you loop the thread around the first arm(leg)post once. You will have the thread coming out between the arm and the first wire on the inside if you did it right. Now go around the arm again and start looping on the outside towards the back of the chair. Go all the way around and when you get to the other arm, do a plain weave back across to the first arm. When you get there, do a second row of loops. This is officially your third row. Since you are now on the right side at the end of the row, that means that you do nine rows to get back to the starting point, where the thread is attached.

Always keep your starting point in mind. That will keep you on track. Next, you repeat the first three rows. Loop row. Plain row. Loop row.


Now for the fun part. This is the arched back section. Work six rows of plain weaving. Then, starting back across, go to the first spoke after the center one in the back.

Loop around it and go back to the first one on the other side. Loop around and go back across to one more on the other side. Keep doing one more stitch on each side until you reach the corner posts.

Then complete the row.

Weave back to the center +1. Loop around and do the whole series once more. Now you should have a nice arch in the back.

Now continue on and weave back to the starting point.

People are going to be seeing the chair from the inside, as well as the outside from here.

Sometimes it is nice to have the loops on both sides of the wicker. Inside and out.

It makes for a more lacy look, and is a handy method to know, even though you won't want to use it all the time.

Do a row of loop stitches going in one direction and then instead of doing the straight weave back, simply go around the arm post and do a row of loops from the opposite side.

Do the same thing a second time. That is the first row of double loops that you see above the curved back.

Go back to plain weaving for 8 to 10 rows and then do the double line of loops again.

After the loops, for the open area, do a line of wrapped wires that are five wraps each, starting with the front post. Be sure to wrap the thread so that the excess going from post to post is on the back of the chair.

Now, starting at the side that you end the wraps, do two of the front and back looped rows.

You can finish with eight rows of plain weave and then a row of loops, plain weave and loops.

On this particular chair, I went back to the center back and did the arch method all the way out to the fifth wire on each arm....That is, five more passes than the original arch. You only have to do it one time this time.

This gives the chair a bit more height. Lastly, I finished the top edge with a row of loops, a row of plain weave and a row of loops... Put white glue on the top edge of the last row of loops so that the thread won't slip off of the wires when you cut them.

If the thread does slip, just push it back on. This area will be covered......Tomorrow.

As soon as I got this far, the chair disappeared. Tessie zapped it to the front porch of Cordelia's house.

She says that I can have it back to finish when she gets done trying it out...

Mind you, there isn't even a cushion yet and she has a perfectly good, brand new rocking chair.

I am going to go try to pry her out of it so that I can show you how to do the trim and the upholstery. Wish me luck.

See you tomorrow.

10 comments:

Crystal Rose Cottage said...

Oh my goodness...that is some tedious but beautiful work you are doing! It is like an artform and you are doing a great job!~Patti

Lucille said...

Beautiful work, Casey. You are one patient little lady!

Kathi said...

Wonderful weaving! I got lost on page one, but your instructions are so great I just might try to do this "someday?!"
This is one thing that amazes me. So small and so perfect!

Sandra said...

Thank you for the tutorial. I have tried weaving a couple of times and made a total mess of it - seeing this has encouraged me to give it another try some time.
Sandie

Phyllisa said...

Hi Casey. Your chair is coming along nicely and is beautiful.

On a completely different subject, I wanted to pass along a simple method of attaching cabinet doors so they open on miniature furniture.

Many years ago, I purchased some
House of Miniatures kits and even-
tually put them together. One was the dry sink.It was designed with a working door and 3 working drawers. The kits are of authentic furniture and are cut very precisely from wood.I glued the dry sink together and stained it years ago without attaching the door which was designed to move on pins. They had even drilled the precise holes into the door and at the proper places on the cabinet at top and bottom.So now that I want to install the door what can I do? I surmised that the door should have been installed on the pins before the top was glued on.And that would be the sensible way to do it. But I wanted the door attached now. I got it to work.It is such a great piece of furniture. Now the door opens.
I would use this pin method (I used cut down sewing pins)to attach doors to cabinets in the future and perhaps others in
Blogland might want to try it.Just
attach the door before gluing on the top.Michael's hutches uses this method. I just never noticed it before.

Phyllisa

Jaana S said...

Such a beautiful chair!!

Caseymini said...

Phyllisa, that method of attaching doors has been around for a very long time. All of the Houseworks doors use it too. I did it somewhere in this blog. Don't ask where though. I probably couldn't find it in a million years.lol

Ilonka said...

Ohh My that is so gorgeous and a beautiful work !!

Greetz Ilonka

Cris Bottaro said...

Hello, thank you for your tutorial is fantastic! It was very beautiful chair that you have done this. A kiss on your heart.

Crafter's Delights said...

WOW! Amazing work! You are just so talented and patient!