Housewife MacGyver: Commitment Accomplished

I did it! Well... at least mostly... but I completed my commitment, just in the nick of time. And here it is, a full hour to spare before the end of the month, while I post about it. ;)

Here is the sad little highchair before: filthy with saggy padding... and NAKED! 

(Can I say that here without being flagged as an "adult" blog?)

And here is the brave little highchair after the makeover (and some elbow grease): clean and stylishly attired with a confused child at the helm.

He only smiles for cookies. Cookies and MacGyver. No joke.

This is the old cover... the old, worn, ruffly, smells-like-a-stranger's-garage cover.

 Normally I wouldn't draw a distinction between any garage and a stranger's garage except that this did indeed come from a stranger's garage, courtesy of my deal-seeking (and sharing) SIL. The stranger was known to her, in case you were worried about kleptomania.

And here is the new cover: non-ruffled, shiny, stain-repellent, and spill-wipeable oilcloth:

The cover doesn't fit perfectly... yet. I'm still experimenting to help it contour a bit better. But anyway,  here is, in a nutshell, how I did it... and what I have left to do...

How I Made a Highchair Cover and Became the MacGyverest Housewife Around

(Not Really But Someday Maybe)

First, I unstitched the old highchair cover so that it was one flat piece of fabric. This actually only took ripping two seams, thankfully enough. I left the two pieces (the main piece and the flap/pocket that fits over the top of the chair) attached until later cutting them apart since the whole shebang was adhered together using bias tape and no WAY am I undoing all those stitches.

Then, I traced both pieces (allowing a fairly generous seam allowance) on my oilcloth using a good ol' Sharpie. My special fabric markers were no match for the oilcloth's surface and wiped right off. 

I cut out the traced pieces and used them as patterns to cut out another of each piece from the other flavor of oilcloth, giving me two big pieces and two small pieces:

As suggested here on the Oilcloth Addict blog (my first resource since this oilcloth is from their shop, courtesy of this giveaway), I taped up my presser foot (actually, the foot for my machine. not my foot.):

And away we (me and Norman, remember him?) sewed -- right sides together on the two small pieces and then finger-press the seam open (ironing is NO-NO), turn, and topstitch:

Then I sandwiched the smaller piece between the two larger pieces (right sides together), sewed almost all the way around (leaving a good amount of room for turning... just like when I drive... ;), clipped the curves, and turned:

Yup, that crumply ball of oilcloth is the middle stage of turning a big ol' highchair cover right side out. Cute, eh?

Then I sewed a tight zigzag around the hole in the middle (the one that goes over the thingamabob that keeps the kid from sliding onto the floor under the table) 

and... ran out of thread. That is where the mostly comes from in the "I mostly completely my commitment." The cover is made and mostly-functional... just not finished. And I won't make it to the store for more thread today and probably not tomorrow either... but hopefully soon. After the procurement of more thread, I'll be topstitching and finishing a few more edges, and probably sewing the two layers together some... or something like that...

In other news - how are your commitments coming? If you've finished a commitment, picked up a new commitment, or otherwise committed yourself (even a commitment of the straitjacket variety), come join the party (same party as before... but you can join again...) and grab a button!

And I'll be back tomorrow to get us started with February's Housewife MacGyver challenge. I have so great guest bloggers lined up and I am SO excited!!!

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