Do it Yourself Custom Slip Cover

Turn Plain into Elegant 

I'll show you the steps I took in order to 
make this custom cover.  

You'll need about 3-4 yards of quality material 

and a piece of foam large enough to cover the seat.

  

Use chalk or magic marker to draw an outline

around the seat allowing a 1/2 overhang.

Cut the foam with an electric carving knife

or a machete. 

(note I came up a little short on my foam but will adjust if needed)

To keep the process simple, I clamped a

piece of material over the back of the 

back-rest then cut it to fit the outline of the chair. 

I tend to cut large and trim back as I go

to get the best fit.

When cutting allow about 1" overage to compensate 

for seam and width of the chairs frame. 

Cut a second piece using the first as a pattern,

stitch them face to face, 

turn right-side out and test the fit 

With the foam on the chair I used

straight pins to hold the material in place 

while I marked the curve of the back rest

with chalk.

Cut the back rest cover to fit. 

Follows along your chalk line but not on it

remember to allow for the salvage edge.

Rough cut a piece of material for the seat cushion,

to ensure a good fit slide it under the back rest cover

and mark the curve to match the backrest.

Cut seat cover out allowing about 1/4" overhang

from the size of your foam.

(note; the tails on each side are there to navigate around the chairs frame)

Sew seat cover to back rest cover.

The tails on each side of the seat cover will provide

a easier transition for sewing on the seat-side.

Next is to cut and sew the side piece of the cushion

it's 5" wide and wraps completely around the chair 

over the top of the back of the back rest.

Unfortunately I deleted the photo

Hem the bottom edge of the cushion side

with a 3/4 overage to allow for a draw string.

Test the fit

The cover should lay flat if you got

it right. I got it close enough. 

Measure for length and cut skirt material,

pleat and pin in place as desired   

Bast stitch pleats in place   

Sew a length of welt cord and attach it to

the skirt, finish the ends with a gusset.

Fold over gusset and stitch

Check the fit 

Mark the cushion cover

with chalk to keep a straight seam line for the 

skirt. Then stitch the skirt to the line.

You will want to add a tie down

to the inside seam where the back rest cover

meets the seat cover, tie around the

chair back slots it will help

 keep every thing in place. 

After pressing with an iron 

it's ready for use.

Pocket Pellet Stove

My little Smokeless heater

Being inspired by the cold weather

I began tinkering on an new idea 

I wanted a portable self contained heat source 

that could fit in a backpack 

As always I scrounged around until I 

found what I hoped would be acceptable

components, in this case it turned out to be

scrap sections of a metal fence, some old

screen from a rabbit hutch and a soda can  

I drilled then taped the holes to except the legs

 cut an opening on top for the flue then had a friend 

weld it together

"Thank You Aaron"

I started testing with a handful of wood pellets
and was surprised it lasted almost half
an hour. By restricting air intake with the
top of a soda can I was able to increase the 
temperature when using pellets
Note: I did use a propane torch to lite 

As long as there were flames it put out very little smoke

The addition of stovepipe could make this

a nice little tent stove

The Principal's office chair

A nice additional to the house

I seem to recall sitting in one of these chairs while

waiting to see the elementary school principal 

After the tear down and sanding I began refitting 

the parts

I had to use some creative clamping methods

due to the irregular shapes

and more creativity in clamping 

 here I used a second bar clamp 

to keep the frame square 

Rupert the Walking Wooden Robot

Here's a fun weekend project. 


Rupert the Wooden Robot
Animated 

An earlier design

You don't need an engineering degree to build your

own walking robot. I copied the dimensions from this site 

on the Theo Jensen leg design. Adding my own

design concepts to the Jensen leg this is what I came up

with  

The first concept had great potential 

but I was unable to get him to walk

Seeing a need to enhance the design and

reinforce the leg connectors   

I cut him in half

And gave him an articulating 

mid section in hopes to solve

 one of the many issues

 Here is some of his first steps 

Now that I have a proof of concept design,

I'm encouraged to build a bigger and more

refined version of Rupert 

Green House Project #4 "The Completion"

As the summer comes to an end

so does the construction of my 

Green house project

  I ripped-down 2x4's into 2x2's

then assembled frames

which fit between the uprights.

Once they were checked for proper fit, 

I stapled 4 mil. semi-clear plastic 

over the frame then trimmed with white

duct tape and stapled it again

The side panels were hinged for ventilation 

the front and back panels were securely affixed

to provide additional strength   

Now it's complete I get to spend more

time gardening

I've enjoyed building the greenhouse,

 as with every project 

I've learn something new

I hope you've enjoyed seeing my 

Green House Project 

Thank You

Step #1

Step #2

Step #3

1960's Rocker

With every new design comes 

new engineering that is meant to speed up production 

unfortunately when production is sped up

quality falls. 

This 1960's chair uses nuts and bolt system to 

secure the major components together.

The problem occurs when you have a lose

nut.

With a lose nut there is additional force placed on 

the joints for which they were not designed, resulting 

in failure. 

My plan was to fill the open pockets

with fitted pieces of hard wood

then to reattach the backrest with 

heavy duty screws.

With the repairs complete it was reassembled 

A fresh coat of Murphy's oil

it's ready for another 50 years.

Available for sale $80 or offer

Contact me at

SchwartzCustomCrafts@mail.com