Err Beware Threadbare Chair Wear Tear Scare

It's true. No good deed goes unpunished. Don't you just hate it when you repair something then it breaks again or breaks a different part, just to mock you?  I get a little frustrated sometimes at the amount of time I spend repairing things only to have them slap me  in my silly little face. 


Since I live efficiently on an erratic small income, it's the story of my life... repairing this and that, hoping for the best. 

My favorite chair split open across the back. This made it rather uncomfortable to sit in. This is my typing chair, so I really wanted it functional again. In a pinch, I looped a rope back and forth macrame style to push it into service for awhile. But next time I put it away, the rope fell off. I think my last knot did not knot right.  

Easter Sunday rolled around and just the night before I threw together an Easter luncheon. Now we needed the chair again. So I dug out a pair of old bluejeans someone had given me to recycle. I chopped off a leg, thinking it would make a really nice chair back for the directors chair. 


I ironed, measured, cut, hemmed the bottom with an iron and Stitich Witchery (available at Amazon)  which glues the hem together, then I began sewing up the side seams. 

Amazingly my tiny sewing machine (available at Amazon) once again, proved to be a real trooper, steadfastly sewing through the bluejeans, even sewing over the triple stitched leg seam without a hiccup. 

I tried the new back on for size and it seemed to fit just fine. 

Next I added the final seams that would hold the back in place over the frame, when the chair was folded up for storage. It looked great and was very nice to sit in.  


When my first guest arrived, I was putting away all the sewing and ironing stuff. She sat in the chair, proclaiming it very comfortable. 

But 20 minutes later... DISASTER! She suddenly fell threw the bottom of the chair.  Slam!  Bam!  Thank you ma'am! 


The bottom looked like someone had sliced with with a super sharp scalpel.  Not a loose thread at all. Very strange. 


I burst out laughing.  Too much time on my end spent in the Caribbean where everyone laughs at disaster. She was not amused. Me bad. I apologized and pulled her off the ground and out of the chair. 


The chair is less than  2 years old with a sturdy frame but apparently was made with lousy material to start with.  It's not like I left it out in the rain. It's been under cover, but it typically is the first chair I set up when I reach camp. 

We tried some boards as an emergency seat, but the boards, while sturdy, made one sit so high in the chair, as to make the back useless now. However, if I had anything high up to do, like wash the RV, it made nice mini-scaffolding. 

The chair is all bradded or riveted  together, no way to unscrew it to make a new bottom. I guess, if I fold it up like this, I might can figure out a way to sew a cover right onto the frame. It's a real shame, they didn't make this chair ready to be refitted with new seating. The frame is very sturdy.  I've only had this chair about 18 months. 


I hope to get around to sewing a new bottom for the chair. Or maybe a new chair will magically appear one day.  Yes, and maybe I will find a pot of gold at the end of a rainbow too.   The back I made is very sturdy, so dang it to heck and back, I was hopping mad when the seat material gave out.