DIY: Parisian Chair

I have to admit that while I enjoy sewing, sometimes I can complete a project much faster without sitting down at my machine. Part of the charm of this DIY: Parisian Chair is that it is a NO-SEW project! It really is amazing what a hot glue gun, fishing line and a rubber band can do. 🙂

If you’re thinking that you’ve seen this chair before, you’re right. I made this chair for my daughters Poodles, Paris and Pink Room featured in 2009. I still love how this room came together and though it’s been several years, the Parisian Chair still looks terrific. ***Check the bottom of the post for details about purchasing several items in the room.

Supplies needed:

• Four pieces of 54″ wide x 40″ long pink tulle **The length will be determined by the height of chair. The seat of my chair is 20″ from the ground. To get the desired “fluffiness” from the tulle fabric, it needs to be doubled. 2 x 20″ = 40″
• Five hot pink fabric roses
• One yard of polka dot fabric 54″ wide
• One chair pad
• Metal chair (I purchased this one at Ross for approximately $35)
• One spool of thin wire
• One hair band
• One yard of ribbon
• Hot glue gun

To get started, take one of your pieces of tulle and fold it in half. Do you know how pants look when they are hanging on a wire hangar? How the wire is in between the ankle of the pants and the waistline about halfway down? That basic look is your goal. You want to take the end of your wire and feed it through the fold of your tulle. Once the tulle is on the wire, wrap the wire around the chair rim so that both halves of the tulle piece hang down to the ground. Repeat those steps to attach the remaining three pieces of tulle to the chair. I only added the tulle to the back of chair.

To make the ruffle, cut two-three 8″ strips from the width of your fabric. Which means that you will end up with a rectangle approximately 8″x 54″. Iron the wrong sides of the fabric together. This is a great little trick. When you don’t want to sew a finished edge, you can get a finished look by simply folding your fabric in half and ironing. That way the jagged edge where you cut the fabric is hidden from view plus it can’t fray.

Attach the ruffle by hot gluing it directly onto the chair. Pleat or gather the fabric with your fingers as you glue to give it a soft, ruffled look. The fabric isn’t wide enough to go around the entire perimeter of the chair (thus the 2-3 pieces of ruffle). When you run out of one piece start with the next piece. Overlap the edges by an inch or two. Fold under the edges so the selvedge doesn’t show. If you prefer, you could sew the edges together and then sew a gathering stitch. The ruffle would be ready to glue in place.

I then hot glued ribbon over the top of the ruffle (the diagonal fabric in the picture). You can skip this step if you prefer. I do think, however, that the ribbon has helped the ruffle stay in place over the years.

Next take the remainder of your polka dot fabric and place it right-side down on a flat surface. Place your standard chair pad in the middle of the fabric then gather all of the fabric around the chair pad like you are pulling hair into a ponytail. Use a hair band to secure the fabric. Make sure the fabric is tight and not loose. Trim any bulky excess. Hot glue the chair pad onto the chair to the top of the ruffle.

To finish the look, hot glue the roses to the back. Here is the completed chair from the top.

And here is the completed chair from the back. It’s got that certain je ne c’est que. 🙂

54” Wide Tulle Paris Pink Fabric

Hot Pink Rose

Polka Dot Fabric