I have always loved sling stools. They, to me, are the epitome of function and style. You get serious style with portable AND easily storable seating. My side porch is a little tricky to style because of the narrow space and low railings. So when I was thinking through dining seating in my side porch it was an easy addition to the plan. I loved the idea I could move them over for extra seating other places, tuck them under a table, use them as a foot stool for lounging, and easily store them away when the season is over . What’s not to love right?
First of all, I feel in love with these sling stools ever since I saw this inspiration picture from Juniper Home.
I have been on an intense search for vintage fishing stools like these at estate sales but never found any.
Update: What is hilarious is that while typing this post my friend texted me a picture from an estate sale saying “isn’t this what you are looking for?” Bad timing for this project, but I bought them anyway. You can never have too many right?
Back to last week when I didn’t have vintage fishing stools…. I decided to figure out how to make this project work with two old directors chairs that I have had forever.
Material List:
- pair of directors chair, camping stools, or small folding luggage rack
- Sewing Machine (or upholstery needle and thread)
- Not a sewer: Fabric Glue/Super Glue and Fray Stop (don’t need fray stop if you can sew a zig zag)
- Hot Glue Gun (optional)
- Staple Gun or upholstery tacks
Important: This tutorial is based on how to make a kilim sling stool using a folding directors chair. I would attack this project in a similar fashion with a camping/fishing stool in addition to a few modifications. I have included those modifications at the end of the post for those who want to use a fishing stool.
Step One
Deconstruct your chair by removing the hinges that allow the arms of the chair to fold down.
Step Two
Keep only the chair base. I also chose to keep the original fabric as extra security. The fabric has successfully held a seated person for many years so I decided to keep it along with the dowel rods that came with it. (If I was using a fishing stool I would keep the fabric as well and upholster over the existing fabric.) If you are refinishing the base in any way then now is the time to do it. I like the raw wood of my base but hated the yellowing varnish. I wiped it down with varnish remover a few times to get a matte wood effect.
Step Three
Select a rug. I found my 2 x 3 rug at World Market for under $20. You might need two rugs. It depends on the size of your rug. I was able to accomplish two stools with just one rug.
Step Four
Cut the rug in half with 1/2 inch excess for folding to make a finished edge for the back of the stool. I only needed to do this once because I used the finished edge of the rug for the front.
Also make sure that your rug edge is extends little bit (1/16-1/8 inch) over the existing fabric piece on both of the front sides. You don’t want your rug to hang over but instead line up neatly with the edge. You also don’t want the fabric backing to be exposed unless you turn the stool upside down. (See Picture in Step 6) Think of the old fabric as becoming like underside finished upholstery of a chair.
Step Five
Sew (or glue) the cut edge. If you are gluing you will need to use the fray stop for the cut edge of the rug. If you are sewing, run a zig zag stitch along the cut edge before you fold. Fold the cut edge of the rug 1/4-1/2 (whichever is best for your rug) and sew a straight line or glue the fold in place.
The size of my rug was perfect so the store bought finished sides could be stapled over the sides of the frame. If you had a larger rug and wanted to cut a particular pattern in the middle you would need to fold over and sew all four sides to be finished. Therefore, you would need to measure 1/2 inch extra on each side. Don’t forget to manage the frays on any side you cut!
Step Six
Center the old fabric piece on the back of the rug. Make sure the top of the old fabric is on the underside of the rug. Center the piece with equal amount of excess on each side. Pin the two pieces in place (or hot glue a few dabs to secure it)
The other bonus for using the old fabric seat is to hide the crazy of your frayed edges. It helps it look like you bought it from a store!
Note: In this picture you can see how I made sure the front and back edge of the rug was a tad bit bigger than the original fabric as I specified in step four.
Step Seven
Sew a line on each side to attach the rug to the old fabric. White stitching didn’t show through in my rug. The smaller the stitch on a thick rug the more disguised the line is. For a multi colored rug you can use invisible string. You can also skep this step if you are using a vintage wool rug and use glue.
Step Eight
Re-insert the dowel rods back into the original fabric and re-install in the grooves.
Once inserted your seat is ready to sit in but you need to finish off the edges to look like the rug is the upholstered fabric.
Step 9
Staple/tack the excess around the edge of the stool frame. I used small finish staples that you cannot see through the rugs thickness. If you are wrapping all the way around then it would not matter what staples you use.
did not wrap the rug all the way around the staple it underneath. You could do this. My personal preference, for the directors chair with a large triangle shaped frame, is that it looked too bulky. I also was able to use one rug for two stools by not wrapping it all the way around.
I love, love, love how it turned out!
I can’t decide if will tuck them under my beverage/console table or use them under my dining table. I have room for three. If I found a couple more similar chairs in the same wood finish I probably would do that. I have another rug. The trick is finding the same wood finish. I could use three on one side and figure out a bench for the other side. Hmmmm… I have two weeks to decide.
I am actually thankful that I used the directors chair for dining seats. They are a little bit larger for comfort.
What I would Do Differently with A Fishing Stool:
The only think I would do would be to wrap it all the way around. Fishing stool base is much thinner and cleaner to wrap around. The directors chair has a huge base… 1.) because of the groove for the fabric seat and…. 2.) the arms usually fold up over the base. In short, the base is more angled and bulky. It looked weird to wrap it all the way around. Since the side was angled down the piece still looks upholstered.
See you next week for another great DIY!
Missed a Post in this 6 week ORC Series?
- Week One – My Side Porch
- Week 2 – The Plan
- Week 3 – Prepping the Porch
As always…. check out the featured designers amazing posts from this week. This weekend on spending some time cheering on my fellow Guest Participants by scrolling through their amazing posts. You should too!
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