I’m still neck deep in my obsession with all things Mid Century, so I’ve been working on tweaking the look of my mid century living room and the pieces I’ve accumulated so far. I picked up a lounge chair frame a while back on Craigslist for $60, knowing I’d need to purchase new cushions and I’d have to sew a cushion cover. But for me that translates to a fun project, so bring it on! I was inspired by the “furry furniture” trend that I’m noticing all over. From Target to West Elm, everyone seems to have their version of some sort of furry furniture item. Stools, benches, cushions, pillows, etc. You know what I mean right? Have you noticed it too?
Anyways, I thought to myself, wouldn’t it be fun to upholster the lounge chair with faux fur? It would put a new spin on the furry furniture trend, and in my vision it seemed like a really cozy idea for the chair. So my decision was made. I was off to buy 3 yards of creamy white faux fur. That’d be just enough to make two nice box cushions. Here’s how it came together…
Here’s the chair when I started with the two bare cushions purchased online, pre-covered with a nice layer of batting. Got them for a great price! I measured and cut the faux fur to fit the dimensions of the two cushions, then pinned and sewed.
I folded the fur in half, and sewed on three sides leaving a 12 inch opening on one side to turn the fabric and insert the cushion. Once I finished sewing the sides I trimmed the excess fur from the edges, and folded and sewed each corner to create the “boxed” effect. The cushions are three inches thick so I created a 3 inch boxed corner. Once you’ve stitched the boxed corner be sure cut off any excess fabric. Here’s what the corner looks like when you’ve turned the fabric right side out.
Next, I folded the cushion in half and kept it folded while inserting into the cover through the opening in the cushion cover. Sewing with faux fur definitely has its challenges. Firstly, it’s messy. Bits of fur get all over your carpet when your cutting through the fabric. Secondly, the layers can get fairly thick so it can be difficult to feed the fabric through the sewing machine, but on the upside because it’s so fuzzy it’s very forgiving in terms of straightness of stitches, and perfecting the corners. It’s really all hidden by the fur! I hand-stitched the opening closed and then the first cushion cover was done!
I repeated the steps for the back cushion and then my wonderful new furry mid century chair was ready for use!
I’m very, very pleased with the results, and it came together in less than 90 minutes. I’m already noodling other ideas for using faux fur. I’m thinking possibly of making a mid century faux fur bench? Hmmm…maybe. If I do manage to pull that off that idea, you can be sure I will share the results here!
Curated Things 
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