Monday Made-It 7/28

Well, I am officially back to school everyone! As a new teacher, I started with meetings and trainings last Thursday. Those continue all week until Meet the Teacher this Friday, August 1st, and kids come back the following Tuesday, August 5th. Stay tuned for pictures of my classroom!!!

With all this busy-ness, this will probably be my last time linking up with 4th Grade Frolics Monday Made-It (not actually sure when they're officially over for the summer...) but I am excited to say that this is my FAVORITE Made-It yet!!!

This was a huge project that all started when I was deciding how I would organize all of my students' materials. My second graders sit at tables, which means that there is no individual storage for textbooks, folders, notebooks, etc. I decided to put a small shelf at each table to hold book boxes and textbooks, but that still left homework folders, math notebooks, and a few other small things. After lots of internet research, I knew exactly what I needed...CHAIR POCKETS!

The problem was, even in bulk the cheapest I could find them was $7 each and I just couldn't afford that as a first year teacher (can any teacher??). So I decided to make them and they turned out GREAT!  I had a hard time finding a solid tutorial online, so I took a lot of pictures and this blog post is me trying to make my own tutorial...I figure there must be other teachers out there who want great storage for their students without breaking the bank! Keep reading to the bottom to see pictures of the final product. (Side note: I had never used a sewing machine in my life before this project, so trust me when I say anyone can do this!!!)

I wanted these to be sturdy and long-lasting so after shopping around, I ordered Duck Cloth as the material I would use. I waited and waited until it went on sale at JoAnns for just under $4 per yard. I bought 8 yards and that made 30 chair pockets, so they ended up costing me just over $1 each. YAY!

1. I started by cutting rectangles that were 30 inches by 18 inches. On the 18 inch side that I cut (the other 18 inch side was the edge of the fabric) I folded up and sewed about a quarter of an inch to prevent fraying. Don't worry that the 30 inch sides are cut and might fray because they will become seams that are turned inside out.

2. Then, I folded the sewn edge up 9 and a half inches, with sewn edge/flap facing out, and sewed along each side. Once the edges were sewn, I flipped the pocket that I had just created inside out, so that all seams were on the inside.

  This is after it was flipped inside out:                                                  

3. See in that second picture above how the sides fold in a little bit because it was flipped inside out? The next step was to make a small cut on each side so that the top half lay totally flat.

4. Next, I folded the top edge down to meet the top of the pocket. I sewed along the edges, and then flipped the top pocket inside out also.

That's literally it! It's not hard at all, and they look great...I ran by school this weekend to try them out and I am in love with how they look:

Here are some things you might want to consider if you are going to try this pocket:

• Originally, I made them 30in x 16in...those fit on the second-grade-sized chairs, but they were stretched too tight to fit much inside the pocket. 30in x 18 in is a tiny bit loose, but they seem to be staying on the chairs just fine and since they are not stretched so tight, a binder and some folders/notebooks easily fit inside. The moral is, measure your chairs and do a practice one first!
• I wish the top pocket that goes over the chair was just and inch longer, to be even more secure around the chair. To do this, cut your fabric to 31in x 18in (are whatever the width) and follow all of the step exactly the same. 
• The best part about this project is that nothing has to be totally exact and they don't have to be exactly identical. The pattern is very forgiving and yours are sure to turn out great!

Please, PLEASE leave me feedback, follow my blog via email on the right, and wish me luck for Meet the Teacher this week! I will be back with pictures and stories as soon as I have them :) Thanks <3

Monday Made-It: 7/7

Happy Monday, everybody! It's scary to think I only have a few weeks left of this wonderful summer vacation - I have this week at home, next week at the beach, and the following Monday I'll be in my classroom getting it ready for my new kids! I officially report back on July 24th, and kids start August 5th. YIKES! I have a lot to do...and this weeks made-it doesn't actually prepare me for the year, it's just cute! :) The plan is to try to get some stuff done this week, so that I can enjoy my week at the beach without any stress! Anyways, enough chit chat...I am excited to be linking up with 4th Grade Frolics for another Monday Made-It!

This weeks project was actually about revamping an old project, I recovered my desk chair:

Sorry if the picture is a little blurry...I tried retaking
it a few times, but I think it's just the pattern.

This chair has gone through a lot since I first bought it! When I bought it from Pottery Barn it had lime green polka dots to match my Freshman dorm room (ends up, they would have matched my first classroom, too!). Then, I recovered it with navy chevron to match my dorm room my second year of college.

When I bought it, it had green polka dots...then I recovered it with navy chevron!

Since then, the chair has sat in my parents garage and last week my mom came up with the great idea to recover it and have it at my reading table! It was very easy, but I imagine the process would be a little different depending on the chair...

First, I took off the panel that covers the back of the chair (in other words, you'd spin the chair around to see the part not pictured in any of these photos). Keep that panel handy because you need it later!! Once the fabric was off, I took the padding off the back which revealed the hardware that holds the chair together. I grabbed a screwdriver and took the whole chair apart, including taking the wheels off, because it is much easier to handle in small parts. The first time I recovered the chair (with navy chevron), I went ahead and just put the new fabric over the old fabric, puling it tight and using a staple gun to fasten it on the bottom. This time, I took off the navy chevron and put my new fabric over the original green polka dots, pulling tight and using a staple gun to fasten it on the bottom.

Once I had covered both the seat and chair-back, I had to cut away some of the fabric on the back and bottom because it was covering the holes where the hardware attached. Once the holes were visible again, I put the whole chair back together.

With the chair back together, I attached the padding that I had taken off the back using a staple gun. Then, I used the original panel I had taken off the back to trace a new panel with my new fabric. Since I didn't want staples showing, I used fabric glue to attach that panel over the padding on the back of the chair. Voila! The chair feels just like new without having to buy a whole new chair! I bought this fabric on sale at Hobby Lobby, and I already had the staple gun and glue, so the whole thing ended up costing me about $10. Love that!

If you are going to try to recover a chair of your own, I'd love to see before and after pictures! :) If you liked this post, please consider following me by email on the right or reading about how I came up with the name of my blog. Thanks!