Upholstering a chair with a polo shirt

This afternoon, Brady was napping and Abigail was at Elle's house, so I decided to do some organizing in the basement. It's slow going but I'm gradually chipping away at things and creating order in that space down there. I came across a big box of old towels and rags. In there were two old white shirts of mine that I used to wear in college. Both were gross and yellow under the arms so I had thrown them in that box with the intention of cutting them up to make rags. Pulling out a white polo shirt, I held it up and tried to think of a way to repurpose it. "I could cut it and put elastic in and make it into a cute little skirt for Abigail!"  But then the realist in me was all "how much time are you going to spend sewing it? How much money will you spend on elastic? And will you really choose for Abigail to wear that when you can easily get her really cute skirts on sale at old navy for $3?"  Well, that nixed that idea. But then I thought "I get I could use this to cover the seat of Abigail's desk chair!"

And that was a winning idea. 

We got Abigail's desk and chair on Craigslist for cheap. I've always disliked the fabric on the chair but I love everything else so it hasn't been a huge deal. Ive often thought about covering the chair with bew fabric but Always go back and forth about it. The desk and chair is in used condition so it's got its share of scratches and marks, but I like that I don't have to stress about if Abigail colors on her desk or something by accident. So while I wanted a different chair fabric, it wasn't worth it to me to put any money or time into it. Also, I'm not crafty. 

But with this polo shirt idea, I had nothing to lose and I had some time on my hands so I thought I'd try it out. 

Here's the chair with it's weird gray fabric. 

I actually don't mind the fabric itself except that it is not kid ish or girly at all and totally doesn't match the white painted furniture or curvy lines of the desk/chair. 

I flipped the chair over and unscrewed the four screws that connected the seat to the frame. And then I slipped my polo on it with the front of the shirt being the bottom of the seat. Just because the back of the shirt had the most uninterrupted fabric. 

Flipping it over, this is the top of the cushion... The shirt just barely covers it. It's a size small American eagle polo which means it's about the same size as something Abigail would wear. I imagine if you had a more normal size shirt, you would have plenty of fabric. 

Then I cut off the top of the front of the shirt. Basically everything above the armpit. I don't own a heavy duty staple gun so I got our little purple stapler from honey's desk downstairs. It only had about 15 staples in it and when I tried to use it on the chair, only about 1 in 4 actually stuck. So there are only four or five staples holding the fabric and they are randomly placed. I decided that was good enough and I could just tuck the fabric in alright. 

Then I placed it back on the frame and screwed in those four screws again. You can see the extra fabric at the bottom of the square. I could have made the bottom look nicer but I had no more staples  and I didn't feel like getting out my sewing machine (I would have basically just sewed that side together so only one side needed to be tucked) and I only wanted to invest about 20 minutes of my life to this project. And no one even sees the bottom. I mean, the manufacturer stickers are still on there and I didn't even really notice until this picture because you can see them through my polo. 

Anyways, the top looks normal. It was so easy because I never had to pull the fabric, staple a million times around the edges, or worry about how to fold it or gather it on the corners. The stretch of the polo was flawless. It was all a huge wonderful fluke that it was so perfect. 

Although, just keeping it real, you caaaaannnn see the seams on the sides. I could have prevented that but it wasn't worth the effort to me. 

And I don't mind it. 

You have to be sitting on the floor to notice it. And I don't anticipate a lot of people sitting on Abigail's bedroom floor while they check out her desk chair. 

It'll be more from this angle. Ps- I I ally switched out her knobs to white (they came pink like that but also have yellow ones and white ones that you can easily switch out. It took about a minute and a half and I have no idea why it took me a year and a half to get around to it). I much prefer the all white. 

Anyways, before...

And after. 

It feels so soft like a t-shirt sheet and the white just blends perfectly. And it can be removed to be washed or switched out whenever I want. 

I'm pretty sure it took me longer to write this post than to actually do this project. I'm not crafty at all so I'm pretty sure this will be enough to last my ego a few years in thinking I'm cooler than Pinterest.  Except now I want to tackle my ugly kitchen chairs. Maybe.