Chair Affair no.2

Can you believe that the Furniture Bank’s Chair Affair Gala is this Friday?!

Back in August, when I decided to take part in this fundraiser by designing a chair for auction,  I didn’t really appreciate all that would be involved.  I just knew that I wanted to design a chair.

The first step was picking out my chair. You can read about that process here.

The Before…

 

Next, I had to figure out the design.  I knew that I wanted to do something different, and at first I thought about doing something with butterflies (yes butterflies!).  That was until I saw this sofa covered in a Miles Redd fabric.

 Isn’t it to die for?! Source

I love how the modern cubist fabric plays with the traditional elements of the structure itself. LOVE!

Here’s my first attempt of the chair design.  I think it has a more abstract in feeling. But it also reminded me a bit too much of a patchwork quilt.

I decided to do a template on the chair with scrap fabric that I had. It didn’t look as good in real life as it did on paper.  So I moved on.

The second design I came up with I fell in love with instantly.  But after consulting with my work room, I was told that there was no way I could have all those little points meeting at one spot and  – especially since I wanted to use velvet.  I didn’t believe it couldn’t be done, so I took out my trusty sewing machine to prove them wrong.  Except they were right – it truly couldn’t be done.

So I had to come up with another design.  I played around with a few more options until I came up with this:

JF Fabrics who donated the fabric for my chair  and who have been super sweet in promoting both my chair and the event, created this little teaser of my chair while we waited for the professional photo.

The After

photo by Arnal Photography

I really am in love with how it turned out. There were a few moments when I feared I was asking too much from my upholsterer, but he delivered and I couldn’t be more happy!

Despite the challenges of coming up with the perfect chair design, when all is said and done, the most important thing is that this chair will be auctioned off this Friday to raise funds for Furniture Bank.  The proceeds from it and all the other chairs, as well as from the event itself, will be helping displaced families create a space that they can call home.  That is what makes the Chair Affair so important to me and why I wanted to be involved in this amazing event.

Tickets are still available. There will be many items for auction, above and beyond the chairs.  Comedian and author Jessica Holmes will MC the event, and singer Gowan will be making a special appearance.  But, the thing that I’m most excited about is that the food will be prepared by celebrity chefs  Michael Smith and Chopped Canada’s latest winner, Matthew Kershaw.  Because really, who doesn’t get excited about good food;)

Would love to see you this Friday at the Gala.  Tickets are available here:  Chair Affair Tickets

C.

Many thanks!

There are some people I like to thank:  My amazing workroom, Drapes & More, and Peter for helping with the upholstery of the chair.  My good friend Robbin for being my sounding board when it came to the chair design.  My fabulous rep Cecilia at JF for making sure the fabric got ordered and delivered on time. And finally, JF Fabrics for donating the fabric and showing their support for this amazing cause.