Changing Up the Rocking Chair

Several years ago I inherited a rocking chair, which used to belong to my sister, which used to belong to my mother, which used to belong to my grandma, which used to belong.... who knows where else?

It creaks with each rock and the handles are completely worn down, but I really love it because of all its history.

When I inherited it, it came with a lovely pale blue and light pink pad from the 80's that my Mother had made (wish I a picture of it).  I probably had it about 3 days before I took it all apart, bought some new fabric + buttons and made new pads.  In an effort to be cheap thrifty I even reused her cotton, plus added my own.  I did this when I was expecting my first child.

I picked the color red because I liked it and the blue buttons because it was going to go in a boy's room.

Seven years later it resides in my girls' room and the bright red was offending the rest of the pink room theme.

So last week I gave the pads a makeover.

First thing I did was paint my star buttons.  As you can see above they were navy blue.  I wanted to reuse them so I painted them about 4 or 5 coats of white-- well, white with a teeny bit of red + orange, to match the chair.  Once I was satisfied with all the gobs of paint I had added, I sealed them with Mod Podge Glitter for a girly shine and seal

Then I measured around my existing pads and cut out material to make new pads.  Then I sewed them up, adding ribbons so I could tie them on the chair, and stuffed them with the same cotton as before.

Next I had to decide where the buttons were going to be placed.  I made a little mark on the pad where they ought to go.

 

You can see below what a big difference adding those buttons does to the pads.  They look so much better with the buttons.  It's not very easy to do, but totally worth it.

For the front buttons, of course, I had the newly painted pink buttons.  For the back I reused buttons I've saved up from my husband's extras short's buttons. 

 For my thread I used super sturdy and thick button thread.

To attach the buttons I first used my hands to divide up the cotton through the pad, then following my marks I attached the button on the back and pulled through to the button in the front using an extra long needle.  This process is very tricky and merits lots of patience as you try to find your way through all the cotton into the other side, blindly into a teeny hole.

But It's worth it.  I love how it turned out and it matches so lovely with all the other pinks in the room.