I found this chair on the verge and it was in such good condition, I couldn't help see it's potential for my son's new bedroom. It's low and solid, and just needs recovering, sanding back and painting a glossy white.



The union jack fabric I saw in spotlight, and for $7.50, thought I'd risk it not being the right size.

A repeat will fit the back of the chair, but not the base. What would you do with it? I could sew it onto some other fabric to make it bigger, but it'd be hard to find a fabric in the same shade as the white on the flag. Or I could sew it onto denim (which I've used to make his curtains), but I don't think it would look right.

Or I could use the fabric for something else, and buy this fabric to use instead.

Thoughts?

I guess it would depend on the style of the room. I think a dark denim alone on the seat would be pretty cool and hard wearing with the union jack.

No real style as such. Denim curtains, with a retro cars fabric on the pelmet. That's about as far as it goes. I'm not sticking with cars for everything though, but keeping to the same colours.

I tend to just throw things together that I like. I suppose it's a bit eclectic.

If it were me I'd do denim on the chair and use the funky union jack fabric as a cushion.
I have to say I really love the alternative fabirc you linked to, however the union jack fabric is really wrong with it.

Good luck, it looks like a really fun project!

That's what I was going to suggest too. I'd quilt-patchwork up some old jeans and use that on the chair.

Have fun!

What colour are the retro cars? If you have large curtains, then denim on the chair as well might be a bit too much. However if there is red in the retro car, you could get some bold red fabric and use that on the chair, and possibly use the union jack fabric for a cushion as suggested.

If you went with the other fabric, while nice, it may just be too much for the room and clash with everything (but it depends also).

The cars are various colours (blues, muted greens and reds) on a white background.

I'd thought of using the union jack fabric as part of a big floor cushion, with the leftover denim, otherwise.

I would use the same shade red from the pelmet to cover chair back and seat, use the union jack as an extra seat or floor cushion, maybe using the denim as a cushion back if not enough fabric. I would also not paint the chair white. I would sand back and either beeswax it or use a low sheen varnish to give a more antique look. Industrial look is in right now, not white shabby chic so much. Also much more practical with dirty boy hands Then the chair can be used for other purposes later. Great find by the way!

'Shabby chic' was more about matte and slightly roughed up white finishes I think, rather than the glossy white the OP is wanting to do, so I think she could do it and get away with it. Given the pelmet has a white background then I think painting it white would tie in better, especially if she went with the red fabric. That way it would contrast with the curtains but be tied into the pelmet as well.

Yes, it will take more than one repeat to do the chair seat, but as long as you centre it (I appreciate this will result in wasted fabric) I think it would look fantastic in all over union jack. I saw that in Spitlight too and wish I'd bought it!

The thing is, it won't centre because there were 4 repeats per panel. So to centre it would end up with the four corners from each panel in the middle of the seat. You see my predicament.

Or I could simply do the back in the union jack fabric and the seat in a plain red or the denim.

Thanks for the suggestions everyone.

The back in the union jack and seat in red would look great too, but depending on how busy the pelmet was it might be a tad much, but might not too. I still think it'd be too much denim if you did the chair though (not that I have any idea what the room or the curtains look like, lol).

Lol, I just really like the idea of a red chair.

I would do maybe a wide navy and white stripe fabric on the chair and make a cushion from the union jack...