Monday 10 August 2015

Frugal repairs

We brought a patio set years ago (5 house moves back) to show off an area of the garden while we were selling a house with a particularly nice garden and while its never been a favourite item it has been useful. This summer may be the end of its life though.  Over the last couple of weeks we found two of the chairs had become "un-stitched" so you were practically sitting on the floor!
Can't afford a new patio set so after some thought I started to experiment with repairs. I tried treading a needle with thin string (craft string for beading) but that would not go through the net like material, Looking at the other side the stitching looked like strong thread  back stitched.  I found some black thread, slightly thicker than normal, and found it went through the net fabric easily if you could get the little holes in both layers lined up.  Finding a technique to do the stitching was a bit difficult as I needed to find a way hold the chair at the right angle while I lined the net holes up . My first chair repair is a bit untidy but seems to be holding (visitors under 12 stone only will be offered this chair as I have tested it to that weight!).

Got an idea for the second chair - I need to get the chair up on a table with the light coming through and I need to draw a chalk line to keep the stitching straight.
They should do us for the rest of the summer at least, While I was struggling I did wonder if I could get some deckchair canvas and replace all the fabric bits in the future? May cost about £40 in fabric. A similar patio set replacement would be around £100 and an upgrade to something fancy £200 plus!

Something else to go on the ever stretching wish list!

I wonder what's on most peoples, "if I had the money wish list"?


2 comments:

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    1. Retiring is the best thing we have ever done! (Except the lovely kids, of course)

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