What My No Sew Upholstery Project Taught Me About Life

I know that there are many of you out there who know how to sew and/or upholster and while I do share step-by-step instructions for how I reupholstered my chair, this post is really more about sharing a life lesson that I learned as a result. As part of my guest bedroom makeover, I needed to reupholster a chair that I got for free from Craigslist. But here's the thing: I know *nothing* about upholstering. Not only that, but I don’t know how to sew or even anything about working with fabric! I come from a long line of women who are/were wonderful seamstresses and quilters but their skill with thread and needle somehow skipped me. Nonetheless, I really wanted to try upholstering the chair myself because this is a project that has been on my bucket list for some time. {Is is weird that upholstery is on my bucket list??} My personality and quest for perfection often keeps me from trying new things for fear of failure. But despite the fact that I might fail, I set out to see if I could do a no sew upholstery project on my chair. My goal was to enjoy the process, not just the results. While I did learn a lot about the upholstering, I learned more about myself during this process. For instance, I knew I wasn't folding the corners properly and was really struggling to get the puckers out (which I never did), but as I was working on it, my kids kept checking in on me and said things like, "Wow! Good job, Mommy!" My instinct was to reply something along the lines of, "Thanks, but I'm making a lot of mistakes" and then point out all of the flaws. But I quickly realized that this is what had stopped me from trying in the first place and wasn't something that I wanted to pass along to my children. I want to them try new things regardless of the outcome and just enjoy the process itself. I want them to take risks. I want them to feel empowered. I want them have fun trying. "Trying new things, regardless of the outcome, is in itself successful!" So when my kids complimented my work, I replied, "Thank you! I'm doing my best!" It was that simple. And what's more, is that the more I stopped focusing on what I was doing wrong, the more I enjoyed and appreciated what I was doing right. After all, isn't that what we want for our children? To try their best and have fun doing it? And when I nailed in the last tack, my sense of accomplishment was overwhelming. So taking a cue from my Kindergartener's reaction when she first learned how to cross the monkey bars, I stood up and yelled "I did it! I did it! I upholstered my first chair!" My kids and husband all came in to congratulate me and I accepted their praise, not because I did a great upholstery job, but because I took a risk and challenged myself to do something that I knew wouldn't be perfect. For me, in this moment, trying something new was my success. Clearly the chair isn't perfect. But I learned a lot from the process and had fun and I'll know better next time. So while this isn't a great upholstery job, it's a great life lesson. "Each and every accomplishment starts with a decision to try." Step by step instructions (with pictures) for how I reupholstered the chair, as well as how I transferred the design, can be found on my blog.