DIY: glider rocker re-cover project, or, "what did I get myself into?...

When I was pregnant with Finn, some friends of ours generously gave us a glider rocker.  It had been given to them, and since they were done using it with their kids, they passed it onto us.  The glider had signs of wear for obvious reasons, but it had great bones and we were so thankful to have it in our nursery.  I spent many nights in that rocker, and we sit in it still to read Finn his stories as he gets ready for bed each night.

With the desire for more children in the future, we decided maybe it was time to spruce up the old girl.  After searching on Pinterest for some inspiration, I decided that with Landon's help, I could totally recover the glider myself.  We picked out some fun and bold fabric at JoAnn's, matched some thread, and rolled up our sleeves and dove in.

Now if you know me well, you know that I hate following directions.  I rarely follow directions on recipes, and when it comes to DIY projects, I'd rather figure it out as I go.  This doesn't always work out in my favor, so because this was a more daunting project, I really tried to take my time and do a good job.  We are planning on giving this glider away whenever we are done using it, so we really didn't want to put a lot of money into the project.  We chose to just recover the existing cushions so that whoever has it next can do whatever they want with it.

I didn't take how-to photos as I don't consider myself a professional seamstress, but here are some photos of the before and after.  Landon and I are so pleased with how the rocker turned out.  More than anything I was worried the cushions would look wrinkly and baggy, but for the most part, I think they look pretty good.  It sits in Finn's room in the corner, so not many people see it, which is another reason why we didn't put a lot of money into having it professionally covered.  Trust me, if this was in our living room, I may not have attempted this myself.

There were some hairy moments in the sewing process, and if you look closely at the seams, you can tell.  But it got done, and it doesn't look half bad to us, so we'll keep it.  The only advice I can give if you want to do this yourself is pick a solid fabric if you are type A and would go crazy with the pattern not lining up.  Fortunately, Landon and I don't mind and we really love the fun fabric.

Before!  Obvious need of an update.