Have you seen all the new outdoor chairs that have handles, covers with straps or convert to a backpack? Since the Levitt Pavilion opened in Dayton we have lugged our almost 20 year old outdoor folding chairs, drinks and stuff down to see awesome music shows. Sometimes if a show is really good we would have to walk those awkward chairs and all of our stuff almost a mile. These old chairs have nothing wrong with them and throwing them away to buy new chairs that are easier to carry is just wasteful. Then I had a moment. Last year I made a skate leash really easily to carry my skates over my shoulder. I wondered if this same leash would work for my chair and it did.
The skate leash could be my prototype although the leash needed a few modifications. The chairs were heavier than my skates so a thicker strap would help and that meant larger hardware. The chairs, when closed, had double the width of the skates and that made the strap too short. The strap would need to be longer as well. Both easy fixes.
Supplies needed-
Large D rings
Thick and heavy webbing or belting
Thread
Sewing Machine
Scissors
Measuring tape
Denim sewing machine needles
Cut your belting 1 1/2 yards or about 120″
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- Place belting through the curved side of your D ring
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- Pinch it tight
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- Take the end you are working with and slip it though the flat side of the D ring
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- It should look like this
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- Pin the end at least an inch or so down.
Use a denim or size 16 sewing machine needle.
Set your machine on the bar tab or seed stitch. This is a small zig zag that is close together. You can practice on a scrap with settings on 2.6 for width and 0.4 for the length to get a feel for how it works. This is a mighty strong stitch.
Sew across your belting securing both ends with a back stitch.
Show off your DIY!
This was such an easy project and takes less than 20 minutes although the feeling of saving the planet from more waste was monumental.
Behind the scenes~
I love a good challenge. This year I’m only shopping small for my business. I have found some lovely shops along the way. Costal Stitches in Destin is well worth it. Michele the owner does long arm quilting for clients around the world and I got to see her work. I will blog more about my adventure when my year is up in December.
Thank you for reading,
Tracy McElfresh
Dream it! Sew it!
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