Repurpose Granny’s Afghan for Funky Seat Covers

 

Repurpose Granny’s Afghan for Funky Seat Covers.

Repurpose Granny’s Afghan for Funky Seat Covers

My artsy daughter’s cheery 1973 Saab 96 was cannibalized in its past life, and came to us sans: side trim, five lug bolts, the hatch back latch and the original green front seats.  To simply purchase common seat covers for so unique a car and driver would not do.  I knew I’d discovered the solution when I found this afghan in a local thrift store for $5.

Supplies: elastic and stretchy fabric for a base cover, tape measure, scissors, a sewing machine, & a “rough plan” drawn out.

I sewed a quick “crumb coat” cover after duct-taping the brittle vinyl’s holes on each of the seats.

Next, I placed the afghan on the floor, (where Agnus (above) approved the color scheme) and carefully cut the yarn that bound the granny squares, leaving me with two long rectangles of afghan, each complete with fringe on three sides!  This was a great blanket to use for this project, however, any conventional afghan could be used, providing that you stitch up any fraying edges where cuts were made, or use a zigzag stitch before you cut, then reinforce it good when you sew it together.

Using black yarn, I sewed a “pocket” from the top two thirds of the rectangle, which became the back of the cover.  I was lucky in that the width of the seat matched the width of the squares, making for tidy square edges.  These seat covers need no fastening or elastic, as the extra row of squares hangs over the edge of the seat and the covers stay put.  I love that the head rests of the old Saab came out, so we didn’t have to account for covering them too, which would have taken more blanket than I had.

Happy Car!  Total Cost: about $8; Time: around 3 hours total.  Now if only the carburetor was such an easy fix.