Several years ago Paul bought Granny a couple of cheap chairs at Dollar General. They’ve been used a lot and the plastic woven seats are beginning to fray.
Granny replaced the plastic with a thick woven twine.
I was impressed with how well the first chair turned out, but told Granny we could have bought her new chairs so that she didn’t have to go to all that trouble.
She said “No I really like these chairs and I wanted to fix them. They’re my favorite chair to sit in out on the porch in the sunshine.”
Then Granny told me where she got the idea to fix them.
When Granny’s parents Gazzie and Charlie were first married they worked in the logging camps at Sunburst in Haywood County NC and also in the camps at Swannanoa in Buncombe County NC.
Charlie could earn more money if the trees he cut had the bark removed. While he worked on cutting trees Gazzie worked at removing the bark.
Years later when Granny was a girl one of their straight back chairs frayed to the point that no one could sit in it for fear of falling through. Gazzie sent someone (Granny can’t remember who) to gather her some poplar bark and then she used it to weave a new seat on the chair.
Granny said the chair lasted and lasted for years. She said “Oh mine ain’t nothing like mother’s but that’s where I got the idea and maybe mine will last a good while too.”
Granny thinks Gazzie might have learned to weave chair seats back when she removed bark from the trees Charlie cut but she don’t know for sure.
Last night’s video: Answering Your Questions.
Tipper
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Good for Granny! What a wonderful skill and attitude. That chair is now a priceless treasure ! I did not have a clue about the tree being worth more regarding the absence of bark. I bet those trees were huge since they were poplar. Hardworking folks , your grandparents. ( The gentleman from Kentucky who sold hickory bark to my husband passed away unexpectedly. His family was thoughtful in their grief and allowed my husband to make a purchase of enough hickory bark to bottom one more chair – we are trying to downsize but we “know” that there will be a chair somewhere that is crying for a hickory bottom in due time . ) Tell granny she did a fabulous job ! And on a sidenote , I love to her sing with Paul .
Great job Granny!
Just as someone else mentioned saving bags, my Aunt’s mother-in-law had everyone saving Wonder bread plastic bags to crochet throw rugs. I still have one.
What a lesson to take from Granny’s resourcefulness. As others have pointed out, we live in a deplete and replace culture. Some things can neither be depleted nor replaced such as the human spirit and industriousness Granny so beautifully demonstrated. She’s an amazing woman and you all are truly blessed having her. She and Pap have undoubtedly instilled these virtues in you and your family. Thanks for sharing, Tipper! Prayers for Granny’s continued health and prayers for all of you as well.
Granny is amazing, and the chair looks so good! Yes, we are a throw away nation-even the poorest of Americans will throw things away. I try to salvage things & improvise on how to fix them. Sometimes they don’t look as good as Granny’s chair, but they still serve the purpose. Hugs to Granny.
I like and agree with the other comments. I especially liked Wanita’s comment about how some people think nothing of throwing another person away. There is just something in me that makes me want to try to fix or find another use for something that is broke. Maybe it has something to do with how I was raised, my family didn’t have money to go buy something new anytime something broke. I saw my Granddaddy Kirby save bent or used nails and straighten them out to reuse. He raised a family of 8 during the depression by farming 40 acres with a mule. Thank goodness none of my family has yet tried to throw me away even though I am breaking down, falling apart and can no longer do a lot of the things I use to be able to do. I expect they sometimes think about it!
Who made the rug that’s underneath the chair? It looks like it is woven (maybe crocheted or knitted) out of “looper clips” Looper clips are taken from the top of a sock or women’s hosiery after the knitting is complete. The loops are sold to people who make them into rugs that look like Granny’s. A long, long time ago the grandmother next door would get huge bags of this by-product from hosiery production and turn them into rugs.
I Love this! Great job, Granny.
Thank you, Granny, for the encouragement you are to me!
I meant to ask, how long did it take her to create that weave?
Rebecca-about 2 days 🙂
That weave on the chair looks amazing. That is really wonderful that she wanted to and did fix that chair. Love the story too about your grandparents! I agree with many of the other comments made on this one too; so many very well said!
Great job Granny
Granny is a smart woman! She did a great job weaving that twine to make a new seat. She has given me an idea to fix one of my favorite outdoor folding chairs that I don’t want to trash became the fabric seat is starting to get raggedy looking.
Great job Granny! Some of our younger generation could use some lessons on being resourceful and also, these days, the quality of things aren’t what they used to be either.
Good Morning Tipper! As Randy said above, ‘we live in a throw away world’ and I add to to that with that thought seems to apply to not just material things but can include some of the people in our lives as well. 🙁 It seems there is no end to all that Granny can do once she sets her mind to it- she is so talented. The chair reweave is so inventive and turned out beautifully – may she have many more years to enjoy sitting in it out on her porch in the sun. Blessings and hugs to each of you. <3
I am a bit like Granny, there is just something in me that would rather do something (or at least try to do) the things my mother or grandmother did as opposed to doing it the easy way….seems the older I get the more I am inclined to choose what they would have done. Maybe we just miss them so much it makes us feel closer to them cause we are getting more anxious to ‘go Home’ and join them.
That seat will probably outlast the original one. She did a terrific job! My husband and I have always repaired things. It saves money and I’m sure a replacement would not be the same quality.
So cool!!! Great job, Granny! Around 1981, our family decided that for Christmas, we would only give gifts we had made. My grandparents really outshined themselves. My Granddaddy learned to weave and made a basket woven trashcan out of one inch strips of laminate wood and caned a stool for us. I am still using them both in my house today. Granny’s chair is beautiful and looks like it will be a treasure enjoyed for many years, too. I love that she is so multi-talented! Continuing prayers for you all. Jane
How cool is that, next thing you know Granny will be teaching weaving at John C. Campbell Folk Scjool!
Wow! Granny has so many talents. That chair looks great. I love to fix things instead of tossing them. I have three bar stools that need new seats. I wish Granny was my neighbor—she could give me some pointers on how to do it. I loved your Q&A last evening—very interesting, entertaining—and funny too!
Wow, Randy! You “pushed my button as the saying is”. But not about saving and fixing things but about self-respect. For reasons I don’t fully understand that is a ” hot button” subject to me. We all need to have a self a respect that yet doesn’t cross the line into pride and arrogance. You are right that fixing those chairs made Granny “feel good about herself”. What a wise thing for you to say and her to do. This cold world will take our personhood if we aren’t careful. It is a great kindness to provide the opportunity and the encouragement for someone struggling to grow their self-respect. One of the great tragedies of life is to have one’s self-respect stolen by things beyond one’s ability to control. And it happens far too often such as in Helene. Paul did better than he knew in getting those chairs. She showed him that she cherishes them. I’m off my soapbox now.
I agree with Randy. It’s throw away and get new now a day. It saved money to fix, and Granny did a fine job. It gave her something to do as well as made her feel useful. I’m proud of her and it’s a lesson for me as well.
It’s so good to make or mend something with your own hands and I just know that sitting in her favorite chair will be even more satisfying for Granny now.
Granny is my kind of woman. I will always try to fix something before throwing it out. My “fix it” job may not look perfect, but if it meets the need, it’s fine with me.
Those chairs would sell for big bucks now.
This is a wonderful story Tipper! Always enjoy hearing of things made from bark. Would like to see a larger picture of Grannys handiwork when it’s done too.
My Dad loved to re-bottom chairs. a lot of straight back chairs. I still have one he did. back in ’60s he used the string they used to bail hay. it was so scratchy sometimes even through clothes could feel it. if you had shorts on you didn’t sit long.. LOL. but they sure lasted. back in the ’90s I did one with belt’s the leather held up really well, but some that was fake leather started to break. but was really nice to sit in while it lasted.
Love this!
There were a lot of people who cut certain species of trees just for the bark. The bark contained tannins that could be extracted and used to tan animal hides. They called it “tan bark”. Also bark from the poplar tree was removed in large sections and used for siding for houses. Barkers had a specialized curved shaped knife with a long handle called a “bark spud” they used to separate the bark from the trunk of the tree. A bark spud looks like a much larger version of a turning gouge. Ask Granny if she has ever heard of a bark spud.
My maternal grandmother had old chairs with woven bottoms like that. I don’t know whether they were bark strips or white oak splits. Grampaw made them, I think, but I can’t swear to that.
I don’t know if you know already but David DeHart lost his wife Brenda on March 20th. David was and maybe still is a subscriber who used to comment often for a while. Brenda had bone cancer and was having to make weekly trips to Winston-Salem for infusions. I’m sorry I took so long to let you know!
You might have met David in person at one of the Swain County Genealogical Society meetings.
Ed-I’m sorry about Brenda. Thank you for letting us know!! I will pray for David and her family.
Love Granny’s attitude of fixing it instead of replacing it. And she did a beautiful job too.
What a great idea and looks great too! Granny you are sure crafty. Enjoy sitting on your beautiful refurbished chairs enjoying God’s beautiful creations.
Necessity is the mother of invention. Great job Granny!!
She did a beautiful job! I’ve thought about saving chairs and doing what she did, now I’m inspired to do the same thing and I will down the road.
My mother’s parents were cooks in a logging camp when they first married and Grandpa did some logging later. My Dad left home at 14 and worked for Bemis logging for several years. When I was just a little fellow he thought I should be able to do a man’s work because of what he was capable of when he was that age. That may be why my back and shoulders are in such bad shape now. I’ve done a lot of things the old ways and lifted more than I should have too many times.
Jackie, I now have back problems to go along with arthritis. I begin working when I was 4 years old and by the time I was 10 -12 years old I was trying to do a man’s work and worked hard manual labor jobs all of my life. I have heard my father in law say he started plowing a mule when he was 8 years old and his hands would be clamp close when he woke up in the morning. His mother would massage his hands to get them to loosen up. We weren’t forced to do this but it was just a way of life back in the past for some of ( at least country) folks in the past. I have always heard it said that hard work won’t kill you but I like add and say it can sure break you down.
That’s amazing! Granny and Gazzie sure are/were some capable women!
I am sure doing this makes Granny feel good about herself and what she was able to do. To me there is a lesson here. It would have been so much easier to just throw the chair away and get another one but instead Granny chose to repair it. I think in today’s throw away world, money now comes a lot easier than it did in the past and now most people just use something until it breaks, throw it away and then go buy a new one. The reality is in a lot of cases it is cheaper to do this than pay to have it repaired unless you can repair it yourself. I wish I could hang around the Greenville County landfill and just pick out some of the things that are thrown away, before they stopped letting you pick up things, I picked up a perfectly good Murray push mower that only needed a 10 cent bolt in the handle. All I can say is “ some people’s money must have come a lot easier for them than mine did for me.”
That’s a treasured memory for sure. I remember my granny fixing things around her house using whatever she had on hand. So resourceful and smart.