Take a bow, I mean seat; Reupholstery Project, Guest

I am so behind on my party highlights, but this chair had to be shared, the upholstering job is perfect, and looks so clean and professional- this was her first time too- WOWsers!  Thanks to Autumn at The Fickle Hobbyist for linking up:  This is what she did:

I am so excited to finally be able to post this! I feel like this project dragged on forever. Not because the chair itself took a long time, but I had to wait for my cord foot, and then found out that I ordered one that wasn’t quite what I was looking for. So then I decided to see if they made a double cording foot for my Bernina, and…they do. And what’s worse? They had it in stock at the sew shop. Doh! I could have been done with this on Monday. But oh well, it’s done now, and I can’t wait to share it with you!

Ok, so remember that chair? Nothing TOO wrong with it. I’m sure lots of people would be fine to leave it in their rooms just the way it is. (or maybe they would take the plastic off first. To each his own…)

I had had big plans for this chair, though. I’m trying to veer away from the “plain Jane” thing now, and try something new. This fabric was screaming my name when I saw it.

You can find this fabric at Fabric.com. It’s called Madison Black/Cotton Candy. It’s only $6.98 a yard, y’all! (omg, Texas has rubbed off on me!!)

So the first thing I did was take the plastic off. I mean, really, who was that helping? It was taped on.

Then Abby and I spent a good hour or two taking the fabric and foam off and removing staples. Let me just say, I don’t know who is actually able to remove staples with a flat head screwdriver. These stapes were in there GOOD, and I had to break out the handy dandy butter knife to get underneath them! Here she is down to bare bones.

The chair’s arms were actually coming out of the joints a little, so I wiggled them out some more and put wood glue in there to secure them both up. Of course, wouldn’t you know, my C-clamps were not long enough so I had to rig this little do-dad up. I used a ratcheting strap to pull the arms tight into the joints for a good 24 hours.

Then, I took her outside to give her a light sanding. I hate sanding, so I’ll be honest, I didn’t spend a lot of time doing this, just giving it a little tooth and taking off the sheen of the gloss. I just used a sanding sponge (220 grit) for this.

There was a good chunk taken out of the very top of the piece, so I filled it with some wood putty, and when that was dry, gave it a little sanding to smooth it out.

At this point I broke out the spray paint. I used this:

I found that it covered VERY well. It says 2x for a reason. I also really liked the spray part of the can. It’s got a nice grip on it, not just one of the old button pushy types we’re all so familiar with. It was well designed. I loved the satin finish on this chair. I used about 1.5 cans on the chair to ensure full coverage.

All of this stuff I could have figured out on my own, but when it comes to the actual upholstery stuff, I really have Design Intervention to thank. She did a Reupholstery 101 that outlined what to do here, and I followed all of the steps she has outlined there. (be sure to check out her Reupholstery 101 and now 202 class she has! They’re great.)

I saved the original fabric that I pulled off the chair to use as a template for the new fabric. When you do this make sure to leave some extra around the edges, so you have something to pull on when you’re stapling. I decided to do the easiest part of the chair first. For the back I needed to first put in the fabric that shows through to the backside of the chair. I laid the fabric in, being sure to center the design (because in my opinion, nothing ruins a fantastic upholstery job faster than off center fabric!!!) Then, I staped once at the top, stretched it, and stapled in the middle of the bottom.

When my design was centered, I made my way around the sides being sure to alternate left, right, top, bottom, each time so I could get it nice and taught, and keep it centered.

Then, I centered the foam piece in the middle…

And another piece of fabric on top, again, being sure to center the design.

In the same manner I used to staple the back of the chair, I stapled this piece of fabric in, starting at the top once, the bottom once, and then alternating my way around, being sure to keep the fabric taught as I stapled. Then I cut the fabric pretty closely to the staples, leaving me with this.

For the cushion, I laid the wood base back down, put the foam back on, and centered the fabric and began by stapling once in the back, and then once in the front to secure the design in place. Then I stapled once on each side. When I got to the arms, I followed the directions she posted at Design Intervention on day 3. Then, I just made my way around the base of the cushion stapling as I held the fabric tight so as to avoid puckering as much as I could. Then, when I was all done stapling, I again cut the fabric close to the staples.

And here is where the chair sat for a week or so. I really wish I had checked back to the 101 verify that I was ordering the right thing. I mean I’ll still use the cord foot I ended up getting, but I hate waiting, and I could have finished this chair so much sooner!

When I finally picked up the double corded foot today, I set off to make the double welted cord. Follow the first link to Design Intervention up there to find out how I did it. I really was easy and I ADORE the way the cording turned out! I think it looks so much more professional than buying the generic black cord at Hobby Lobby or something.

When you’ve got your cord, grab your hot glue gun and get to work!

(is this perspective tripping you out?)

I finished off both the back and the cushion and took her outside for a photo shoot.

I’m sure my neighbors think I’m a loon taking pictures of a chair in the front yard.

     

It’s not perfect, but you know what? I’m dang proud of my first reupholstered chair!

Plus, I had a lot of fun doing it! And isn’t that what we’re all after?

    

Now I can’t wait to get to the room that this chair will go into. haha

Perfect! 

I have several chairs needing to be reupholstered, 

Autumn is officially invited to do it for me, LOL!