Well, after stripping the chair of all of its stuffing and horsehair (an entire trash bag full) I can now recover the chair!
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| Lucie seems to prefer the chair naked |
The problem with reupholstery projects is that they can be expensive. The printed duck (that's what they call this fabric-its a combo between upholstery fabric and canvas) is $10 a yard on the low end so make sure you get it on sale (or bring your 40% off coupon) because you're going to want to buy an extra yard or two, especially if you have a pattern you're trying to match. Since I pulled all the horse hair padding off I also needed additional foam padding for the chair, I recommend the 2 inch thick version of whatever brand you prefer, the 1 inch foam pads just weren't cushy enough.
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| Make sure you sit in it to test it out on your tush. |
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| I added batting to the sides for softness without the thickness. |
I also wouldn't recommend doing this part in stages if you have pets around. I was trying very hard to avoid upholstering any cat hair into my chair in case it finds a future home somewhere with allergies, but that was difficult with two curious cats wanting to know why Mommy wouldn't let them sit on the new cushy thing.
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| Pulling the seat fabric through to the back |
My chair had built in gaps where you could pull the fabric through to the back of the project to staple, this made getting the tight store-bought upholstery look a lot easier. Don't be afraid to pull it tight, you want this to look like an expert did it.
If you have a pneumatic stapler this is the time to use it because my hands took a beating trying to tug, pull, tighten, and then press the staple tight each time. I was using a manual because I was borrowing it so all that was purchased were the staples...but really pneumatic would have been way easier.
The arms were probably the hardest part, I had kept the original fabric off one of the arms and used it as a pattern to try and replicate what the previous owner had done however, even with a template I was unable to create the perfect crisp lines I was looking for.
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| Save the original upholstery as a pattern-this will make your life much easier. |
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| Adding the side panels |
If you're taking apart a chair that's already upholstered I would highly recommend saving the pieces as patterns, this will make your life much easier and hopefully even save fabric.
After adding the arms, I did the back of the chair where you sit and the final piece will be the back of the chair that would face away from the sitter.
The final step will be adding trim to cover some of the staples and then we will have a finished product! If you haven't already check out
Part 1 of my rescued chair!
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