My mother and I’ve been engaged on reupholstering my desk chair for the studio. She gave me an excellent head begin on the undertaking by beginning on it whereas I used to be nonetheless engaged on group, in order that was an enormous assist. The chair we’re reupholstering is one which I’ve had for a number of years, and I adore it. Once I began redoing my studio, I considered buying a brand new desk chair in the correct shade to save lots of myself the effort of reupholstering this one, however I couldn’t discover one which I favored as a lot as this one. It’s very comfy and has a excessive again, which I really like. So my best choice was to reupholster the one I’ve.
Right here’s what the chair seemed like when it was new…
However after having the chair for just a few years, my cat utterly tore it up. The woven cloth was excellent for her to get her little claws into. So even when the present shade went completely with my imaginative and prescient for my studio (it doesn’t), I’d nonetheless have to reupholster it as a result of she has utterly shredded it. And naturally, I’ll be reupholstering it with velvet, which is my favourite cat-proof cloth.
My #1 tip for reupholstering chairs and sofas is to take the outdated cloth off in an orderly trend. I’ll always remember the present Buying and selling Areas for a lot of causes (most of them not good 😀 ). However one factor I keep in mind very vividly is the shoddy reupholstery jobs these amateurs would do. And underneath the steering of these designers (I’m you, Hildi), they’d begin by ripping into the unique cloth, tearing it off as rapidly as attainable. That will make for thrilling TV, however if you happen to’re a novice at reupholstering, and even if you happen to’re like me and also you’re not a novice, however you simply don’t do it typically sufficient to be actually proficient at it, then you definitely’re going to need to take your time in eradicating the unique cloth.
In eradicating the unique cloth in an orderly method, it’ll take extra time initially, however it’ll additionally prevent time and frustration in the long term. First, taking it aside in an orderly method will allow you to see simply how the chair was upholstered within the first place. You’ll be able to see precisely the place each bit is stapled into place. It will provide you with the chance to take a number of footage of how the items match collectively. However most significantly, the unique items will function patterns that you should utilize to chop the brand new items of cloth.
Right here’s my mother fastidiously eradicating the material one piece at a time, beginning with the very again, after which the skin of the arms and wings.
An important software in taking outdated cloth off of an upholstered chair or couch is a flat head screwdriver. This can allow you to to take away all the outdated staples holding the material on.
However generally the staples are so deep into the wooden which you could’t get a flathead screwdriver underneath them. In that case, I take advantage of a brand new and really sharp razor blade to chop the material across the staple, leaving the material as intact as attainable.
I all the time take pictures of areas like this simply in order that I can keep in mind the way it seemed. With no image to remind me, I’d begin reupholstering this half, see this bulk of cloth that received’t lie flat, and assume that I’ve accomplished one thing fallacious. Having a photograph is useful to remind me that it seemed like this initially.
The material typically comes off of chairs and sofas on this order: the again facet of the chair again, the outsides of the arms (and wings on a wingback chair), the within of the arms (and wings), the entrance facet of the chair again, after which the seat. And as soon as all the cloth was off of my chair, right here’s the way it seemed.
That is when it’s essential to assess if you happen to’re going to want new foam or batting. I’ve seen chairs and sofas that had pristine foam and batting underneath outdated cloth. And I’ve seen others that had outdated and brittle foam and destroyed batting. Heck, I’ve even reupholstered a really outdated daybed that was initially crammed with one thing that I can solely guess was straw. However on this case, the froth on my chair seemed fairly good, however the batting was wanting fairly skinny.
So a few layers of latest batting can be wanted on this chair earlier than I add the brand new cloth.
The material on the again had a thick piece of cardboard underneath it, so I’ll be reusing that to offer some construction to the again.
As soon as we had all the cloth off, I used to be able to take the items aside and put together them as my patterns for the brand new items. Right here’s a take a look at the piece that wrapped across the again of the chair and onto the skin of the arms and wings. You’ll be able to see the harm my cat did.
This was three items sewn collectively, so I used my sew ripper to take them aside.
I additionally measured the seam allowance and made notice of that measurement. This manner I can resolve if I need to use that very same seam measurement or add further allowance once I lower the brand new cloth. These seams had been solely 3/8-inch, so I’ll in all probability add at the very least 1/8 inch to the seam allowances once I lower the brand new cloth.
After the items had been taken aside, I ironed them in order that the seams allowances would lie flat.
After which I flipped the items over and used a giant Sharpie marker to make notes. I famous which edges had been seams, which edges had been wrap-and-staple. On the middle piece, I famous which facet was the highest, since that is perhaps exhausting to inform on a rectangle piece as soon as the items had been separated. Principally, I simply made notes of every part I believed is perhaps useful for me to recollect. And I don’t ever assume that one thing is so apparent or fundamental that I’ll simply keep in mind. I’ve had too many instances once I assumed I’d keep in mind one thing, solely to get in the course of the reupholstering undertaking and get confused about one thing as a result of I didn’t make notes or take footage to remind me of the small print.
I did the identical factor for the items that went on the entrance of the seat again and the within of the arms and wings. None of those items had been sewn to one another. As an alternative, that they had eight-inch strips of skinny black cloth sewn to many of the edges, and that skinny black cloth is what’s shoved into the crevices, pulled, and stapled into place.
These items of skinny black cloth aren’t seen on the completed chair. So after eradicating that black cloth, I made notes of which edges these items (which I name “pull cloth”) had been sewn to.
After which I made notice of which edges required a wrap-and-staple.
And eventually, I did the identical factor for the seat. This chair has a seat cushion which covers most of this piece, so there’s a big piece of the skinny black cloth. So earlier than taking these aside, I labeled which edge wanted to be sewn, and which one was a wrap-and-staple.
So now that I’ve all of my sample items, and so they’re all labeled, I’m prepared to make use of these to chop the brand new cloth. And all of my notes ought to come in useful once I begin placing all of it again collectively.
It’ll return collectively within the actual reverse order that we took it aside. First, the seat, then the entrance of the chair again. Then the within of the arms and wings. And eventually, the three-piece again and outdoors arms and wings piece that will get sewn collectively. And since I took footage of the tough components with complicated particulars, I can breeze via these tough components as effectively. Keep tuned for the brand new and improved desk chair!
Addicted 2 Adorning is the place I share my DIY and adorning journey as I rework and embellish the 1948 fixer higher that my husband, Matt, and I purchased in 2013. Matt has M.S. and is unable to do bodily work, so I do nearly all of the work on the home on my own. You can learn more about me here.
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