Reupholstery 101 Near Completion

All of this time that I have appeared quiet and reclusive has all been because I have been busy with not only figuring out the finishing touches of my kitchen but also because I have been working on my first reupholstery project. Once my kitchen is done I plan to move on to my living room. I decided to get a jump start on it by planning a new chair for the space. I originally was going to reupholster the chair that is already in there but I felt too guilty seeing as how it is so new and was kinda pricey. Instead I turned to Craigslist and found myself quickly addicted to checking its pages every half hour.

However, before I had decided on a chair I already attended my first class. I drove 45 minutes to Waupaca only to discover that not only did I need tools but I also needed my project the first day and I most likely wouldn't finish during the first session so I should have signed up for the already filled proceeding session..."welcome to class". Needless to say I left by noon after obtaining the necessary tools list, which was supposed to have been mailed to me weeks before, feeling very frustrated.

My luck changed that weekend when a chair appeared on Craigslist for 10 dollars. I immediately fell in love with the chair's lines and form. It was beautiful...in the picture. In real life it smelled, had tacky fringe glued and tacked on the wood, and what appeared to be blue tie-dye velour on the outside with faded purple velvet on the inside. It was a hot mess, but it was perfect.

Before

Underneath (my teacher said she hadn't seen this used before...you can also see just a fraction of the holes left by staples)

Step 1: Strip it baby! 
This actually was the most difficult part of the process. Someone had used hundreds of upholstering tacks and staples so that once all were removed the wood frame looked like Swiss cheese. It was almost entirely covered by wood filler by the time I was done. In the picture to the left you can see it is striped down to the strange wiring. I did remove that as well.













Step 2: A little support please

 After filling in all of the holes left by the tacks and staples, the first official step of rebuilding the chair was giving it support. I used webbing, which is very common. Webbing is made out of jute and can come in a variety of qualities. Most of the stuff sold in craft stores is of lower quality and may not last more than 5 years. The webbing I was able to use is of the highest quality and should last up to 70 years. As you can see webbing is essentially strips of jute tacked in a basket weave style across the seat. In this stage tightness is important as well as making sure the tacks are also secured in a safe distance from the edge of the wood as well as away from joints.

 Step 3: Wrap it with burlap
A layer of burlap is tacked over the webbing for added support. Also, when reupholstering certain chairs a roller edge is nailed right along the edge of the front of the chair. This prevents increased wear on the fabric.

 Step 4: Put a little spring into it
Next comes something called a Marshall Unit. In the picture to the right and below you can see that it consists of individually wrapped springs. This way you can cut the unit to fit any shaped chair. To prevent the unit from slipping around, I also sewed the unit into place using a giant curved needle and button thread. No blood was drawn.

 Step 5: How to make it butt friendly
On top of the Marshall Unit goes the double layer of cotton. Did anyone else know that pure cotton takes a lot to actually burn? If your house burned down anything cotton would be probably the only thing left in fairly good condition in your house. It is also the reason why authorities suggest sleeping in pure cotton sheets and wearing pure cotton jammies. I wonder if it is possible to wrap my children in this cotton every night.

 Step 6: Oh sheet
To keep the cotton in place and to smooth everything down goes a white cotton sheet (this was a cut up bed sheet from Target). Make sure to start tacking from the middle in the front, then the middle in the back pulling as tightly as you can. The last parts to pull and tack should be the front corners. Everything needs to be as smooth as possible. In addition to smoothing everything into place, the sheet also provides a point where if I get tired of the fabric in the next 10 years I can take the layers off until the sheet and just replace the stuff on top of the sheet. All the layers underneath are good for many many years.  In this picture you can see that I also have the webbing done in the back. It took a little more time because I had a loose support in the back that needed securing with L brackets.

 Step 7 and 8:
These are the final steps of the seat. On top of the sheet goes a poly foam layer and then finally your fabric. The fabric needs to go on as tightly as the sheet if not tighter. You want your seat smooth. You also want your front corners pleated evenly and thoughtfully. Depending on the type of chair you might also need to do some creative clipping to get around supports or arms. For my chair I had to make a couple of triangular cuts in the back as well as around the arms.












Unfortunately in this lighting the fabric looks more royal blue than teal. I came across this fabric at a country store for $4 a yard. It was exactly what I had wanted but couldn't find in the fabric stores. I was going to settle for a more modern color scheme but I would have payed 4 times as much and it would have taken my living room in a completely different direction. I'm thrilled with the result so far.

*Something to note about fabric: always get upholstery fabric...it will be far more durable. Also, when you are purchasing make sure you check for flaws. If there are too many flaws do not get the fabric. And lastly, there are lots of guides out there that tell you how much fabric to get for different kinds of furniture. However, most of those guides will not tell you that if you buy a patterned fabric you will have to buy much more than they suggest so that you can align the pattern. (Small repetitive patterns do not apply...think bigger patterns)

 Well, I will return to my class next week to hopefully finish. I have the back to rib and tack then I will be learning about cording...I will post the results as soon as I'm able!