Very nice, Laurie! Did you teach yourself or did you take upholstery classes?

The room looks lovely, too. Good job on the floors!

Love the tailored skirt - you took your time and it shows.

How beautiful. The results are a really lovely room, and I especially appreciate the tailored touch to your sofa over the former gathered...

Chibimimi - Thank you! I did not take any classes. I bought one book at the fabric store that has some nice pictures and descriptions, watched video clips on the internet, and read many posts about upholstery.

Several people on this forum have posted and I learned tips from them along the way. I had to really think about starting for a couple years and after being encouraged by several inspirational projects posted on this site, I jumped in and started! My first project was an office chair.

There is a very helpful person on line (Kim) who has her own upholstery shop. She has several "how to" videos and a link to her email address for questions. I have sent her pictures and questions along the way and she is always quick to respond & gives great advice.

CLBlakey & morz8 - Thanks for the kind words! I am much happier with the tailored skirt. 26 years ago I liked the gathered...

Wow. The room is looking great and your upholstery job is quite impressive! The floors are beautiful and the fabric sample looks pretty, too, although I can't see it really well-old eyes, old glasses-ha. I cannot imagine tackling anything like that. Brava, Laurie.

The sofa is just great and the flooring change really sets it off. Wonderful job all around!

It looks wonderful, and I think your welting is better than the original, which looks a bit wide! Isn't it a thrill to be able to update your own furniture?

Wow, congrats on such a fabulous job! I like your fabric choice and the tailored skirt.

I can barely sew a button, so I am in awe of all of you who upholster.

Wow, it looks great!

Terrific!!! Looks even better than the original! :)

What an impressive job you did! I have looked at some books and videos and still didn't think I could do it. How long did it take you? It looks very professional.

Love the fabric! it looks like a delicate herringbone. Can you share where you bought it?

That looks fantastic. I love the fabric choice, and the tailored skirt is a
big improvement. A sofa is a lot harder to do than
a chair. You should be proud of yourself.
j

That looks fantastic. I love the fabric choice, and the tailored skirt is a
big improvement. A sofa is a lot harder to do than
a chair. You should be proud of yourself.
j

You did an incredible job. Better than some professional work I have seen.

Thank you, everyone, for your positive comments : )

cyn427 - I will post a picture of the sample fabric that will be used on the chairs.

my3dogs - yes, the old welting (on the seat cushions) was very wide! I used 5/32" cotton cording on this project. It was suggested by Kim that I should think about making the cushions a box seat instead of knife edge (to further update the look)...but, I chickened out and just used the old fabric as my pattern instead of making my own pattern for a box seat. Dealing with the skirt was a big enough challenge for me and I didn't want to overwhelm myself.

I feel very happy that we have not had to disgard our old furniture and now it seems to us like new : )

I love seeing your work and have been inspired (& continue to be) by all of your postings!

marti8a - It took about 2 months, weekends only.
I looked at books, postings, & videos...I just got the courage one day to start and figured that if it ended up being way too difficult, then I could take it to a local shop and have them take over!

ratherbesewing - It's a herringbone that's a bit wider (larger repeat) than the Jumper herringbone I used on my FR sofa & love seat. This fabric is from Calico Corners and is called Club and the color is Toast. They did not have this posted online, but I saw it in their store & ordered through their store.

cooperbailey - there are some mistakes I made along the way! One of them (pictured below) is where my skirting doesn't quite come together perfectly in the back.
At least each pleat got a separate underpanel piece attached behind it and this mistake is against the wall : )
I was too tired at this point and didn't think about how I could have taken out the stitching of the skirt to the welting and then made each of those folds a little smaller.

Chair fabric (has some grey in it)

Mistake

That just looks wonderful!... You did a great job picking out the fabric, unless you just get sick of it in the future it will never go out of style. That is certainly something to be proud of....

What a great job!

Looks great! I just bought a small upholstered chair on CL and spent eight hours removing the fabric - I've never seen so many staples!. I'm still trying to decide on a new fabric - I've seen some I really like but don't want to spend the $35/yard price to experiment on my new project. I hope mine comes out as well as yours but I'm feeling a little skeptical. You did a great job and I agree that the box-pleat skirt looks better.

Wow. Great work. It looks really good. I like the fabric too.

Thank you to all of you for your responses!

adpedsm - Yes...fabric removal takes a large portion of the total project! Did you take pictures along the way? Did you save each piece to use as your pattern for the new fabric?
my3dogs is an expert on finding great deals on upholstery fabric. Think of your money spent as helping you in the learning process... as if you were paying money for an upholstery class.
Have you posted a picture of your chair in this forum, yet? I would love to see it!

That looks amazing!! While the lines of your sofa are classic, the original gathers were dated so your change for the box skirt and new fabric were perfect choices. A job well done!! I'm very impressed and thanks for sharing.

Wow Laurie!!! Great job! You have the patience of a saint!

I live five houses down from Laurie. She mentioned at our annual Memorial Day block party on Monday that she had finished and posted her upholstery work here, so I just had to take a look. 'Course if I wasn't so darn lazy (I mean, busy!), I'd just go admire it in person. :-)

Jodi-

Lovely job, the tailored skirt hangs beautifully! Great update for a sound piece of furniture. Really like the fabric, too.

You are very talented! It looks better than new!

Really great job.Living room sofa is a piece of furniture which not only becomes a centerpiece of your room but also provides comfortable seating. It is essential to get sofas which please you as well as your visitors.

Wow, that's amazing! I can sew, but I can't imagine taking on a project like that!

I did take pictures as I was taking it apart and I used the old fabric as a pattern. My biggest road block has been how to reattach the new fabric (which, by the way I got for $12.95/yard). I bought an electric staple gun and after three attempts to place a staple, knew I needed to take it back. My manual one works a little better but doesn't sink the staples completely and after about 20 staples my hand was getting tired. I called to see about renting a heavy duty electric stapler but they only had one for roof staples...a little TOO heavy duty! Anyway, I think I'm going to have to give all my pieces to a reupholsterer and have them finish it. I'm a little disappointed. I didn't post picture - not quite sure how to get them on this forum.

wow, it's so great to see how we can do these things ourselves! Beautiful and professional looking job to be proud of! You sure saved yourself a bundle!

valinsv, kswl, tinan, joseph002, graywings, snookums2,
and my neighbor (who introduced me to the GW forums )
jodi_in_so_calif...thank you for all of your generous responses : )

azpedsrn - any chance you live near Orange County California? If you could drive your chair & fabric over to my house, I would be happy to help you and you could use my electric staple gun and see if you like it.

My staple gun was purchased online and the manufacturer is Maestri. It's electric and does not use an air compressor. I am sure an air compressor type would work better, but my Maestri is fine for my projects.

I was unable to find any electric type staple guns at any local upholstery supply stores. They only sell the air type. I tried an electric Stanley type (from Sears) and that didn't shoot the staples well enough into the wood for me. I returned the Stanley and went online.

My Maestri shoots fine wire staples which are different than staples I see for sale at hardware and big box stores.

Do you have other pieces of furniture to reupholster besides the chair? If so, consider investing the money in a Maestri or any other brand of upholstery stapler that will shoot fine wire staples. Or, maybe someone in your neighborhood has an air compressor you can borrow and then you could buy an air gun.

I wish I could help you. You have already done much of the work (removing the old fabric). Your fabric price is fantastic! If you could figure out how to post pictures, I (and other helpful GW members) could assist you better.
Are you able to load pictures onto Photobucket? If so, I could walk you through my process I use to get pictures from there(PB) to here (GW).

Laurie, that offer is very sweet of you! If I lived closer, I would truly take you up on your offer, but unfortunately I'm in Phoenix. Funny thing is that the electric staple gun I bought is also a Stanley from Sears (I will be returning it tomorrow!) I've done a lot of sewing through the years and made all my window coverings, so I thought I could take on this chair. Unfortunately I got in over my head - it was nothing but trouble. My first mistake was the fabric - it is so heavy/thick that when I tried to sew in reverse, such as the start or end of a seam, it would jam. I have a Bernina and thought it could handle it but it couldn't. Also, being so thick, I had a terrible time getting pins through the layers - now most of my good quilting pins are bent. So, after all this fighting with the thick fabric and knowing I wouldn't be able to staple it once it was done, was very frustrating. This morning I was working on the cushion cover and not happy with how it was looking, when I discovered that my son's friend that was spending the night is the son of an upholsterer!!! What are the odds? I took this as a sign and sent the chair home with him ;) For awhile I was very upset with myself for quitting and felt very defeated, but now I'm just relieved. On the bright side, since I have all the old fabric removed and the new pieces cut out, welting made, buttons covered, and wood trim restained, I should get a great price from this guy. Oh, and I bought some really cool fabric for a pillow to accent the chair, and I can handle making that lol The chair will be a pretty teal and the pillow has a peacock on it - I'm anxious to have them done.

You should get a VERY good price from that upholsterer!
Don't feel bad. You did most of the work and were so very close to finishing. You learned a lot and you did not have to spend an extreme amount of money.

I have heard great things about Bernina sewing machines. I am guessing that if you adjust your stitching to a longer stitch (fewer stitches per inch) and loosen the tension, that might help. Also, I used upholstery thread and a size 18 needle. Even so, once in a while my machine (Singer Featherweight) would jam at the start of a seam. I discovered that I needed to begin with the entire presser foot entirely on the fabric...the back part of the presser foot could not be "ramped down" behind the end of the fabric. Yes, that put the needle (and first stitch further away from the edge...but it worked for me and the jamming problem stopped.

I purchased a small pack of upholstery pins at JoAnn's fabric store. They don't bend like my regular needles.

Keep us posted on how everything turned out. Is there someone at your home, work, or neighborhood who can help you post pictures on this forum?

Bernina machines are great but I was sewing on such thickness that I had to wiggle it to get it under the presser foot (when I had two layers of fabric plus the two layers from the welting). I had it on the longest stitch but never thought about changing the tension. Oh, just thinking about it this morning and I can feel that stressed feeling creeping back in...I'm glad the chair is gone and hopefully next time I see it, it will be pretty. I have the pictures on my phone - I'll see if I can figure out how to post them here. I wish it was as easy as posting to Facebook.

Bernina machines are great but I was sewing on such thickness that I had to wiggle it to get it under the presser foot (when I had two layers of fabric plus the two layers from the welting). I had it on the longest stitch but never thought about changing the tension. Oh, just thinking about it this morning and I can feel that stressed feeling creeping back in...I'm glad the chair is gone and hopefully next time I see it, it will be pretty. I have the pictures on my phone - I'll see if I can figure out how to post them here. I wish it was as easy as posting to Facebook.