Oh my...you just keep getting better and better..that looks like a $1000 chair easily. You certainly have found your artistic calling...and you are one heck of a bargain hunter :) Congratulations. c

Bravo! Beautiful vision and beautiful work.

Wow!!

You are SO talented with a GREAT eye ....

Seriously wonderful work!

Excellent!

lovely!

Beautiful! It could fetch a pretty dollar!

Thanks, ladies! Tinker, It would look great in a corner of your dining room next to that buffet.

I just had to take another pic in natural light as the fabric is really more green than blue. but I'm having a hard time capturing it. The little white stub in the foreground is Riley's tail. He 'helped' during the whole upholstering part of the process.

Oh, MY....swoon...

How do you choose the fabrics??? I get so overwhelmed with fabrics that I get paralyzed.

Anyway, love seeing your projects!!

That is just lovely!!

Can I send you my desk chair, please? It came with a 1920's era secretary, but I don't know if it's that old. It had abeautiful tapestry, but the underpinnings are worn out, and now the fabric is gone, too.

Nancy

Nice placement of pattern...you are really amazing!

Wow! You totally did it again! Beautiful. I just love the way you have the fabric on your chairs totally centered and dead on with the pattern.

bleigh,

I ADORE fabric...and I have quite a collection, but I get the expensive stuff very inexpensively on eBay. Calico Corners has this fabric on sale now for $51.99 a yard, down from $64.99 a yard. I got 2 yards on eBay (a remnant) for $8.99. Working with fabric that I'd typically not be able to afford is quite a 'rush'! I decided to use this on the chair as the deep brown in the embroidery goes well with the dark color of the frame.

When I see a fabric that interests me on eBay, if the seller has the name of it correct, I try to find it elsewhere online to see what it sells for, and to see if the eBay photo is accurate for the colors.

I just got 3 remnant pieces of the fabric linked below on eBay for $11.25 total. Auction pieces measure: 54" x 1.47 yd, 54" x .32 yd, and 51" x 26". The dark blue areas within the circles are raised chenille - sort of like a poodle cut'! It sells here for $39.55 a yard and is even more at Hancock Fabrics.

Nancy, I have 2 friends with chairs just as you describe that they want me to do. They are passed down family pieces and I know that bringing them back to life will make them very happy.

Here is a link that might be useful: 3 PARK

Wow! Such an eye for the possibilities, and such talent at making it happen! It looks great!

I could easily imagine myself as Queen Kswl sitting in that chair :-)

Another gorgeous job, my3dogs!

I bow to the queen - that's cute! It is a large chair - the biggest Eastlake one I've done, and very comfy.

After I finished it, I went out to do yard work. I came back in and walked into the LR and saw it with fresh eyes... I worked on it in my office/sewing room, using fabric that I liked, and never thought of keeping it. But look at the colors in the rug below it. It sort of looks like it belongs there!

Oh my. Just gorgeous! Another amazing transformation. And yes, it does look like it was made for your room!

I was just looking at your "office chair re-do" post and now you have already finished the "throne chair"...
Wow! You work fast and it's just beautiful. Love how you put a coordinating fabric in the back.

Another great job and I really like the fabric.

I'm not sure if you remember my settee post but you were very encouraging for me to give it a shot. Sadly I'm just not ready for the big stuff yet, will do a few smaller pieces before I get into the big stuff. However, its costing $350 plus the cost of my fabric I found online so don't think I'm not going to work my way up. You are an inspiration!

It's absolutely stunnnnning! I love the idea of 'duo' fabrics and the style suits it well. I notice you have used cording rather thcourage one using the fabric~is it hard to work with, like does it untwist? I've tried using it for various things but it always does that. Is there a secret to keep it from doing that? TIA

Yes, you must keep it! It looks fantastic with your rug!

Perfect, it's a keeper!

it looks really nice-great fabric!! you definitely could start a business!!
one of these days i hope to be inspired to try and recover an old wing chair of ours.....

jterrilynn, Yes, I remember you and that you have bought some gorgeous fabric. I don't blame you for having a pro do it at all. In fact, when I did my first chair, a Drexel Heritage bergere chair from CL, I had the loveseat in my office out having a pro do it! He arrived back with the loveseat as I was working on the chair, and gave me tips on how to get the staples out faster.

Patty, I use upholstery hot glue sticks now that I bought online as it's faster than the Magna-Tac 809 that I used in the beginning. I hold the cord end tightly with my left hand after cutting it, and immediately 'seal' the end of it lightly with the hot glue, which prevents it from untwisting. This is the first time I have used the cord, which was on clearance at Joann's and a perfect match. It was marked .97 a yard, but I notice on my receipt that they charged me .48 a yard!

It looks PERFECT !
I have a beautiful leather seat/fabric back open chair that we previously used in our home office as a side/front chair. I would bet that in 10 years no one has ever even sat in the chair. It was purchased more for looks than use.
The colors definately do not go in my new house, but I don't have the nerve to sell this 10 year old 2K chair on ebay for a few bucks.
If I knew how to do upolstery I would re-do it and put it somewhere in my new house. I guess I'm hanging onto it just in case I move to a larger home and have just the right spot for it. Then I will get it professionally done.

If I knew how

jeannie, do you have a picture of it? It 'sounds' like it may be an easy re-do, although if the leather needs to come off, too, that's pretty hard on the hands. Says the 'girl' who had an appt. with an orthopedic surgeon this AM!

If you are at all crafty/handy, upholstery is a lot more stapling than sewing, and centering if you use fabric like the above, and just using the pieces that come off as patterns.

Simply beautiful, my3dogs.

Why can't I see the picture of the chair? I only see the link to the fabric (which I love)!

You might not have noticed, but the rosettes in the fabric go well with the two rosettes on the rail.

Definitely keep it! It looks so pretty with your rug.

lazygardens, that is another reason I thought that fabric was perfect for it. I really lucked out with that eBay fabric win. A friend came over today and stood right next to it in the living room, and didn't recognize it as the 'throne chair' he'd seen earlier!

My3dogs - I still can't figure out how to post pics.
I would only remove the leather due to it being navy blue. I would love to dye it another color, then I would only have to worry about replacing the back of the chair. I am not crafty at all, but I have great ideas, I just can do the work. But, maybe I could cut, and glue. Really, it wouldn't be a great loss since I'm not using the chair in my home, I keep it in a spare bedroom and it doesn't even match that room. I just can't part w/it.
Could I try dying the leather - I guess if I did - I would have to go darker than navy and that wouldn't work either. I would want lighter - turquise, lite green, or a yellow tone.
THe same pieces you changed out are what I would need to change on mine.

Ahh, M3D, you never cease to inspire us all! ...(as I stare longingly at the bergere chair in front of me that needs to be re-done or replaced). Right now I have too many projects started to begin another one, so I can live vicariously through all of yours! The whole chair is so well-done!

Thanks, Sujafr! I have decided that the 'balloon' chair has to be next, as it's already spoken for, so when it's done, it can go out the door.

This is the before, and I plan to start the fabric re-do on this one over the weekend. I have painted the chair in Annie Sloan's Old Ochre, which is more ivory, and am doing a light wax, then the fabric and sewing starts.

The linen stripe will be used on the outside, (vertically) and the paisley on the inside and seat cushion. I'm not planning on doing the tufting, as I don't care for it on this chair.

AWESOME! That throne chair came out so royal! I love the way you line up the pattern! Such detail that makes the finished piece so good looking!

The balloon chair next! Can't wait to see! I agree on the tufting, and with the fabric you chose, it will be an improvement not to tuft. Will be watching!!!

Your chair is just gorgeous! You finished it with such great attention to detail. Can't wait to see your next project.

LOVE IT!!!!!!!!

wow! you've got some serious upholstery talent! great job!

I was recently given a similar chair, well how the chair is upholstered is similar. So far I have pulled off 3 different attempts by previous owners, one used hot glue!

I don't really know where to start to re-do it. I haven't yet picked a fabric, so that will be the first step of course. Do I take it down to padding, replace the worn stuff and then basically staple and cover with trim?

Can you recommend a site that shows how to do this type of chair, or what to call it to do a search.

Thanks

jea2007, are you referring to the first chair in this post, (the throne chair) or the one with the cane 'hood'?

The throne chair is an antique Eastlake style, and the other with the cane is called a 'balloon or porter's' chair.

I do strip them down to the frame. You are correct in your thought that you replace the worn stuff, foam, batting and all, and then cover with fabric and attach the trim. You can use the pieces of fabric you remove as patterns for the new pieces.

Actually hot glue is commonly used to attach trim on upholstered items. I haven't used it to attach the fabric though.

What I did to get started was to just Google 'upholstering', and read blogs and watch YouTube videos. There are hundreds of them out there. There may also be books in your local library. If you don't sew or do crafty things with staple guns, you may want to do some reading or video watching before you buy your fabric and other supplies. Good luck! It's hard on your hands and arms, but very gratifying.