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Home Decorating

Re-upholstery: bit off more than I can chew?!

15 years ago

Scenario: a Craigslist deal; two club chairs (photo to follow). The frame is interesting, yet simple enough, but I'm not sure what to do (as in DIY) with the seats. They have springs, upholstery fabric with piping. Now I have them home, and I'm scared. Does anyone have any links/advice on re-upholstering these beasts?

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Comments (8)

kelpmermaid
Original Author
15 years ago
Okay, here are the photos. What have I done!?

Here is a link that might be useful: The chairs in question
shea
15 years ago
Those are sweet chairs! I can see from around here I need to peruse CL more often.

Do you have sewing experience? If you have ever made throw pillows with piping, you might be able to pull this off. I am a decent seamstress, but probably wouldn't attempt those because it is more complicated than it looks. I really don't think it would be pricey to have them professionally reupholstered. Call around, maybe you can find someone who will do them for $50-75/chair. It would be a quick job for someone experienced. If you can't spend that now, just wait til you can. I don't think the existing upholstery is that bad. I've brought home some estate sale "goodies" with truly ugly upholstery!
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powermuffin
15 years ago
cute chairs. Relax first. Have you ever made anything with piping? If so, this is an EASY project. If not, I would recommend that you check out a couple of upholstery books from the library. I just finished a rolled arm settee and after I got over my initial "what have I done" shock, it turned out to be a fun job. I just bought two wing back chairs from the Habitat Restore for $15 each and they are next.
Diane
powermuffin
15 years ago
One thing I forgot to say is that you can carefully take apart the existing seats, keeping the fabric pieces for patterns. You will see how they are put together by doing this. Label the pieces as you take them apart.
Diane
kelpmermaid
Original Author
15 years ago
Diane, that was part of my plan-- to one of them apart to see what was there. Even if I decide it's beyond my abilities, at least I'll have chair #2 as a reference. The chair in the photos is the more dinged-up of the two. What I envision doing is stripping the frame and painting it white. I'll start looking for fabric once I take chair #1 apart and see how much fabric I need. I do have some sewing experience, but I've never done anything with piping.

Actually, is it necessary to maintain the piping? Could I just forego it? I suppose I'll know more when I see what's there.
bananafana
15 years ago
It looks like the cushion fabric is tacked to the frame where the bottom of the fabric meets the wood. So I would start by removing that trim at the bottom of the cushion. Then you can see how they did it originally. My guess is that once you remove the trim at the bottom, you will see tacks which you can remove. Then the fabric will probably lift off the cushion. You could use that as a pattern as was mentioned.

Or maybe you could try wrapping the fabric rather than doing the boxed style cushion. Sometimes it's a nicer look and easier. So what I mean is that there would not be the piping at the top of the seat, and there would not be a separate piece of fabric along the edges. Instead, try wrapping the fabric down the edges and see if you think you could make nice corners where the seat "T" is. The fabric would be stapled to the frame and then covered with trim however you found it when you pull that bottom trim off. You can find some nice trims to glue on (cover the tacks) at the fabric store.
kelpmermaid
Original Author
15 years ago
Bananafana, I think the wrapping method does sound easier, I'll have to see what's there and evaluate how that would look. My concern is about the height of the seat cushion. I guess I'll have to get out my staple puller...
powermuffin
15 years ago
The purpose of the piping is to shape the cushion structurally as well as make it look nice. To do the piping, you will need a piping foot for your sewing machine. I would not recommend wrapping the cushion. The shape of the cushion should determine the shape of the finished seat if you are looking for a professional result. Just my opinion.
Diane

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