Chair - IV

Finally, it feels like things are starting to come together with this chair. It's great to be making progress and I'm getting excited to finish this project off and start on the next.


This post will focus on the chair back.  Thankfully, for me, this portion of the project required little sewing.

Above is my starting point. In a previous class I had added the webbing, felt and the layer of cotton batting. Today's post is all about getting some fabric on the chair back.

Step one was to cut a piece of fabric large enough to cover the front and wrap around the sides of the chair back. It doesn't need to be perfect and precise, as I'll be adding on a back piece, which will cover things up nicely.

I begin to mould the fabric to the chair back. Stapling at the bottom first, then smoothing out the fabric and stapling at the top, smooth out again and staple at the side. Repeat this process until the fabric looks acceptable and is secured on all sides.

Cutting around the legs is not as hard as I thought it would be. Cut the fabric in a Y shape up the centre of the leg and tuck it under to make it look finished. Staple to secure. Done and done!

Above you can see two small pins that are being used as place holders for the buttons. I put them in roughly where I thought they'd look nice and then measured their placement to make sure they were both equidistant from the sides, top and bottom.

This is the needle used to feed the button through the back. It's a lot of work getting that thing through the fabric, layers of felt, cardboard and webbing. I suggest you do some upper body work at the gym in the weeks leading up to this task.

Finally! The buttons are through!

Use some scrap felt to help secure the knot for the buttons. If extra tension is needed, pull the button's stings tight and staple them to the chair's frame. 

Next step is to add the back fabric panel. The fabric has been secured to the top with staples. I've added a piece of cardboard to help give that top fold some structure. 

I also added a piece of old fabric to the back to give it a bit more substance. Otherwise, it would just be the one panel of (new) fabric on the back. This just builds it up a bit.

After stapling the old fabric, I then pulled the panel of new fabric over the back of the chair. The above photo shows the bottom of the fabric panel, which has been folded under and secured with a row of staples. I could have hand stitched this, but chose not to. Mostly because I am lazy. Nobody sees this area, so it is considered acceptable to staple. 

I still have to hand stich the sides of the back panel. Then, the chair back will be finished!! Next post will hopefully feature the finished chair. I certainly hope it does anyway, as I believe it's our last class. 

The Chair - III

Don't let my lack of posts fool you. I've been a busy bee working on this chair. Today's post will focus on the seat. This stage of the project has been especially challenging as I am not a strong sewer. It's been a bit of a nail biter! 

First things first. I started with by cutting enough fabric to cover the top of the seat, with a half inch seam allowance.  As the seat is soft, cushy and rounded, I found it somewhat difficult to measure. I admit, there was some guestimating involved. I then measured the apron area, and cut fabric to those measurements (not pictured).

The next step was to make the piping. This proved to be a breeze when using a sewing machine with a special foot just for piping. Apparently, a zipper foot will also work. The piping was made using a 1.5 inch wide piece of fabric and enough cord to go around the circumference of the seat, with an extra bit for good measure. 


I wish I'd take pictures of the next few steps. Unfortunately, I was too busy trying not to screw things up to remember photos. 


Once the piping was sewn, I sewed it to the top piece of fabric, cutting notches in the corner areas.

Next step was to sew the front apron piece to the cushion top. I was instructed to leave the sides (i.e. corner areas), as they require special attention. Repeat this process with the side pieces. sewing the corners as you go.

This is where things stand now. I still have to sew on the back panel. The good news is that the front and sides, the areas people actually see, look great. The corners turned out well and the piping looks swell. To be honest, I was beyond thrilled with the results. I can't believe I managed to do this, well.


Next post will focus on the back. It's also pretty special, if I do say so myself.

Out with the old, in with the new: the fireplace edition

When we bought our house, we did a major overhaul. Although in great shape, the house hadn't been updated since the 60s, save for the rose coloured carpet, that probably went in at some point in the 80s. One thing we didn't touch, during the renovation, was the faux fireplace.

Gravitating towards the mid-century modern trend in home decor, we felt the fireplace was a good fit with our esthetic. The downside was that there was no actual heat source.

Fast forward three years... We decided it was time to get a real fireplace. Unfortunately, that meant the end to our faux mid-century stand-in.

We decided that the replacement should be roughly the same size. Not only did we like the proportions of the faux fireplace, but getting something similarly size would mean that we could keep the existing hearth.

For the new fireplace, we wanted something modern. The pre-fab units in store just weren't doing it for us. Obviously, we turned to the internet for inspiration. Hello Pinterest! I curated a board of great fireplaces, which made the decision making process a bit easier with my husband. Everything was in one place. 

The mantel had to be custom built, not only to fit the space, but also to fit the look we wanted. In the end this is what we got. 

My favorite feature is the distressed pine mantel.

Actually, my favorite feature is probably the steady stream of heat this baby produces. Our cats are now slaves to the fireplace, constantly napping in front of it, in a zombie like state.  

The Chair - II

Another week and more progress to report. Although things are moving along, I am surprised how much time this process requires. No doubt, experience would quicken the pace.


This week, I managed to cover the seat in a few layers, including foam and felt. I also added some webbing to the back of the chair, for added strength. 


Let us being with the seat.

This is the first layer of comfort, added in an effort to protect ones behind from the potential ache caused by sitting on springs. 

This is the original felt.  It's still in decent shape, so I'm re-applying it to the seat. In this photo, I'm adding staples to the bottom layer of the felt, just to keep it from sliding off. 

More felt! This is new product. Again, stapling the bottom layer to keep things in place. 

Adding cotton batting gives the seat a little extra softness while prepping the surface for the fabric. You can see that I've stapled the batting to the apron. Apparently, this is not needed. Simply stapling to the underside of the seat is the proper way to do this. I'll know for next time!


One important note: the corners should be pretty perfect and free of excess bulk. This is important as any bulk will interfere with the final look, making the fabric bulge. Nobody wants that, now do they? See below for bulge free corners.

Moving on to the back...

Originally, the chair's back just had a piece of cardboard keeping things in place. As you can see above, I've added some webbing to make the back stronger.

And, back goes the cardboard. I've stapled this on. I've also added some felt to the front, top and sides of the back, so give it some softness (not pictured). Next up, I'll add a layer of cotton batting. 


Next week, hopefully, I can start on the fabric. I'm not much for sewing, so I'm feeling rather intimated. Fingers crossed I don't ruin it!

The Chair - Part I

Thanks to our excellent real estate agent, my husband I and I procured this chair with the purchase of our house. I knew it needed some work, but up until now I've been too intimidated to tackle the project.

The chair is a sturdy piece of furniture; but the upholstery left much to be desired. Sitting on the chair, you can feel the springs pushing through the thin layer of padding. Another issue is all the rips and tears; we can blame the cat for that. Clearly, much work needs to be done.


As I mentioned previously, I'm new to upholstery. I decided the best way to approach this project is under the guidance of an upholstery instructor. Over the next six weeks, I'll be working on fixing up this chair during a weekly upholstery class. Hopefully, I'll be able to squeeze another project or two in there.


This is what I've managed to get done so far. It's a start!


Step One: Disassemble the chair and remove the fabric and stables


Easy peasy!

A tack puller made quick work of this task.


I'm not sure if it's really necessary, but I've held on to the original fabric in case I need it for pattern purposes. 


Step Two: Tie the springs


The point of tying springs is to distribute the weight of a seated person equally over all springs. This becomes really important in larger pieces, like couches.

Word to the wise: wear gloves when tying springs.

Step Three: Burlap!


OK, so I didn't use burlap to cover the springs, and you shouldn't feel obligated to do so either. What you're looking for is a strong fabric with a tight weave. 


The goal here is to pull this fabric taut and staple it a gazillion times around the periphery of the frame.

More to come as the project progresses.

Welcome to Covered!

As this is my first post, I believe it would be in good taste to state the mission and vision of Covered. Basically it boils down to this: I love design and I want to add my voice to the fantastic design blogger community.

For the most part, I expect to be posting about furniture; specifically, furniture that I am attempting to reupholster. Glamorous? No. Fun and interesting? Well, if you're me, then yes!

As a newbie to the upholstering world, I plan on using this blog as an outlet to document my projects. No doubt, I'll also be posting occasionally about other design related projects, renos, before and afters and other inspirations that I stumble upon along the way.

Thanks for reading!