Tuesday, February 14, 2012

Reupholstery Project

I can sew!  No one is more surprised about this than I am.

Over the past few months in our new house I've made several sets of curtains and lots of pillows.  But now I was ready to move onto something a bit more challenging!  We had 2 brown ultrasuede chairs that matched well in our old place but stuck out like a sore thumb in the light and bright interior we've been going with here....so....drumroll please....I decided to reupholster them.  Myself.  Eek.

















I have to admit that I didn't do any of the gutting of the previous chair or the stapling myself.  I wanted to but a certain Mr. someone thought that looked like fun and wanted to do it himself.  Only the first chair is completed...the second one has just been started so hopefully he'll let me do the stapling this time.  We didn't want to invest a lot of money in new tools seeing as how this could have turned out to be a complete disaster so we picked up an ultra cheapo upholstery staple gun at Harbor Freight.  Regular $25 on sale for $20!  Can't beat that!

All credit goes to this reupholstery tutorial found via Pinterest (of course).

I struggled with making the piping at first as well.  I didn't realize that I couldn't use my regular foot so had to run out and buy a zipper foot.  Made all the difference in the world!  This is the tutorial I used to make piping..also via Pinterest!

Fabric is Michael Miller Houndstooth Black bought on Fabric.com.  I wasn't sure what kind of quality to expect from it and was very pleased when it arrived.  Not as heavy as the Premier Prints fabrics I usually buy but is good quality and seems like it will hold up nicely.

And that is my first reupholstery project!  I think I might be addicted...I'm scouring craigslist and kijiji looking for more ugly furniture in need of a makeover!