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Hello, hello dear friends! It’s been a while! How are you all doing? How’s your summer going so far? I’ve been escaping reality more and more lately, pouring my heart into work and distracting myself with online courses, thrilling books and, more recently, a rewarding upholstery project at home – our living room chairs.
Some of you may remember these chairs from pics I shared over the years. They were pink, old and painfully second-hand, but with a lovely shape and comfortable down cushions. A Facebook Marketplace find (like 99.9% of our furniture) passed down from grandparents to the graduating college student selling them (listing photo above), they had seen better days. I scooped them up during lockdown, gave them a good cleaning, and for the next few years tried very hard to decorate around them and ignore the bite marks on the upholstery. (I’m thinking dog, but who knows?)
I contemplated having them professionally reupholstered but the nearest workroom is some 50 miles away. Plus, as an overconfident person with a masochistic streak and a passion for upholstery, I thought one day my skills will have grown enough to tackle them myself. Well, they have, and I did, and I am here to show you the outcome and to tell you that anything is possible 🙂
Earlier this month I shared this image of one of the completed chairs on Instagram and I received many DMs requesting details about the process, the fabric and the tools I used so I thought I’d share all that in a blog post. That way, if you, too, are interested in upholstery, we can swap stories and useful tips and perhaps make upholstery projects a little less daunting for each other.
First a disclaimer: I am not an expert, and the finished chair is far from being perfect but, because I have always had an interest in sewing and upholstery, I enjoyed the process and the steep learning curve. I started small and my confidence has grown with each completed project until last summer, when a dear friend and neighbor organized an upholstery workshop in her garage and had her mother, who’d been a professional upholsterer, guide us through.
That was the missing link for me – one-on-one instruction – which helped me get over my fears and take on the risk of complex pieces. Before that, I had upholstered a couple of dining chairs, a couple of ottomans and I had sewn a box cushion for a window seat, which were all skills that have served me well in this project. So, if you’re tempted to give upholstery a try, below is a list of my most helpful resources, organized into three categories: tutorials, materials and tools.
Tutorials
There have been so many YouTube tutorials over the years that have helped me get a general idea about upholstery, and I’ll include my favorites below, but the biggest upgrade happened after taking Create Academy’s online course on Modern Upholstery with Micaela Sharp. I shared my review of it three years ago, and you can check it out in more detail here. That class was fantastic in covering the basic techniques of modern upholstery and I have been referring back to it ever since.
Other tutorials I have found useful:
How to Sew an Upholstery Zipper – necessary for pieces with seat or back cushions.
How to Use Flexible Metal Tacks – this is a great technique for furniture pieces that need a curved finished edge such as chair backs, outside arms etc.
How to Use Cardboard Tack Strips for Upholstery – this method is ideal for achieving clean, straight lines of fabric.
How to Reupholster an Armchair – a long and beautifully detailed video that covers a complex upholstery project from start to finish.
Materials
Fabric – I used this striped weave
Lining fabric or muslin
Tools
Pliers
A magnet (optional) – will help you coral all your runaway staples
Pneumatic Upholstery Gun (a lifesaver) & Staples
If you have any other questions regarding the process, or some useful upholstery tips you’d like to share with us, please feel free to reach out in the comments below!
P.S. Other Café Design posts that cover upholstery:
Introduction to Modern Upholstery with Micaela Sharp
Tips for Reupholstering an Ottoman
Wow – Eva, I would be SO PROUD of myself over this project. The chair looks amazing, and I admire your willingness to learn this skill.
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Thank you so much, Linda!
You did a beautiful job. Thanks for sharing and the tutorial.
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Thank you, Patricia!
It’s gorgeous! Would never guess it was the same chair.
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Thanks, Janet! That’s the highest praise I could have hope for 🙂
I am so very impressed, especially how you matched up all of the stripes! Lots of patience and enough fabric! Love it and that pretty coordinating pillow, too.
Well done!
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Thanks so much, Lynn!
Wow! Just beautiful, Eva. Kudos to you on a job well done! 😉
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Thank you, Kathie!
What a beautiful job you did with those chairs! Absolutely gorgeous – from the fabulous fabric to the workmanship. Well done!!!! Very inspiring! Just lovely!
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Thank you so much for the kind words, Sylvia!
So happy to see you back, Eva! Great job on the chair–I would never attempt this and I’m so in awe of your talent!
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Thank you so much, Diana, I appreciate it! It’s good to be back 🙂
Amazing job!!! You did an incredible job updating and transforming this chair. My daughter and I took an upholstery course in Boston, we had to strip it to the bones and build it back up….I did it and learned that an Upholster earns every penny of his work-I’ve since made slipcovers but never wanted to tackle a chair again so I admire your how beautiful your work is. Love reading your posts.
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Thank you so much, Kathy! I learned that, too, with this project – every penny an upholsterer earns is well deserved!
Wow! These chairs are absolutely transformed! Very beautiful work.
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Thank you, Sheena! Glad you like them!
Bought a vintage Home Economics book decades ago, on a lark. Probably written ca. 1935, multiple printings prior.
Not a lark once flipping thru.
They had to get women out of the home, they produced everything in house.
There was a chapter on upholstery.
Livestock, painting, woodworking, vegetable gardening, canning, cooking, sewing, building a greenhouse, car repair, having children, etc.
In the forward, written by a man, it honored women as the keeper of USA in the present and into the future.
Your newly upholstered chairs are gorgeous.
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Thank you so much, Tara!
I love your blog and I’m so glad to see you back in this space! I always look forward to a new post from you. Love the chairs, they look wonderful.
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Aww, thank you so much, Brandi! It’s good to be back!