Before
It has been quite an experience. I'm the youngest one in the class (and only pregnant one) everyone else is much older. They are mainly reupholstering seats in their classic cars or RV's. It's been pretty cool to meet and mingle with people I may not usually interact with.
The tearing apart was the easiest part for me, all the sewing involved has caused me some hang ups. I didn't realize that my chairs would require so much sewing- I thought it would be mostly stapling... no such luck. We have 2 classes left and barring any unforeseen catastrophes I should finish my chair in time.
In the meantime here are some progress shots:
Bare Bones
Fabric Scrap Yard
Gazillion Staples
Putting it back together
Sewing Piping- Go Me!
Getting the arms ready
One thing I decided to do to update the chairs was change the style of the arm. They were very retro. I modernized them by adding a piece of wooden to straighten out the angle:
Before
After
This is the part that really got me- the front seat cover. I had to pull out my seams several times- it took me 2 whole classes to sew and resew and resew and resew... I just couldn't get it perfect! And little mess up or wrinkle showed big time. It was so frustrating- I had serious thoughts of giving up. Finally after many tries and a lot of hair pulling I got it looking pretty good.
Now that the seat cover is all set all I have left is stapling the sides of the arms and back seat cover, and sewing (Lord Help Me!) the cushion.
Overall it's been a good experience- I've learned a lot and met some nice people. But I'm seriously debating when or if I should even tackle reupholstering my second orange chair myself. The good thing about the class is having an instructor there to help me, access to a air powered staple gun, and industrial sewing machines.
Like I said- the whole sewing debacle really deflated my confidence.
My choices are:
1. Attempt the task on my own- to just go for it!
2. To take a second class (and pay the extra money) to reupholster the second chair. My problem is that Tiny Falcon #2 will have made his appearance by then and I'm not sure how that's going to work out.
3. Pay someone to reupholster it for me. I feel like that's such a copout. I took a class I should be able to take on the project myself. I bought the chairs with the intention of doing it on my own. But one thing I've learned also is that reupholstering may not be my best talent. ;)
Have you ever had a project that caused you some serious headaches?
Wow, it's looking good Rachelle!! I'd forgotten you were doing upholstery classes!
ReplyDeleteLike how you changed the arms up, it'll definitely modernize it.
Big decision for you to make...it'd be hard to only have one done and not the other or to pay someone else to do it. I don't envy you that headache!!
Hope your week is great !!
Good job! I'm in the same boat with learning upholstery. It's been more difficult than I anticipated and I have two half finished chairs. So frustrating! Can't wait to see the finished product!
ReplyDeleteNikki
It's going to look amazing when you're done, but after all that I dont know if I'd want to do the other one either...
ReplyDeleteI think it's looking great and I'd go for the second one on your own! I've always wanted to take a class like this -- I see how much it costs to have someone do this and I think it's so much cheaper to do it yourself! You go girl!
ReplyDeleteTough decision. It would be more empowering to do it yourself. You can do it.
ReplyDeleteGreat job! I took a class a year back and haven't looked back! I'm on my 4th chair and love it! I will say my 2nd one didn't look as good as the first one, which was done in class and with great instruction. However, the 3rd one was awesome and I feel really confident with my 4th piece.
ReplyDeleteThe only thing is you have a little one coming and time is precious. It's will look great to have them both done either way!
Love your blog. A new follower.