Sad to Fab Reupholstered Chairs

Katrina Warren
by Katrina Warren
My niece needed new chairs for her office waiting area, & a friend gave her a pair of chairs to use. The fabric was in very sad shape, but the bones were good.
1st step measuring the back & seats of the chairs to estimate the amount of fabric needed to reupholster them. 2nd step picking out the fabric.
That was the fun part..... We also found coordinating premade piping to trim the seam edges with. Next the not so fun part, the pulling of the staples.
It seemed like there were 5000 staples in each chair, & removing them was not easy! We used a hammer & small flat screwdriver to get under the edges to pull them out. It took us 4 days to remove all the staples & not without an accident or two!!!
Lots of pictures taken along the way to remember how to reverse the steps & put them back together. Once finally stripped of the old fabric, we ironed the old fabric to flatten it out, & then used the old material as a pattern to cut the new fabric.
Fresh batting was overlaid on top of the old, & then the reupholstering begins. It's helpful & sometimes necessary to have two people working when doing this. One to stretch & hold the fabric tight while the other staples.
Reupholstering went a lot faster than removing the staples! The only actual sewing done on these chairs was to sew the piping around the edges of the trim for the bottom edge of the seats.
One chair needed a little gluing to repair wobbly legs.
Side view of finished chair. The hobnails came in a roll, & are only nailed every 4th nail or so.
Fabulous waiting room chairs installed in their new home.
Before & after, what a difference!
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