Puffin Design: Fabulous in Floral

It's always nice to start with the after photo because it's so awesome!

This was a commission piece for a fibre artist friend of mine who likes nice things.... 'no pressure, just make it nicer.' I am really proud of this chair, I learned a lot about the process and also learned that I'll 'figure it out' if I'm not sure how I'll deal with something. A good lesson - just keep going.

All finished and ready to go home with Judy.

I'm going to give you a running commentary of the process, comments above the photos so you'll know what you're seeing.

This is what I started with, an antique chair with beautiful lines and a very solid frame. It needed some help to be comfy again and take it up a notch on the wow scale.
Judy and I had discussed the look she wanted, so I got started.

Fabric removal revealed foam and another layer of worn velvet fabric.
It is very common to just add padding over old fabric when it is re-upholstered as it is time consuming to replace stuffing and often unnecessary.
I guessed this piece had been recovered a few times given the numerous nail holes in the wood.

Under the velvet on the back - straw... interesting...

This is an antique chair, straw was a very common stuffing along with horsehair.

Under the velvet was burlap and under the burlap - more straw. Sometimes when you are reupholstering a piece you can reuse parts of the stuffing but I did not this time. I don't claim to restore, I redo. My intention is not to maintain the antique integrity of a piece. This may have been done quite differently by an antique restorer.

Under the velvet on the seat there was muslin cloth holding all this down.

1000 nail pulls later - poof! Sneeze... sneeze... 'maybe I should find my dust mask!'

I love seeing what is inside old chairs, it's so interesting!

Next...

Cut the ties, saggy webbing - it's all coming off!

And we have a very nice, new starting place.

I painted it black at this point... you will see as it goes on further.

Redid the webbing.

Sewed on the springs - I reused the old springs, they were still very springy!

Bart tied the springs in the traditional eight way tie. He is the knot master and he really likes this part and I so appreciate the help. This is the most important part of making the chair solid and comfortable. He did a fantastic job, this chair can now be recovered many more times without having to re-tie the springs again.

Covered the springs and the back with burlap so there's a base for the foam. Staple, staple, staple...

High density foam. This is when I sliced my finger, labor of love.

Dense cotton batting.

Close up.

Dacron fiber covers everything so the fabric will lay nice and smooth.

Staple, staple, staple - I have pneumatic stapler - love it. (Air pressure powered)

Staple, staple, staple.

Trimmed away the excess.

Now for the back - foam over the burlap. Deciding how to shape the back.

Cotton batting.

Dacron

Staple, staple, staple... trim.

I did the other side too - stuffed with batting, then Dacron, then staple... you get the idea.

Re- stuffed - waiting for fabric.

Here is a shot of the bottom - shows the webbing.

I covered the bottom with a light dust catcher fabric. Usually I do this very last but the fabric wasn't wrapping around the bottom this time so I could do it before the floral fabric was put on.

Test drive - "mmmm, comfy" (This is my niece Anna - brutally honest in the best way.)

Judy saw the chair at this point and was pretty happy.

"You exceeded my expectations, it's fabulous, wow!!! You're amazing." It was pretty satisfying. :)

She chose some fabric and mailed it to me.

I spent quite a bit of time making sure I had the pattern laid out to best show the floral's.

Then I cut and stapled, stapled, stapled, stapled, trimmed.

This shows how close I trimmed to the staples. I had to put 'no fray' (basically super sticky glue) on all the edges so I could trim tightly without it fraying.