Reupholstering the Antique Winged Chair: Working on the Outside Arms & Back

The inside arms and back now look great and it is time to move on to the outside arms, wings and back. The outside arms are the next area to work on. Like the inside wings and arms, the wings and arms section need to be sewn together. I made some cording in the same fabric as the wings and arms for a little decoration. The cording as sewed in between the wing and arm pieces. Just like the inside arm, the fabric is first line up horizontally along the arm caps edge with pins.

The picture to the left shows I attach a thin piece of cardboard along the edge. I temporary tack it in place and check that there are no gaps and I have a nice sharp edge before stapling it in place. I did the same thing on the inside arm. The fabric is pulled down and tacked to the bottom and back of the chair. The fabric toward the front arm was pinned and blind stitched into place. The picture below shows the arms with T-pins and tacks holding it in place before permanently fastening it. After permanently attaching it to the frame, the excess fabric was cut off with a sharp scissor along the finished wood edge.

I did the same for the right outside arm and wing side. The outside back is next; here I attached some thin layer of polyester filling over the back to cover the staples and fabric layer. I staples this in place by putting back half the polyester layer then stapling it and covering it over with the section I pulled back. Finally the outside back fabric is centered, tacked and pulled into place at the top and bottom before stapling it. The sides were tucked under, pinned and blind stitched before the extra fabric at the top was trimmed along the finished wood edge.

To finish the chair frame the bottom is was cover with a matching color denim for the dust cover and blind stitched in place. Most people prefer to staple the dust cover but I like how it looks when I hand stitch it. I know no one but I will turn the chair over to look at it but it still manners to me. The last thing last was to glue the gimp over the cut edges along the finished wood.

The chair not finish yet the seat cushion needs to be made and that is for another post.