Reupholstering the Antique Winged Chair:Finishing the chair.

After posting all those articles on my chair, I am reaching the end of the project. The seat cushion is the only thing left to do before I loaded it up in the car and brought it home. The original cushion was gone except for the cover when I picked it up from past owner. The cover did have some feathers clinging to the inside cover. Alaine and I discussed that we should stuff the new cushion with down feathers. She was thinking that one feather pillow would fill the cushion. So off I went looking for a feather pillow and I found that stores like Target, Kmart, and Shopko had pillows with a foam cord and feathers surrounding it. The pillows were more expensive than a down feather comforter which was discounted after Christmas last year. I brought I queen size comforter to fill the cushion.

A ticking cover was the first thing that I made to stuff the comforter in. The comforter filled out the cover nicely giving the cushion a firm and cosy feeling.

The one side of the cushion used the Orono Redwood fabric with a Jacobean leafy print on it and the garnet colored velour fabric was used to finish it off. The top and bottom seams had the gold and garnet colored cording sew into it. This is the same cording I used on the arms. I left a opening large enough to squeeze the cushion into it and then finished hand sewed it together.

The pictures below show what the chair looked like before
and after all the work was done.

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.

Part III Reupholstering the Antique Winged Chair: Putting on the Good Stuff

The first thing to do on the inside arms was to pad the arm cap with a thin layer of cotton batting and staple it in place. The cotton batting is split in half about 1/4-inch from the edge and then staple. The top half of the cotton is place over the staple. The fabric was layered over the cotton and tacked in place. Once the fabric was lined up with the tacks, I stapled it permanently and cut the fabric around the stained wood. I had problems cutting the fabric close to the finished wood. First, I used a razor blade and found the fabric pulled back from the edge showing some of the muslin and polyester filling. Alaine, my teacher, suggested using a good pair of scissors would work much better and edges did show less when using the scissors.







The wing part of the chair is above the arm cap and everything below is the arm section. Each of these section is a separate cut piece. I cut all the arm pieces from the garnet colored velour fabric. I brought this wonderful cording to sew between the inside arm and wing pieces. The cording also wraps around the inside and outside of the arm cap.

Once the two-piece were sewed together, I lined the cording along the cap's edge. I used t-pins to hold the fabric in place before lifting the arm fabric over the cap to secure it in place with staples. The picture below shows how I pinned the fabric in place. On the seat you can also see the gimp braid I will be using to cover the fabric raw edge next to the stained wood.




Now that the center line is securely in place, it is the usually tucking, cutting, before tacking the piece in place. This time I will be tacking the bottom arm fabric to the seat frame not the arm. Doing this keeps object from slipping in between the inside & outside arm fabric and gives the chair a smoother look with fewer gaps. I did the same thing when attaching the back bottom to the frame. The back section of the arm and wing were also tack to the back wood supports f achieving the same results. The last thing I did was stapling everything in place.

Here is a picture showing how not to do the back. I had to pull tacks out of the arm and pull the fabric to the back support.







The inside chair is now done and the outside arms except some trimming and gluing the gimp on. The chair's back, cushion and dust cover are what is left to do.

Part II Reupholstering the Antique Winged Chair: Putting on the Good Stuff

Now it is time to work on the inside back with that beautiful Orono Redwood fabric with a Jacobean leafy print on it. Using the old inside back fabric as a pattern, I cut the fabric large enough to cover the back. I prefer to mark the center of the fabric at the top, bottom, left, and right sides. The chair is marked in the same places. Then fabric is centered on the back of the chair and a tack is placed at each mark. Once that is done, check to see if the fabric is long and wide, enough cover the back. If the fabric is a little short sew on a scrap piece of fabric, this will be used as a pull. The pull will not be seen but it will make it easier to put the piece on. After it is lined up, I start tacking from the center to the side arms on the bottom and top of the piece. After much pulling, tacking, cutting, and folding, the fabric around the frame and the back is smoothly in place, can I consider the job done. The first picture shows the tacking and the other the finished back.















The two inside arms are next to be done but there is a lot more to described so I will leave it to the next posting.

Preparing for Winter

These last two months I have been winterizing my house which usually involves a very long "TO DO LIST".

1. Remove all the wooden screens, clean windows put in the wood storm windows and caulk them all in with removable silicone. Done mid-October
2. Clean three-season porch window and cover inside and outside with plastic. Outside: done mid-October. Inside: Not Done.
3. Clean up flower garden: Pretty much done if it snows tomorrow no big deal.
4. Clean up vegetable garden: Done except cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, Swiss chard, and beets. Brussels sprouts are the last to harvest; I do it around Thanksgiving.
5. Roll up and store fencing around the vegetable garden: Done late-October except the garden with the beets.
6. Clean shed so I can put yard furniture in it. Done 11/2/2010
7. Put front porch cushions up in the attic. Done 11/2/2010.
8. Clean gutters: Done mid-October but after the big wind storm the white pine needle fill the gutter up again. Hopefully, I will get it done tonight.
9. Put in a fan in the bathroom: I have cut and installed the roof vent. Partly installed the fan in the bathroom ceiling: Waiting for the electrician to do the wiring before permanently caulking it in.
10. Clean inside windows and putting caulk cording around the windows. Not Done
11. Check for gaps between where sliding and fountain meet. Last winter I found large gaps where the sliding corners came together over the fountain. I had moisture condensing in those areas in the house. I found approximately 1/4 to 1/2 inch gap between them and could push the foam straw up about 2 to 3 inch up the sliding on the north side. Done
12. Clean bird feeder and put heater in birdbath: Not done.

I got most of the list done, so I no longer feel rushed and worry that I will not finish before the snow come.

Reupholstering the Antique Winged Chair: Putting on the Good Stuff

After tying spring, laying batting and covering all of it with muslin, I can finally start covering the chair with the good fabric. The chair was originally covered with a black mohair and had a floral pattern mohair on the inside back and one side of the seat cushion. The fabrics I picked out to cover the chair was from Barrow Industries a garnet colored velour for everything except the inside back and one side of the seat cushion. The velour fabric on the inside back was called Orono Redwood with a Jacobean leafy print on it.
I cut out the nosing and decking. Nosing is the fabric that shows in the front of the chair between the arms and under the cushion. The decking is a piece of fabric which never shows since it is always covered by the cushion. In the picture below, you can see where they are sewed together. I was very luckily that Alaine (my teacher) had an extra piece of fabric to use for the decking that complements the nosing.
The decking and nosing are sewed together and the seam is place just in front of the arms. The seam is pinned to the seat. The piece is then backed stitched in place along the seam line. Sewing the piece to the seat keeps the nosing stable and in place. I tacked the nosing in place except for the fabric above the shell carving about the leg. This area the fabric has several tucks in it and each side the tucking must match the other. It takes time and patience to match it.











Next, I tucked the decking along the seat to determine where to cutting the fabric, so it would lay smoothly around the arm supports and back frame. The outside arm picture show you where I needed to make my "Y" cuts in the decking before I pull the fabric between the arm and seat. When I put the muslin on the arm, I tacked the muslin to the seat. Therefore, I needed to pull the tacks out before I pulled the fabric through the arm and seat opening. Then I started pulling and smoothing the fabric before tacking it in. Below is the picture of the finished seat.

Reupholstering the Antique Winged Chair: Inside arms

In between working on the seat and back. I found time to wrap webbing around the inside arms. This adds stability and strengthens the arms for the new layers that will be added to it.


A foam layer was added next, I cut two-piece for each side. One piece was for the arm (armrest height to the seat) and the wing section (area above armrest. This was stapled into place and trimmed to size. Cotton was use to fill in the gaps/dents where the two pieces meet. The cotton batting was the last layer to cover the arms and wings. The cotton batting was also wrapped beyond the blue foam and covered the wooden arm post in front.

As show for the seat and back muslin is used to hold all the layers together and makes a smooth surface to put the upholstery fabric over. After all this work, preparing the surface I finally can start putting on the good stuff. I am saving that for the next time.