Upholstery Class Week 8

Upholstery class is so much fun!

I just found out today that practically everyone else in the class has signed up for the next session.

And I didn't!

boo hoo

and it's full.

I don't know if I'll actually finish my chair in the next two weeks

which is a little stressful.

Because the finishing part is the part you really want to get right.

So after all this time

I'd hate to go home and wing it and end up unhappy.

I did make arrangements to meet an hour early with the instructor

for the next two weeks.

So hopefully that adds enough time that I can get done.

I still have to:

finish the back

add the tufting/buttons

put the fabric on the outside of the arms and back

and make a cushion!

Let's be honest...

I'm doomed.

This week, almost everyone in the class is at the point of really needing help.

So there was more waiting around for my turn to get advice on the next step.

I do try to make sure to watch what she's telling other people so that even if I'm not able to work on my project at that moment, at least I'm learning.

Here is what I did this week:

The first thing I did was to make my covered buttons.

I've tried making covered buttons from the kits you can buy at the store

and they never work out.

they break or the fabric bunches up.

Here at the school they have this handy dandy machine that made it easy

and the buttons look awesome.

Aren't they cute?

At the end of last class I had cut the fabric for the arms.

I had to tuck the fabric in and find the places to make the cuts for tucking it into the chair.

I tacked it in place on the back side so that it would stay put while I did the inside.

Here is my instructor Kathleen showing me how and where to make the cuts on the arm.

Then she made me do the other side.

I then tacked the fabric in place.

This chair has exposed wood arms so I have to pull it tight and get it neatly into the groove by the wood.

I pushed the excess fabric down into the chair

in the back and sides

Here is the corner the instructor did:

Here is the corner I did:

Yeah.

So the trick is to make cuts in the fabric to go around the wood

don't cut too close

but don't cut too far away either.

When I watch her cut and then tuck the fabric

I can see that a lot of this comes with learning

how it should feel as you pull the fabric tight.

Practice.

So here are the arms all tucked and tacked.

Ready for staples

Here is the back of the chair.

looks crazy right now.

But all these things are pulled through

and then stapled

Then I cut off the excess after its all stapled down.

I got to use the pneumatic stapler for this part

It is stronger and has a long nose on it to get into little spaces.

The front of the arm is all stapled and trimmed.

Next I measured and cut the fabric for the back of the chair.

I draped it to find the spots to cut

and made cuts so that I could push the center down into the chair and out the back

the sides will wrap around

I then marked where the fabric came around the arms

and cut it out 

(scary)

I made welting that will be sewn there so that it gives a nice edge all around the arm

Unfortunately, the bobbin ran out on the sewing machine so I wasn't able to finish this part.

The clocks in the classroom were not changed for daylight savings time

so we didn't realize it was time to stop

until it was REALLY time to stop

haha

This is where I was at the end of class

I'm going to sew the strips for the welting at home this week so that I can be ready to go  next Monday at 8 a.m.

So. Much. Fun.