chair reupholstery

i found this chair sitting on the sidewalk when i came to work one day and decided it was too good to pass up.  it's a mid-century eero saarinen executive chair knock off.  the vinyl upholstery was ripping off and the foam was gnarly, but it had good bones and i thought it would be cool to reupholster.  i've never reupholstered anything before, so i knew this was going to be interesting.

the first step was to rip all the nasty vinyl off which turned out o be more of a challenge than i bargained for.  it had a gazillion rusted staples in it and i only got half done before i had to give it a rest because i got two blisters.

i went to mood and got a really nice loose weave red canvas that i thought wood look awesome.

the original vinyl cover for the seat back was one piece.  i tried to lay the red fabric the same way, and it just wasn't working out.  luckily, the real executive chairs have two seams on the arms, so i decided to go that route.  i test drove it with brown fabric.  this is also the first time i've ever made a pattern by draping!

success!  the interior back worked out great.  then i had to figure out how to attach the exterior back fabric.  the original had this piece of aluminum that crimped the fabric and held it in place, creating a nice "seam" edge.  after doing another test or two i realized that the only way i was going to be able to do it was to bite the bullet and find the same kind of aluminum strip.

i found the strip, called "curve ease", from the same place i watched youtube videos on how to reupholster the chair: diyupholsterysupply.com!  it's a bendable strip of aluminum that you staple one side, wrap your fabric around the edge, catch it on the barbs, and hammer it closed.  that did the trick!

the cushion (i knew) was going to be the trickiest part.  the original seat cushion was stapled from the inside.  and no matter how i tried (and i tried lots) i couldn't figure out how to do it.  i settled on making a u-shaped wood strip that i could attach the fabric and padding to and then nail that to the fiberglass shell.  i put the nails in first, then wrapped the fabric, that way i could just hammer the finished cushion in place.

getting close!  once the cushion was nailed in all i had to do was wrap the "tongue" flap under the bottom and reattach the base.

oh yeah, baby!  i'm sure it's not the best upholstery job in the world, but it's my first attempt (no word yet on wether it will be my last.)  i originally thought i would fix it up and then sell it, but i've been wavering a little on that--even though we don't exactly have the room to take on more furniture.  for now i guess i'll just enjoy it in my studio.