Reupholstering a pair of tired wingbacks

My clients, Char and Emily, 

had these old wingbacks in a storage unit..

They were dirty and worn...

But well made.

And they had nice lines.

Emily wanted to invest in reupholstering them,

because they belonged to her grandparents.

 She had seen this piece I had blogged about a while back.

 And at first, 

she thought she wanted to use a similar ticking,

but then decided to just go neutral.

So I did a fabric search, and we decided on a great

oatmeal linen fabric from UFab.

These were the first wingbacks I've ever reupholstered.

And they've taken me a couple of months to do,

These are in Greenwood, at my mom's, 

so I've worked on them during my visits.

(Bless her - she let me turn her living room

into a workroom for the duration!!)

Deconstruction is the first phase......

I always try to keep the fabric pieces as templates,

but usually I never end up using them.......

I just position the fabric over the section and trim.

Once again,

order is important!
Seat first,

then front,

inside arms,

outside arms,

and back.

Here's the back after it's pulled taut and stapled.

These arms were challenging.....

After stapling, 

I added a flat edging I made from the fabric.

Then I added brass nail heads 

along the line on the inside arms.

...and around the curved back.

I also used nail heads on the top edge of the back.

I used gimp on all the other outside edges.

One is pretty much completed, 

except for the cushion....

Last weekend, 

I finally got around to the second one...

Same process.......E N D L E S S.

They look great though.

Underneath, instead of a traditional black dustcloth,

I used these outdoor fabric samples from Schumacher.

(Thanks, friend! You know who you are!!!)

I saved the cushions for last.....

 I edged banding with two rows of self piping on top and bottom,

then sewed that to the two pieces I cut for the cushion top and bottom.

You want to make the cushion covers tight,

or they'll look sloppy.

These have zippers in back so they can be 

removed for drycleaning.

I had to do a happy dance when these were completed.

My mom probably did one, too...

(She'll get her living room back!)

Revisit: BEFORE

And AFTER.

They'll be picked up this weekend,

heading to Atlanta.

Thanks, Char and Emily,

for the great project.

I love the way they turned out.

I hope you will, too!

SheShe, The Home Magician

Sheila Fox

sheilafox@aol.com

804-4092-4370