March 27, 2012by Kristin Jackson52 CommentsDecor, DIY, Upholstery

REINVENTING THE BERGERE: TUTORIAL

As you saw from my Inspiration post I wanted something a little different for my Craigslist Beauty.  So here is my little adventure in Chair Reupholstering…

The Before Shot:
Perfectly fine.  Red/Burgundy Paint with a Gold Glaze.  Traditional Upholstery.  Not hating on it at all… it’s just not my style. 

SO I RIPPED IT UP!!!

I secretly love this part of a project, because there is no going back now!  **But do take note of the way the layers are assembled while ripping.  That way you can reassemble them the same way later.**
After ripping carefully removing the upholstery (trying to keep as much of it intact as possible…you’ll appreciate it later) I shoved all of the fabric, foam & fluff into a garbage bag to reuse later.  It was all in good condition, which is not always the case.  If your filling is not in good shape, simply go out & replace the foam &/or the batting.  A lot of times, a new roll of batting will solve most issues.
The hardest part of this whole project was attempting to remove ALL of the staples.  I gave myself blisters doing this.  Blood, sweat & tears right?  Try & remove as many as you can.  There were definitely some stubborn ones that remained where they were.  The best tools I found for this was a skinny pair of needle nose pliers, a flat head screw driver & a pair of wire cutters.
I didn’t take pictures of the painting process, but it was pretty standard: Sand, Prime, Sand, Paint, Sand, Paint, Wax, Buff… Admire.  Yes, it is a lengthy process & completely worth it in the end.  I used my favorite Sherwin Williams ProClassic Paint which provides an enamel like finish.  LOVE this stuff.
Time to pull out the trash bag’o’fluff.  Find your original fabric scrap of the chair back & seat & use them as templates on your new fabric.  
Recognize my Schumacher Chaing Mai fabric?  These were pillows in my living room… well now pillow.  It was the perfect fabric for what I was going for… so I ripped carefully took apart my pillow – that I had made – & stapled it to the back of the chair. 

Pretty huh?  You don’t have to be perfect when using a staple gun.  This will all be covered in the end.  Just make sure you pull your fabric TIGHT!  I found that when stapling the seat I would end up removing a lot some staples to be able to get a tighter seat with no wrinkles or bunches.

The most difficult area was where the fabric met the curved front legs.  This involved a little pleating, which I didn’t feel to bad about, because the original had the same thing.  I used Waverly’s Seeing Spots in Noir for the inside seat & back.  Ikat polka dots?  Yes please.

My little inspector was making sure I had done a stellar job.  
After you have in all your staples go around & trim off your excess.
Now comes the trim.  You can use any kind of trim you would like.  Flat gimp cording is commonly used, but I wanted a double welt made from the same upholstery fabric.  There are plenty of tutorials out there on how to make it, but as you may remember from my 2012 Goals post, one of my goals is to LEARN how to use my 1941 Singer Sewing Machine.  A goal that has not been touched yet.  So I called my local upholsterers & asked if they would make it for me.  They said “Yes, that will be $10.”  umm… $10?!?  I couldn’t make it for that (having to buy the foot & the cording) SOLD!  
Simply hot glue on your trim.  Covering up your lovely staples. I did have to remove a staple or two that would have poked out from behind the trim.  Just being honest here!  The whole upholstery process took about three naptimes.  But could all be easily completed in 1 1/2 – 2 hours without interruption.
I am LOVING my polka dot chair.  Is it perfectly perfect? No.  Is it pretty darn close? Why yes it is!  Plus my total investment was less than $70.  
By the way… Honey & Fitz has created an amazing yardage cheat sheet.  This little tool is a graphic display of virtually every style of upholstered seating.  I highly recommend going over & either downloading it or pinning it, like I did!
{ Honey & Fitz }

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