April 5, 2012

take a seat part 4

Raise your hand if you have a half dressed couch in your garage. Wahoo!

I'm feeling good. I'm in control, as 80's Janet Jackson would say. I made legitimate progress, and there wasn't even excessive cussing. (no more than the normal daily amount that is)

But you are looking for the details, so lets go back to where we last left off.

My lovely little settee was sanded, primed and given two wonderful coats of black spray paint.

I have no idea what those hieroglyphics are btw
Fabric was purchased and my staple gun was ready. There was no busy work left. No more procrastinating or stalling. It was time to 'get to gettin'. 

I decided to start with the outside side panels. They didn't have any batting in them when I pulled the fabric off, so I thought it would be the most straight forward place to start.

I pulled the old smoke filled fabric out of the biohazard bag and laid it down on my pretty, new, clean linen to make my template.


I was sure to trace my line about an inch or so away from the template itself to give me a little wiggle room when installing.


Then I cut out my inaugural piece.

Next up was ironing out any and all wrinkles.


Then folding over and ironing the edges for one staple ready template.


Now I don't profess to know a stinkin thing about upholstery (as we've established) so maybe this is common but I was thrilled to have these wonderful pre-paved roads for me to follow. They were like a big neon sign, "Hey rookie, staple your fabric here!"

don't worry, all old staples were removed before new stapling began

I eyeballed the positioning of the template, making sure that all sides would be covered. Then I lit a candle, turned on Pandora and got to stapling.

One staple at the top, the bottom, left side and then the right to hold the fabric in place. And then back to each side, pulling, holding, stapling.

Lather, rinse, repeat.


Some staples wouldn't go in all the way, as you can see. So I'd have to pull it out and restaple. But again, not nearly as bad as I had feared (so far).

It actually went a lot quicker than I had planned (knock on wood). So quick in fact that I got both outside sides down in just a little over an hour.


High and tight - just like a good soldier haircut.

I will pause now so you can raise the roof with me.


There was a bit of excess to trim, but for the most part, the template did a great job of using just the right amount.

Already a vast improvement from her former life and she's only gonna get better.



Only one small change of plans so far. I'd originally thought I would do nailhead trim but my little paved roads are too wide for the nailhead. It looks like I'll have to go the piping route. Which means a dip into the sewing pool. Damn. I'm not ready for swimsuit season.

Next up, we'll go inside - arms, back and seat baby. Oh yeah.

17 comments:

  1. Looks awesome! Piping is super simple... you can do it!

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  2. Looking great! It might be a good thing to use piping, nailheads are a pain in the neck to align!

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  3. Wow, what a project! Great job, can't wait to see the finished product!

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  4. Looks great so far - I have only done a couple upholstery projects myself - that one looks like quiet the undertaking - good luck you have a great start! Can't wait to see it!

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  5. I have a fully dressed couch in my garage in bad need of a major reupholstery job. Can I still raise my hand? Awesome work so far - can't wait to see how it turns out!

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    1. Raise your hand high Amelia! This couch was in our garage long before this too. lol

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  6. You are doing an awesome job, I have tutorials for all of this on my blog under upholstery class.

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    1. Thanks Linda. I was just going thru your tutorials yesterday actually. Reading about how much cush for tush to get. :) You've been a great help!

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  7. I totally admire your willingness to boldly wade into unfamiliar swamps. We share the same "How hard can it be?" mentality and you are inspiring me to do something crazy.

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  8. It's going to be gorgeous!! I'm so impressed with your DIY ability. Have you done this before? Every time I try DIY it's huge fail!

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    1. Thanks Jennifer, its been a lot of fun...so far. And nope, this is my first attempt at a big DIY project like this. I've done little things but nothing to this scale. And trust me, if I can do it, you can! :)

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  9. woah! Big project!! I'm excited to see how it turns out.

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  10. You are braver than I! I can do slipcovers & seat cushions, but the back of your settee would scare the bejezers out of me to even attempt! Lookin' good!

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    1. That might work out perfectly Cris as the seat cushion is the part I'm the most worried about as that involves actually sewing! Any advice on that is appreciated :)

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  11. I would be feeling SO proud of myself if I were you. I can't believe it! Love the way the black paint job turned out, by the way. And it looks awesome with the linen. I'm following closely. If the rest looks as doable (I didn't say easy!) as this step, I'm going to take the plunge myself.
    Camille

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    1. I'm feeling pretty good about it Camille (knock on wood). I'm working on the inside arms and back this week so we'll see how that goes.

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