Bee Chair Project

moments into demolition

I signed up for a "bring your own chair" upholstery class at a local fabric store (Pacific Fabrics). I picked a format that was two all-day Saturdays and yesterday was my first class. I took along one of Mimi's bee chairs. They've been a fixture in our living room but the fabric was getting a bit thin and worn. Covering furniture has always sounded interesting but definitely not something I wanted to try to make up as I went along. This class sounded like the perfect format. You bring in your chair and the instructor works with you on how to re-cover it.

I'm not going to leave the class with a broad knowledge of how to upholster but I will know exactly how to take apart a bee chair and re-do it. The first step was dismantling the entire thing down to the bones. For the first two hours of the class I did nothing but pull staples. Hundreds of them, holding on layers of fabric and batting and burlap and welting. Only one blister though!

Once the fabric was off I started sneezing, which was a good indicator that the stuffing needed to be replaced. It looked aged and not terribly beat up but on the instructor's tip I pulled it off and we're going to re-pad the chair with a bit more cush to make it even more comfortable when it's done. I also learned that the price of the class is totally worth it because the instructor brought his air compressor and staple gun. The amount of staples you use is astonishing, and using that gun requires almost no effort.

stripped down completely, ready for new work

Next came off the webbing that compressed the springs. It got replaced with new webbing and I used a nifty curved upholstery needle to tack the springs on with knots so that they would absolutely positively not slide around.

Mimi had used cardboard to form the armrests and I took that off to modernize the structure a bit using burlap and padding. It will look pretty much the same when finished but will be more comfortable.

Mimi's curly handwriting

Then I carefully ironed flat all of the fabric I had removed from the chair and used those to cut out replacement pieces on the new fabric. Didn't get any sewing done, but that is my homework for the next two weeks until my final class. There are a few pieces that I can sew (the rest are stapled to the chair and I'll do that in class) and I need to make ten (!) yards of welting. I think I'll also try to make the replacement back pillow, since that will be an exact reproduction and is all sewing no stapling.

New spring ties, webbing, and burlap. Looking good so far!