Upholstering A Bench - Photo Tutorial

I finished reupholstering a bench for a client.  I'll show you how I did it, step by step in photos.

The bench to be reupholstered. 

Behind the bench are two more projects.  A round table with round drawer purchased for $10 at a garage sale.  And, leftover gray chevron fabric recovering four more chairs for the art studio. 

Laying the bench on its side, looking at the construction, there are six tabs and screws holding the fabric top to the bench frame.

It doesn't seem possible spending half and hour just to remove stubborn staples.

Sometimes you can grab a hunk of fabric and lift off the staples and fabric in one tough jerk. 

But for heavier or stubborn staples a cat's paw pry tool works wonders.  Cat's paw tool costs just under $4.00 at Hancock Fabrics. 

Using the cat's paw to lift staples.

 This is a dusty job, sneezey job removing the old fabric.

Measuring and cutting new soy foam.

Attaching batting over the foam

I look at this assembly on my dining room table.  It is the table and room where I do all my sewing projects. 

 I can't help but think what a pleasure it will be to have the sewing room in the studio, and my old wood dining room table with leaves will be a layout table for future projects like this one.

With zipper foot tight against the 3/8" cotton cord I begin sewing the piping.

Here's a tight shot showing the the piping being sewn.

Measuring for the top panel, and finding the center to mark side seams.

The bench top is 41 inches long by 20" deep.

Below: joining piping seams.

Overlap piping by one inch

Remove stitches on left piece of piping, snip one inch of piping cord.  The snipped cord (left) immediately retracts to meet the piping cord on the right exactly.  Works every time!

At the left, turn piping material 1/4" inward to make a hem (shown held in place here with white head pin (top).

Fold the left side of piping downward. 

Secure with pins.  There you have it.  The two cords are joined and ready for a couple of stitches to secure.

I used this flat carpenter's pencil to show the center of the fabric (location for side seams, and piping seams).

This is the piping seam, pinned now to the top of the seat panel.

I spent time snipping the piping, careful not to cut the stitch line that holds the piping in place.  I make snips at one inch intervals.  This helps the piping relax, allowing it to be pinned to the top seat panel, and making the curves easy to pin and stitch.

With the piping pinned to the top seat panel, I try a quick fit before permanently stitching piping.  You'll want the fit to be snug.

These next photos show the process of stitching the piping to the top seat panel. Be sure to remove pins as you stitch along.  Pins are meant to keep fabric in position.  Removing the pins as you go along allows the piping to relax and lay smooth flawlessly against the seat panel fabric as you stitch.

Approaching the corners, attended by three pins.  1) before the curve, 2) at the center of the corner, and 3) completing the curve and down the straightway.

The first pin removed.

The second pin removed, the machine needle is in the down position, the presser foot is lifted, allowing the fabric to be turned. 

The turn is made and stitching on the straightway continues until reaching the next corner.

Above: the top seat panel has the piping attached.  Now I lay the side wall panel on top.  Placing pins snug against the piping, pressing the fabric with my fingers.

Below: you can see pinning the side wall panel.  Placing 3 pins at the corner, the same technique as the piping was pinned and stitched.

After stitching was complete.  I fitted the seat cover over the foam/batting/board form, and stapled the fabric to the board. 

It rained, and rained during the month of June delaying sanding and painting the bench frame.  Finally, I took the frame to the basement and set up a TV tray to complete the paint job. I sanded and wiped down the frame prior to spraying the paint.

Two coats of Valspar black satin enamel (sanding and wiping down between coats), then a final coat of polyurethane clear satin finish.  The secret to a "silky smooth to the touch finish" is sanding and wiping down between coats).

 

Here's the finished bench, sitting in the foyer for a couple of days.  I'll deliver the bench to the client on Friday.

Below is a sign I have at home to welcome guests.

Art Studio - Flooring Installation Done!

Jon finished laying the floor in the art studio on Monday.  I vacuumed up the dust and snapped these photos.  Next weekend I think Jon will install the tabletop height (30") L shaped countertop in the sewing room (west dormer).

I'm standing in the west dormer looking into the northeast corner of the art studio.  The center north wall will have a countertop and some frame storage below.  Northwest corner floor to ceiling will be a built in unit for canvas storage.  Jon installed one of the three fans this past weekend.  Sure makes a difference in this 95-100 degree weather.

Above is the south wall.  At the ceiling (left) you can see S curve 3-bulb light fixture.   14 more light fixtures to install.  Two soft white compact fluorescent bulbs in positions 1 & 3 on the 3-bulb light fixture to point to artwork on the walls. And position 2 will be a special 5000K  75 watt bulb to be pointed down at a student's easel.

 Student easels will be arranged egg crate style, to accommodate 10-12 students.  A nice class size is 8 students.  12 students in a class is tough work.

Standing in the middle of the studio, I turned toward the west dormer (sewing room). 

The east dormer elevator shaft. 

 The west dormer sewing room.

I have 5 vintage wrought iron and vinyl chairs for the studio.  This weekend I purchased this 5'x7'charcoal rug that will be in the east dormer when you get off of the elevator.  Should help keep the floors cleaner (I hope).

Above: a detail of the 5 vintage chairs I purchased at Reflections (vintage/antiques shop) in Nelsonville, WI.

Close Up of the vinyl fabric

Below: I found 4 chrome  chairs at a garage sale--$2.75 each.  Oh my goodness, did they ever stink!  I was glad to pull off old fabric and foam, make pattern, and re-upholster them. I used brand new foam for the chair upholstering projects.

I pulled the old fabric and foam off, and made paper patterns from the new materials.

Here is one of 4 chrome chairs (finished) I re-upholstered for the studio.  What a fight to the finish and punished my fingers trying to stuff the fabric cover over the foam of the back rest.  I almost wanted to give up. 

NEVER GIVE UP!

Below:  I found side two chairs (garage sale) $5 each, deconstructed them, and re-upholstered them for the studio.  They'll be waiting chairs for the east dormer as you get off the elevator.

They smelled so bad the day I bought them and drug them home I could hardly stand to have them in the car to drive home! 

While deconstructing the chairs, I asked for Jon's help--they were so dusty I had to stop and put on a face mask--I couldn't stop coughing from the dust.  I photographed the deconstruction to have reference photographs to re-upholster the chairs. 

The chrome chairs and these two side chairs were my first attempts at chair re-upholstering.  

Love the gray chevron weave fabric. I used up every scrap of this material to recover two identical chairs.   AND used the left over material to make purses!

The south end of the studio.  The natural gas heating unit will hang from the ceiling in the corner and controlled by thermostat. 

Again, here's the sewing room, west dormer

Instead of the light bulb shown in this photo, there will be a ceiling fan.

I'll continue to add photos as we move along and finish the window and baseboard trim.  The exterior wood siding (same style as the old barn) needs to be installed before the end of summer. 

I have a special surprise to show you for wet canvas storage--that storage should be finished about the same time the window and baseboard is installed.  I think you'll really dig it.