Upholstery Class - Day 5

I had a wonderful week in the beautiful but chilly city of Toowoomba. Everyone is so friendly.

Sofa upholstered by Tony, fellow student.

Friday was the final day of my upholstery class at the McGregor Winter School and while I didn't quite finish my chair, I am so pleased with what I've done and how much I did learn. I will reveal my chair once it's totally done but here's what went down on the last day.

Piping was made and stapled along the perimeter of the chair back. I didn't have any more hessian so a layer of calico was attached over that.

A layer of foam was cut to fit and attached next. Staples are always attached first to the bottom of the chair to prevent it slipping while you trim and stretch into place.

The foam and calico layers are not too close to the piping edge to allow plenty of room for the final layer and sewing it.

The final fabric layer is folded to fit and pinned to the chair back, close to the piping.

The fabric is then slipped stitched into place, either side of the piping, using a circular needle.

I started gathering some striped fabric that we screen-printed in the same Periwinkle colour for the chair's skirt. The original chair had pleats but I'm wanting a prettier and less formal look.

There is so much to learn in upholstery and I would never have done this without a professional guiding me. Seeing how much work was involved in all of the projects gives me a new appreciation for the art and understanding for the costs involved. I think I would still give a valuable chair to a professional to do.

Here are a couple of the other projects from fellow students (including top image).

Blanche and Prue sitting on a reupholstered sofa. Blanche found the original in a sorry state on the side of the road.

Prue entirely made two of these blanket boxes in the class! The tops are cow hides purchased from NSW Leather and the sides are microsuede. The insides were lined with calico. Prue had to tack every single upholstery tack in one by one. There were no shortcuts allowed in our class so Prue was not allowed to use the ones that come in multiples.

If you are looking for upholstery supplies, I found a great Australian website here that I will be ordering from so will let you know how the service is. The prices are really good.

You may read through my previous posts if you have missed any of the process. You may also like my Facebook page to keep up with updates.