Back in December I went and looked at a chair to see if I thought I could re-upholster it. The client knew that I had never worked with leather but he was willing to have me work on the chair and I was willing to try. So the process of finding the right leather began. I brought him several samples and let him know what the estimated costs would be. Then after seeing my couch and chair, he changed him mind and wanted to look at samples of microfiber. I ordered the samples from a website I love and because of computer trouble on their end, it took over a month to get the samples. I took the samples over to my client and after a week or two he brought them back and informed me that he didn't really like any of them. I told him that if he found the leather he wanted to let me know. I didn't really think I would see him again, or at least not for the re-upholstery job. Then about a month ago he told me that he had found some leather and asked if I was still willing to work on the chair. I told him I would look at it again and talk to an upholsterer friend of mine to make sure I was not getting in over my head.
I was quite nervous about working with leather. Unlike fabric, when you make a needle hole in leather it is permanent, so mistakes are not an option. After speaking with my friend she told me I could handle it "no problem". So I took the job and started taking the chair apart on the the 28th of May. When I got into the chair I started to panic. Before I took the job I knew that the chair was actually three slip covers but I assumed that they were just leather with a stuffed edge of dacron (thick batting). It was not!! It was leather, one inch of foam, one inch of dacron, and a layer of lining. That in itself was enough of a problem, but to top it off, I was going to have to sew through all those layers with a decorative top stitch and I knew that my sewing machine was not going to be able to handle it. The realization that I was in over my head and then trying to figure out what I was going to do gave me a week of stress and a lot of prayer. But my prayers were answered in the form of my mother. She came to visit and I kept her locked up in my house helping me with my project. As the job progressed I realized that there would have been no way for me to finish the project without an extra set of hands to hold the many layers of foam and fabric under the sewing machine. Several times she apologized saying "I am sorry, I feel like all I am doing is standing here holding things". But without someone to hold "things" I dont believe that I would have been able to finish. Thank you so much Mom.
I forgot to take pictures of the chair before I started taking it apart but these few pics should give you an idea of what shape the leather was in.
This picture shows what I ment by slip cover. As you can see, the foam is covered by the slip cover and then the cover is attached to the foam by buttons that go all the way through the foam and attach the top of the cover to the bottom.
This shows the layers of material and that material was very flat after 20 years of use. What I replaced it with was about twice as thick.
So this is the finish project. I must admit that I am happy with how it turned out. I was not able to do the top stitching but it was decorative and I think it actually looked better with out it. I loved the leather but the color he picked didn't go very well with the color of the wood. The wood needs to be refinished but that was not my job.
So what did I learn from this project? First, I will NEVER do another chair like this, NEVER, NEVER, NEVER!! Second, leather is not scary, it is actually kind of fun to work with and third, stressing this much over a project is not worth it, I need to just do my best and be happy with that.
I forgot to take pictures of the chair before I started taking it apart but these few pics should give you an idea of what shape the leather was in.
This picture shows what I ment by slip cover. As you can see, the foam is covered by the slip cover and then the cover is attached to the foam by buttons that go all the way through the foam and attach the top of the cover to the bottom.
This shows the layers of material and that material was very flat after 20 years of use. What I replaced it with was about twice as thick.
So this is the finish project. I must admit that I am happy with how it turned out. I was not able to do the top stitching but it was decorative and I think it actually looked better with out it. I loved the leather but the color he picked didn't go very well with the color of the wood. The wood needs to be refinished but that was not my job.
So what did I learn from this project? First, I will NEVER do another chair like this, NEVER, NEVER, NEVER!! Second, leather is not scary, it is actually kind of fun to work with and third, stressing this much over a project is not worth it, I need to just do my best and be happy with that.
