Bits & Bobs - DIY Tub Chair Upholstery Project

I found this lovely retro chair by a skip over a year ago and have now found some time to start renovating it. I thought why not photograph the process as I go along and write a little DIY tub chair re-upholstery project post. Having covered dining table chairs and made many a cushion and even re covered an Ercol 2 seater sofa in the past, upholstering is definately a skill i'm very excited about... but am also definitely self taught and this project went a little further down the freestyle route than I had planned! Never the less I hope you'll agree its a great start...

I do not have all of the specialist tools but instead in true thrifty style decided to use the things I have at home including an upholstery staple gun which belongs to my Nan, a 1950's curtain from Heal's given to me years ago by my Mum, a small screw driver, small hammer with a claw end for removing nails, and some good scissors.

 Cat damage!

I started by using the screw driver to lever off the woven leather trim covering the upholstery tacks and the the old fabric.

There were too many tacks that were very old underneath the fabric so I just hammered them in as flat as possible.

The woolly wadding though pretty tired seemed ok to keep and lay back onto the sprung base once all the nails were either removed or secured.

Once removed I laid the old fabric onto the new and cut around it as a template... leaving a big 3inch seam allowance so I could fold it over and then staple down creating as many neat edges as possible.

Starting on the flat front edge on the underside/lip of the chaire I stapled all along the front leaving 1.5 ish Inches between each staple.

Next I went to the opposite rounded edge and pulled the fabric very taught over the top of the seat and stuffing before flipping it over again to now staple in the same way. The only difference here being to remember to keep pulling the fabric, then folding and staple along. When I got to the curve I pleated and continued to staple. The front corners folded like a bed sheet! ie fold the side edges in and the front facing flap over that and secure to hide any excess.

Now time to Trim back any edges that could not be folded neatly under before stapling (like where I pleated to ease the fabric into the curve. Sshh no one will see its on the underside.)

Stage one of my retro chair revamp complete! I also made a small rectangle pillow which I will post about later. I decided to leave the paintwork the same for now as I have a matching bed side cupboard but if you have any suggestion give me a shout!