Reupholstery: Assembling New Cover

The two panels each consisted of one layer of vinyl, one layer of foam, one layer of burlap and a thin layer of material that should have been stretchy, jersey fabric but I used a sheet. The sheet fabric didn't really serve its purpose since it had no stretch and I won't be using that material for the back covering.

Sewing this material was tricky because it wouldn't slide under the presser foot smoothly so in order to sew I had to use tissue paper and put that between the top layer of vinyl and the presser foot. I actually started with paper towel because that was all I had, but for the second panel I used old gift wrapping tissue paper which was so much easier to remove from the stitches later.

Here you can see the paper towel stuck in the stitches. I grabbed a small cup of water to dip my fingers in and once the paper towel became a bit wet, it was much easier to remove. My mother suggested using oil when sewing with this material so that the presser foot would slide easier across the vinyl but I wouldn't suggest that method unless the project was for an outdoor slipcover or something that would see weather. I didn't want to use that method for an indoor chair like this one.

Here is the second panel. You can see the layers and the sewing lines I drew across the top. This was necessary to keep the lines straight since theses panels were pretty thick.

There are the two finished panels. I sewed across the edges as well so that I had lines to follow when I sandwiched the pieces together and sewed up the side seams. This ensured that there would be no gaps in the vinyl.

I sewed the bottom seam first and reinforced that seam a few times after I added the ties to the back. As I mentioned in some past posts, I am using a 99k Singer machine. These machines are very strong and will sew through most anything you can fit under the presser foot. The right needle is also important - I am using a larger sized denim needle and heavy duty upholstery thread. I didn't break any needles, I am thoroughly impressed with my luck.

Here you can see the old ties and how those were assembled. It was much easier to sew through the two layers because the burlap was against the presser foot and the feed dog.

These ties are actually tied around the base of the structure to anchor the seat cover.

Here you see the burlap seat is stapled in place. I have to rip holes in the back of this piece to wrap the ties through and I might add a second layer to this seat piece to add strength.

Here is the finished cover before it will be tied and stapled to the chair frame. Yay it's done!!

The next step is to secure padding around the circular rim before the cover goes in place. Updates on other projects to follow and then the final assembly!

 

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