Upholstery Class: Week 5

Heya Nesters!  Welcome back to Monday!  You know what Monday means... Upholstery Class recap!  It was week 5 {check out all my previous classes here.}  and it was nerve racking and exciting all at once.  After a fairly large {heart attack inducing}  investment in fabric a couple weeks ago, I walked into class bright and early to be greeted by Kevin's cheery query, "So, ready to cut?" I had the same sinking feeling I got when I made the first snip into my final fabric from my senior collection in college.  Do I really want to cut and therefore ruin this beautiful piece of fabric that I've put so much thought and moolah into?? That was what I was there for, right?  Carpe diem, Gina, carpe diem.  Just do it.

Because the class is so large, and the cutting table was occupied I was relegated to the basement to cut. It was actually kind of nice and peaceful being surrounded by some inspirational pieces under construction.  If they could cut, I certainly could too.

Before cutting you have to measure your piece. For Satine, I had to measure several pieces: The seat, inside back, outside back, seat panel and back panel.  For each of these you should measure and add 3" to the measurement to accommodate for overhang you will need to tack down. So, snip snip, there I went, measuring and cutting.

It only took me a few short minutes. But there was some "hmming" involved taking the nap of the mohair into account and by using a little yardage as possible.  After all my cutting was done, I probably have about a yard left. Plenty to make a pillow or two later!  So I resumed work at ground level with my lovely Satine.

You must start with the seat in order to allow for a clean transition line for the back. {I'll go into more detail about that next week.}  I marked the center of the seat itself and the center of the fabric, and matched them up, pin tacking them at both the front and back.  Once anchored, you can pin tack the entire front and back, running your hand over the seat, stretching the fabric to make it tight.

Here I am {freshly rolled out of bed and bleary-eyed} tacking away.  Say CHEESE! Start with the back, tacking and pulling through the back, then move to the front, tacking and pulling towards the front, smoothing the seat with the palm of your hand.  You will go back and forth between the front and back, removing and adding tacks, getting progressively tighter, several times.  Once I had my front and back tacked tightly, I slowly started smoothing the fabric towards the sides, in the same motion I just had used.

Next you will see, I clipped the sides, to flow around the back of the chair and continued on with the same motion I had all day. Smoothing... smoothing... smoothing.  Kevin was talking me through the clipping process and I was again overwhelmed by the scared feeling of "messing it up." But I bucked up and snipped because after all, I had enough fabric left over that I could cut a new piece if I needed to. Kevin was saying that it's very counter intuitive. Cuts will tend to be at much sharper angles than you would anticipate, and you will more likely than not, have to make a second cut, to reach the fabric around the curve. 

And here is what it looks like from the back. 

Fuzz aside, Satine is coming along nicely! I'm so happy she's got some fabric on her, and now I just want to see her complete! 

Here she is before I left her! It may not look like I accomplished much but I assure you, it was a jam packed 3 hours! Next week I'm hoping for the back to be done and to start some tufting! Hooray!! 

So there you have it Nesters, week 5 of upholstery class! Also, if you do live in the greater Boston area, Broadway Upholstery School {where I go} is  now accepting new students for the spring session! So be sure to head on over to their website and shoot them an email or give them a call to reserve your spot! Spaces are limited and classes are filled on a first come first serve basis. Maybe I'll see you there!! And if you do sign up, let me know! I'll be sure to say a hearty hello! <3

Happy Monday Nesters!