Upholstery Class: Week 6

Happy Valentines day Nesters!  I hope you all get a smooch today! Whether it be on the smacker from your beloved, on the cheek from your Aunt Ida, or air kisses from your gal pals! Everyone deserves a smooch on Valentines day, so go get one!

the hot sheet

As you may know, I take this little Upholstery Class every Saturday. {And if you follow me on Twitter, you would have seen a live shot of the my work while I was working!}  So here we are back on Monday so lets get to showing you exactly what went down...

Here's how I left Satine last week.  You'll notice the that the corners haven't been pleated yet, so that was step numero uno in class. 

I flipped it on its back to be able to see what I was working on. See the springs and all?  I had to make another fearful, cringe-worthy cut into the fabric like I did last week.  With Kevin and Pamela's guidance, I carefully snipped away.  The goal was to clip it so that I could curl this part under, creating a clean line against the leg of the chair. 

Getting this snugly against the leg takes a little strength.  Make sure to use the palm of your hand to smooth the fabric toward the corner. The tighter you make this, the cleaner the pleating will be on your corners. Tack that tightly in place, right near where my thumb is.

Now, start with creating and pin-tacking the top pleat. Now, when it comes to pleats, I'm familiar with making clothes where there are no rules. Pleats can go upside down, inside out and backwards!  However, when I asked Kevin if I could make a box pleat he looked at me like I had 11 heads.  Apparently, in the upholstery biz, pleats always face downward.  This is partially because it looks better, but mainly for wear {Imagine tushes standing up, pull the fabric in the same direction as the pleat when they are facing down.}  and the fact that when facing down, pleats wont collect any dust or dirt! Brilliant! Why didn't I think of that?

It looked pretty good, if I do say so myself. {NB: Remember, I have panels that will be added to the sides of this chair, so I didn't have to wrap my fabric all the way around the edges and onto the bottom like most chairs.  I just stopped at the sides.}  It looked so good in fact that we made it permanent by busting out the staple gun!

After I completed both sides of pleating, I moved onto the inside back of the chairs. First, I measured out a layer of cotton batting.  I carefully placed it on the back, as to set it in the appropriate place the first time, to avoid having to move it much afterward.  I feathered the sides out to the edges, and tucked it under.  I then added a second layer of cotton batting on top of it and feathered out beyond that layer. 

I tucked the cotton in the back transition seam, causing HUGE MESS! This chair will need to have a lint roller that lives next to it.  I didn't need to staple this in because it clung on so well to itself, so I excitedly added my inside back cut of velvet!

YAYYYYY! Finally, my first glimpse of what Satine will look like! Again, while putting this layer on, I had to be careful to add it right the first time, or adjusting, it would also remove the cotton or could make it lumpy. 

I was so engrossed in my work, I didn't document my next step of clipping and pleating the transition line for the inside back. Boo!! What was I thinking!? Bad blogger, Gina... BAD! 

Needless to say, I have made progress this week, but have a whole lot more to do in the next two classes!  I hope I can get it all done!!  EEK!  So there you have it Nesters, week 6 of upholstery class!  I hope you enjoyed it! I've got some interesting treats for you later on this week, so stay tuned! 

Happy Valentines Day!

SMOOCH!