Weekend DIY- Upholstered Victorian Chair

This past summer I was given this Victorian Chair from my parents:

I remember this chair use to be in my grandmothers home. She was a girly girl and loved pink. Yes...I am a girly girl also, but don't quite care for this faded salmon pink color.

I do however, love the carved details of this victorian beauty.

I decided I was going to tackle recovering this chair on my own. I found this light gray fabric from JoAnns. It was 50% off...so I couldn't resist.

I also thought it went well with the Euro Shams already made out of this dove fabric.

There were so many staples and nails in the chair that I decided to just cover over the pink fabric without trying to take it off. It would have taken me days if I had. I used a hammer to loosen up some staples and took them out so I would have room for the new ones.
{Sorry I don't have pics of the first couple of steps. I lost my blog brain that day.}

I then cut a large enough piece of fabric to cover the chair cushion plus 4 inches. I started stapling the front of the cushion. I had to keep pulling the fabric tight so it wouldn't pucker.

Once I had the whole seat covered and stapled, I trimmed up the sides with a pair of sewing scissors.

It then looked like this:

The seat turned out nice and tight, but the staples were pretty uneven. NO PROBLEM! I knew I was going to be covering them up with some sort of trim. I read many tutorials on how to sew double piping trim. It didn't seem that easy. So...when my mother-in law came to town this weekend, I asked for her help! She is the Sewer of all Sewers!

We decided it would take us all weekend just to do the piping, so we had a new plan of NO SEWING! HA!


We cut an inch and a half wide strip with the same fabric.

Then we tucked both sides over and gave it a good steam with the iron.

The Last step was the most FUN! We hot glued the trim to the chair and covered those ugly staples.

And the Finished Product.......

LOVE IT!

 We didn't even use a sewing machine! Not too bad for amateurs!

Before:                                                                       After:



I am looking forward to adding this little beauty to the Master Bedroom.

Thanks Mom H. for your help! It was a fun project!

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