When my client called and said she had four chairs, office-style, but used in her dining room, that had separate seat and back cushions, I told her I'd have to come and look at them. Clearly, this is a reupholstery job, but I thought I could do the back cushion with a slipcover. Ha!
I knew the seat, though rounded and curved in a way that isn't obvious in these pictures, would be challenging, but, basically, it was just a wrapped seat with welting along the bottom edge. No problem.
I had to remove the old fabric, which just means a lot of pulling the old staples out with needle-nose pliers. It also gives me a pattern for the new fabric. Even after I took the fabric off the backs, I still thought I could slipcover it and then staple it on at the bottom. Again, ha! I tried doing it that way, but it simply did not work. So, I went to UFO to get the metal spiky pieces (don't even know what they are called since I do NOT do upholstery!) and while there I inquired as to the cost of having 4 chairs, with seat and back cushions done, just in case.
What also isn't completely obvious in the pictures is how curved the backs actually were. I tried and tried to do them. I spent so much time and effort, and in the end, I had to take the backs down to UFO to be done by professionals. No matter how I tried, I could not get them to work. It's not like I didn't already know this, but, truly, I am able to do the very simplest of upholstery. Anything more, I do not have the ability to do. I did lose money on the job, and I learned a valuable lesson...leave the reupholstering to those who actually do reupholstering!
