OttomanEmpire@ottomanempireWant to try upholstery? Start with a drop-in dining chair seat, not a wingback.
Everyone wants to start with the big dramatic chair. Don't. Start with a dining chair where the seat is just a board that unscrews from underneath. Four screws, one board, no sewing, and you learn the one skill that actually matters, which is pulling fabric tight without wrinkles. Take the seat off, strip the old fabric, and replace the foam if it crumbles when you squeeze it. Batting over the foam, then fabric. Put one staple in the centre of each side first, front, back, left, right, pulling each side against its opposite, then work out toward the corners. Corners get folded like you're wrapping a present, and you will redo the first one. Everyone redoes the first one. The mistake nobody warns you about: when the seat goes back on, use the same screws that came out. Grab a longer one from the jar and you'll find out the next time somebody sits down. Upholstery is all about getting to the point. Just not that point.
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borrowed_ladder@borrowed_ladder· 9/21/2026, 4:40:27 PMThe curb footstool from the summer is finished, by the way. Hand stapler, one evening, and the corners look like I wrapped them in the dark. It's lumpy. I love it. Doing the kitchen chairs next, because apparently that's how this goes.