Barrel Back Chair

I bought fabric a long time ago for these chairs. WAY back in this post, I talked about more to come with these chairs...that was in September of 2011. I had the fabric then. That tells you how busy life can get. I was all ready to go with those chairs and here it is February of 2013 and I just finished ONE chair!

These are the chairs before the makeover. I got the pair off craigslist for $65. The PAIR! These are Ethan Allen chairs, the wood is a little beat up, but it needs to be in this house. The upholstery is ugly but really was in perfect condition. They looked so good I just couldn't pass them up. Oh, and they were the perfect size. the aqua table has had a couple of makeovers since the first paint and glaze job. It's perfect to me now though.

I'm not going to show a lot of progress pictures during this post, I'm too excited to get to the good stuff! Plus it's hard to hold things in place while upholstering and take pictures at the same time. I didn't have anyone around to help me this past week - I seriously saw my husband only at bed time all week.

So here it goes. I stripped all the old upholstery off.

Then I got busy cutting out and sewing together the new upholstery.

The back was easy, the front was harder, the cushion actually brought me to tears. I had always had the expert help of my mother on cushion covers before. She would coach me through it and show me tricks. This was a hard thing for me to do since I haven't even been sewing for two years yet. Let's just say it took me a few tries to get it almost right. I know there are imperfections in this chair, it IS my first chair to sew a cushion for...and I had never installed a zipper before either. I'm very proud of this chair! It's definitely not perfect, it taught me a lot, but I think it turned out beautifully.

One down, one to go and I am a happy girl!