Upholstery: My Dwell Wing Back Part 2

Well, Boys and Girls get ready for another installment of my Upholstery Series: Dwell Wing Back Part 2! (Part 1 right here)
This time we are focusing on the seat, arms and adding piping with a little hand sewing thrown in. 
First the seat which can be tricky if you don't have your old fabric pieces but with some practice and some muslin it can be easier than expected. The muslin can save your main fabric (which is under the cushion so isn't really needed and many furniture makers often add muslin under the seat cushion to save fabric and cost). Sewing on some muslin can also help get around some of the arm posts that can be very hard to fold and cut around. Because you already have a seam you can line it up with one of these posts (my wing back has 2 posts inches apart). When you stitch your muslin to your main fabric, use very short stitches and back stitch often close to the edges. Then when you place your bottom piece on you can open up the seam as needed to fit around your posts. This will also create a vent effect that will help you fold and tuck around any other posts. You can see below that I placed my fabric on wrongside up to make any marks needed for sewing and cutting. But before I did any cutting I practiced any fold or tuck that would be needed just in case the fabric placement wasn't ideal. It is best to determine the finished look before any cutting. 
upholstery P2 1
Below you can see my practice tuck for the corner. 
upholstery P2 2
Now I am moving on to piping (To see more about piping check out my cotton cording post). I compared the piping placement on another wing back I have to come up with this placement but you can place it where ever you like. Just remember to keep it as close to the edge as possible. Don't stretch it, just lay it down and tack it in place. Remember, piping is your friend and can be used to cover unsightly but necessary tucks. It can cover mistakes if placed carefully. I like to tack it in lightly (don't hammer in the tacks all the way) so you can move it as you go if you need to. You will either be using some curve ease (if you want to read ahead on curve ease check out this blog), tacking strip or hand sewing another piece of fabric to your piping so try to keep that in mind when placing your piping. 
upholstery P2 3
Make sure if you have overlapping piping that is matches on both sides. I hand stitched my bottom inside arm fabric to my piping before I hammered in my inside wing piping (though it is shown in place below, I later pulled up a little to add my inside arm piece).
upholstery P2 4
Below you can check out the hand sewing of the inside arm to the piping and inside wing. I was careful when cutting out this piece to make sure that it would hug just under the piping. This involved cutting it about 1-2 in above the piping and then lightly clipping almost to the piping so that the fold would curve with the wing. Don't clip down to the piping because then you can see some of the raw edge when sewing and it might pop out later with wear. Your fold only needs to look perfect when you are holding it in place. Below you can see how it sits below the piping a bit but when I was holding and pulling to determine the right fit it looked just right. You can see that where it has been sewn it looks just right. 
upholstery P2 5
See: it doesn't need to be perfect before. The hand sewing makes it looks just right. And you need some of these upholstery needles to make it easy peasy!
upholstery P2 6

Categories

Designers , Home Decor , Notions , Sewing , Staff Tips & Tricks , Tutorials , Upholstery
By Tara Miller on February 20, 2012 10:01 PM | | Comments (4)

4 Comments

Jesika Modi Author Profile Page said:

I like your new upholstery Series.Thanks

May 25, 2012 6:17 AM
jesika Author Profile Page said:

Wonderful post - I was looking for a similar article. Thanks for sharing this article to your reader. You give very nice information about this post.

June 26, 2012 2:52 AM

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About this Entry

This page contains a single entry by Tara Miller published on February 20, 2012 10:01 PM.

Knitting Jogless Stripes was the previous entry in this blog.

Step in time! Step in time! (And wear a chimney sweep's hat while you do it.) is the next entry in this blog.

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