THE Rocking Chair..Part 1

The easy part of any upholstery project is taking off the old fabric.  When I got this rocking chair from the neighbor, it didn't take me long to remove the fabric.  It's always exciting to see what is beneath everything.  There was NOTHING exciting about the upholstery underneath.  Here's what I started with.

 

I started peeling off the layers on the seat.   First was this lovely sunflower number.

Then there were stripes that reminded me of OU.  GROSS! I would have covered that too!

 

Then there was THIS!  What is this? And it was stained...ick!

 

Once I had it down to the bare bones I started gluing and clamping.  Someone originally glued this chair with hot glue.  Hot glue DOES NOT keep joints in tact.  Jot that down!  The chair also had no backing in it.  I didn't take a picture, but there was a PILLOW, yes a pillow in the center. 

I didn't take a picture of the jute webbing that I used for the backing.  I laid the webbing out like a lattice pie, then stapled it in as tight as I could.  I HIGHLY recommend using an electric stapler.  The jute webbing looked like this.

Source

Here is the chair after the jute webbing was put it. I covered the webbing with batting.

After this step I covered the batting with felt.  I liked using the felt because it gave it a smooth finish that wouldn't stretch out. I know it seems like a lot of steps and I'm no professional, but this was the While He Studies way.  At this point the chair was ready for the fabric. 

I didn't want a fancy printed fabric.  This chair is old, I loved the mission oak look of it and didn't want to distract from it's classic lines.  I chose to use a canvas drop cloth that had taken a bath in coffee.  Yes, COFFEE!  It's not just for drinking anymore.

You could also use strong brewed tea.  I let this soak for several hours, then laundered it.  It did darken it just a bit.  Next time I'd let it dry, then launder it.  Check back tomorrow for the finished chair!