The chair is done. It
looks great and works perfectly. But I
still give myself only a B- on the project.
Why? I made a lot of mistakes –
many of which could have been avoided if I had planned better and/or executed
more carefully.
So in the interest of helping someone else avoid the
mistakes I made, here are my lessons learned:
1. Take
pictures. Take lots of
pictures. Take more pictures than you
think you’ll ever need. Take a picture
at each step of disassembly – both of the overall unit and of each piece. The
more time it takes to complete your project, the more the pictures will help
you put things back together. The
pictures were very helpful in putting together pieces that needed to be
sewed. The old fabric you’ll use as a
pattern won’t have nice markings and notches, nor will it have a sheet of
instructions on which was two straight-looking pieces go together to make a
curve. Take pictures.
2. The air compressor
is your friend. If you can, use compressor-driven
staples. With the number of staples we
used to attach the fabric to the wood, we would have been exhausted trying to
manually drive them.
3. Fit multiple
times, staple once. Those great
compressor-driven staples are almost impossible to remove once they’re in, so
be certain that the piece is exactly where you want it before you install a
staple.
4. Allow extra fabric
for pieces that will need to wrap along an edge and be stapled. How will you know? If you've taken pictures in the disassembly,
you’ll see where they wrap and attach.
If, like us, you didn't take quite enough pictures, any piece that isn't
sewn and doesn't have a finished edge is a likely candidate for stapling. Cut it long.
You can always cut off excess fabric.
5. Tack strip is your
friend. As I was taking some of the
pieces apart I noticed that there was half-inch wide cardboard strip along some
of the edges. I didn't know what it was
called at the time, but I knew I needed to get some. It comes in rolls and you can get it at
fabric and craft stores. I thought it
was kind of pricey, but it’s really great for the nice finished edges. And, if like us, you cut a piece that should
have wrapped around too short, you can use the tack strip and another piece of
fabric to finish the edge.
6. A needle and
thread is your friend. I made patches
for a couple of areas where I messed up either cutting or stapling. I used a straight needle, and while it was
awkward I could still manage to get it to work.
I was told later that this is why curved needles were invented. Oh, well. The fabric I chose was very forgiving; you
can’t even see the stitches.
