Adventures in Upholstery - Overstuffed Armchair

I'd like to share with you a very short and sweet post about this chair.  I know it doesn't look like much, but this was the single most complicated sewing job I've ever done in my life.  Tailoring a coat is easier than this was.

This lovely pink leather was definitely tacky, but the good thing was that once we took it apart, it made excellent pattern pieces.  Fabric tends to fray and shred and doesn't hold its shape.

Before - Pearly oyster pink leather, anyone?

It's really hard to visualize, but the backrest, arms, outside back, outside arms, and front arm plates are all one giant piece.  Once it's sewn, you simply pull it onto the chair and staple it in place.  There's even a 'box' sewn to the inside of the backrest cushion to insert the padding.  All the seams are topstitched.  The most complicated parts are the curved areas at the front of the arms and the front of the 'wings'.  And even more complicated was how all the inside layers attached to each other.  Normally, when sewing furniture, I only have to rack my brain once or twice during each project to figure out a complicated cushion or something tricky.  During this project, my brain got a super workout.  Every single time I went to sew something to something else, I had to think harder than ever and flip it upside down, inside out, look at the original chair, to make sure I was doing it right.  I made my share of mistakes and had to unstitch a few seams, but thankfully I didn't wreck anything epic.  This was a labour of love.  My only qualm was that the customer chose this tacky gold fabric.  Not my first choice.  And it was very, very thick.  That's what reminded me of sewing a coat.  This chair will be nice and warm!

After

Overall, even though this was an incredibly challenging project, I am extremely proud of myself for sewing this, and I'm very happy with the end result.  P.S.  I forgot to mention that there were TWO of these monsters!  TWO!  I had to do that much work twice!  Holy geepers.  I did this a few months ago, and I'm just reliving the craziness of it now.  Chock this one up on my list of greatest accomplishments!