In this video, where I develop a newfound respect for anyone who can upholster, I add wadding and the Piccadilly Line train moquette pattern (UPSIDE DOWN) onto an old high backed bar stool which I use while I edit. I also remodelled and 3D printed some spare clips for the stools seat. I wouldn’t call this upcycling project, and instead borrow a term from TFL – refurbishment. And yes, I know I put the moquette pattern upside down, but this is what happens when you try to do something for yourself afters spending a full day working in education.
00:00 Materials I’ll be using thick needle wadding, a scrap bit of Piccadilly Line moquette that I bought from the Acton train depot, my old Ikea bar stool which I use as an editing chair. I will also use a staple gun, screwdriver, pencil, scissors, a canvas pliers plus a few other bits and bobs.
00:29 Seat clips This bit is broke – I’ll 3D print new parts later.
00:34 Removing back-rest
01:04 CAD model The clips allow the chair to be lifted without it closing and possibly catching fingers. I would like to reintroduce this to the chair but I have to make my own. I modelled these in Fusion 360. You can see the stages roughly outlined on screen.
01:28 Seat After removing the arse-rest I cut the wadding to size and stappled it onto the edge. I don’t think this is normally practice especially as I’m not folding the wadding under the seat, but felt like a good idea for a novice.
02:02 Sheering the sheep
02:22 Moquette to seat The block that I used to raise the seat into different positions really helped me reach and manipulate the fabric onto the wooden seat.
03:30 Pleating the edges I decided to go for symmetry instead of invisible edges. I don’t have enough skill to get this right in the time frame I wanted to finish. I had to cut a lot of material away as the fabric is really thick.
05:07 Seat done Doesn’t look too bad despite having put the moquette the wrong way around. The wadding is dusty btw, so I kept hoovering as I went along. If I was doing this professionally, I would have an air scrubber in the background.
05:36 Backrest More of the same with the backrest.
07:07 Reassembling backrest
07:22 More screws I added additional screws as the back rest was slightly pushed outwards by the new material and the original screws were not holding properly.
07:55 Linoleum cover I added some linoleum to the back rest to cover my terrible handywork. A sign of a good maker is knowing how to hide their mistakes. If no one has told you this before, now you know.
08:23 Hollow punch
08:53 The finished chair