There’s no doubt about it, tearing down old furniture upholstery is grimey work. It’s a job for the brave and courageous who are not daunted by crumbs, chewed chewing gum, paperclips and loose change- just a few of the goodies that drop out when you tear off old upholstery fabric. Some twists of the wrists and directional tips will help, but you should really listen to a few books on tape and let your mind wander a bit to get through it. You do need to be mindful enough to photograph the process, though.
Just consider it the prep work before the fun ahead–applying your pristine, jazzy new fabric.
Here’s a little pictorial journey of the teardown of a purple armchair.
Before the teardown:
Flip the chair over and tear off the black cambric or dust cover.
Take out all the staples or tacks around all four bottom rails of the chair.
This will unhook the bottom of all the outside fabric panels.
After releasing all the bottom rails staples, remove the outside back panel.
The back will most likely be attached on either side with metal ply-grip. Use pliers to pull the metal ply grip off. Remove metal from fabric and press fabric flat for a pattern. Label it OB or outside back.
The outside back piece is like the gate into the secret garden. It lets you into the area where all the pieces are pulled through and attached to the back bottom rails and back side rails. Now you can roll up your sleeves and really get to work.
In here, remove all the staples that hold the fabric to the rails. Do not remove a piece of coarse material or burlap that covers the springs and is attached. 
This is a good time to begin listening to your book on tape/cd and start removing the staples in this order:
1. Outside arm pieces: Arm pieces are released by removing staples down the two back posts, at the top of the outside arm and then remove the staples that attach them to the very front of the arms.
Label them LOA and ROA, set aside
2. Inside Arm Pieces: Remove staples that are holding the inside arm fabric to the bottom side rails. It is now visible since the outside arm fabric is gone. Remove the staples holding those pieces in place just under the top of the arms on the outside of the chair. Remove staples that secure those pieces to the front of the arms.
Label those pieces LIA and RIA, set aside
3. Decking and front “apron”: This is the deck that the cushion sits on and the front piece of fabric that rolls down over the front of the chair.
In theory, the front apron and the back of the decking should already be released, if not, remove staples from each rail on which the decking is attached. There will probably be a line of hand stitching that secures the front piece of fabric to the burlap and springs underneath. The purpose of this is to hold the decking in place and form a small lip to hold the cushion in place.
The last piece that should be removed is the inside back. Contrary to this photo, it’s helpful to keep it draped over the cotton batting to cut down on the friction when applying the new pieces.
4. Now you begin to reupholster starting with the decking, the inside arms, inside back, outside arms, back and then a little finessing with the front arm panels if you have them, and a skirt, if desired.
The key is to keep track of how everything came apart, photograph it, sketch it, but just make sure you have a record of it.
Stay tuned for the AFTER photographs.
Tags: upholstery