Recovering a drop-in seat of a wooden chair is actually very easy and you can save money by recovering your own chairs instead of having a professional do the job. You can also save more money if you recycle fabric or material you already have. Why not use the leather from that old jacket you never wear or that old tweed coat that's taking up space in the closet. Co-ordinate your seating by using leftover upholstery or curtain fabric you already have. The only tools you will need are a staple remover (or screwdriver) and a stapler.
If you don't have any fabric at home, check out local flea markets and collectibles stores for vintage upholstery fabric you can use or pay a visit to your local charity shops like the Salvation Army or Goodwill. In this project, the chair is covered in fabric recycled from an old tweed jacket purchased at a charity shop
To give the chair a more sophisticated look, you can recycle an old leather or suede jacket or skirt for the seat of your chair. A piece of unused shiny vinyl would also look very attractive.
If you don't have any material of your own,check out the sales bins for bargains at local textile fairs or shops. You won’t need a lot of material to cover the seat unless you are covering more than one. If you can't find enough of one fabric, choose a few in the same colour scheme for a creative look.
Tips: Before heading for the shops to get your materials, remove the chair seat, measure the length and width and then add a few extra inches to cover those dimensions. If the seat is round, treat it as a rectangle, measuring at the widest points. Allow extra if you will be using a patterned fabric.
Material and Tools
- Seat covering material
- One-inch foam
- Quilt batting
- Staple remover or use a flathead screwdriver
- Staple gun and ½ inch staples
- Scissors
Instructions
- Unscrew the seat from the frame, then using the staple remover (or flat head screwdriver), carefully remove the staples that hold the old fabric in place.
- Discard the old cover and stuffing. Wash the chair seat, if necessary, before covering with the new fabric.
- Trim the batting so that 5 cm (1 inch) hangs over each side of the unattached wooden seat. Cut the foam so it is the same size as the seat.
- Place the new seat covering fabric, wrong side up, on top of a flat working area. Add the batting on top of the fabric and then lay the foam on top of the batting.
- Next, place chair seat on top of the batting.
- Stretch the fabric cover, tightly over the seat and start to staple every 5 cm, starting at the centre edge of the seat, about 2 cm from the outside edge and working to within 5 cm of the corners.
- For neat edges, tuck the fabric edges, creating hospital corners, over the batting.
- Repeat for each side, turning seat over once or twice as you work to ensure pattern is straight.
- Fold and staple the material in each corner neatly, trimming away any excess fabric and batting.
- Seat is ready to be dropped into chair frame.
