Tutorial - A step by step guide to upholstering a simple dining chair seat
As a hobbyist, this is probably one of the few things that I know that I can do easily at home without help!
It is very satisfying to be able to do a project like this yourself. I am very much an amateur and as I think I have said before I am not confident enough to work on a complicated chair without guidance. I love my upholstery lessons but it really is quite an art to be able to produce quality workmanship without expert help. It is bad enough that my attempts at soft furnishings don’t always end up looking as perfect as I would like but I think if you are prepared to have a go, then it doesn’t matter and next time hopefully with practise, the finished result will be better!
These chairs belong to my friend Hazel and she came over and we did them together. I can’t remember now how long they took but we did it stage by stage (getting each seat to the same stage) to save time like a factory line. All in all, including cleaning up the wood on each chair, all six probably took a day.
In my last blog post, I talked about how to revive and bring back to life dull and dirty wood. If your dining chairs are in need of a revamp, then use the ‘magic mix’ I talk about to enhance the wood once you have removed the seat covers.
With regards to a staple gun, I have an inexpensive air compressor (I bought it from Screwfix) and staple gun (eBay) but an electric one would be fine. A hand staple gun would also be fine but I am a bit of a wimp and hand staple guns can be hard on the hands. I would say invest in the best you can afford weighed up with how often you intend to use it.
To upholster the seat covers, you will need:
A staple gun
New foam for the seat - I used 1.5 inch foam
Polyester wadding
Calico - cut into squares at least 7cm-10cm larger than the seat dimensions
Top fabric cut into squares at least 10cm larger than the seat dimensions. If your fabric has a pattern you may need to cut the pieces to fit the design, ensuring that all your pieces are the same
Backing fabric (usually black)
It is also helpful to have some unholster’s tacks and hammer to put in temporary tacks for preparation work
Step 1
Remove the seat covers from the chair frame and strip them down. I am assuming in this tutorial that the foam will need replacing but if the foam (and calico covering it) is in good condition then you can ignore the first few steps and move straight on to how to attach the top fabric)
Step 2
Mark the middle of the wooden seat (fig 1)
Measure out the foam by using the wooden base as a template. Cut the foam a centimetre or so large than the wooden base. Foam is really tricky to cut through. If you don’t have access to a foam cutter, electric carving knives are the next best thing or a very sharp knife. Mark the middle (front and back) - fig 2
Step 3
Match the middle markers (fig 3) and put your first staple in. Staple the foam to the top of the wood, starting in the middle and working you way round. Staple right near the edge. You want to squash the foam (with a kind of pleat going inwards) as you go around stapling (fig 4)
Step 4
Cover the foam in a layer of polyester wadding (cut a few cm larger than the seat so it covers the seat and wood and there is enough to hang over and staple in place on the bottom of the seat -figs 5 and 6
Step 5
Mark the middle of your cut piece of calico and place over the foam matching with the middle of the front and back and temporarily hold in place with a few temporary tacks on the underside. Starting in the middle of the sides start to staple, pulling the fabric tight (fig 7 and 8). Stop well before you get to the corner. Smoothing and pulling the fabric tightly over the corner, put your first staple in. Continue smoothing and stapling and making small pleats on the underside. Hopefully with lots of pulling and smoothing you will get a tight smooth fabric (figs 9-12) If your seat is quite thick then you may need to put a small pleat in the corner at the front. If this is the case, make sure that the pleat ‘faces’ outward rather than towards the middle. Keep going round until you have finished. Trim the calico
Step 6
Top fabric
Mark the middle of your top fabric and place over the calico-covered seat (fig 13). Ensure that if you have the pattern symmetrical and in a position that you are happy with, you might need to move the fabric around if you have a pattern and need it central/in line with the rest of your chairs and temporarily hold in place with temporary tacks on the underside. As with the calico above, start to staple in the middle of the sides and start to staple, pulling the fabric tight and stop well before you get to the corner. As with above you will need to pull and pleat the fabric on the underside while you put the staples in to ensure that you have smooth corners. If your seat is too thick you might have to put a visible pleat in the corner - ensure that this faces ‘out’ and that it looks neat and symmetrical with the other corners. Keep going round until you have finished (fig 14) Trim the excess fabric back to the staples
Step 7
This is not an essential step but it gives a good finish. I don’t have pictures of this but it is so easy. I would use the seat as a template and cut the backing fabric slightly larger. PLace your backing fabric on the underside of your chair. Fold the fabric edges under to make a hem and hold in place with temporary tacks and staple in place all around so that you cover the top fabric staples. Staple neatly near the edge of the hemmed backing fabric all around.
Et voilà! There you have it! Newly reupholstered seats. Let me know how you get on!