apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

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Tools and Materials:

• fabric
• 1 yard of polyester dacron or cotton batting
• scissors
• staple gun
• flathead screwdriver for staple removal (if necessary)

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Step by Step:

1. Remove chair seats and put screws in a safe place
2. Place armed chair seats on top of wrong side of fabric
3. Chalk an outline around the chair seat approximately 4" larger than the seat
4. Repeat steps 2 and 3 for smaller chair seats
5. Cut out 12" x 12" squares of batting, bevel the sharp edge all the way the top
6. Place batting square, bevel side up, in the center of the chair seat
7. Place the new fabric piece on top of the batting and chair seat, with even amounts of fabric overhang
8. Straighten pattern, if necessary
9. Begin attaching fabric by placing 3-4 staples at the center front of the seat, repeat for the back of the seat
10. Move from the center outwards, pulling slightly and firmly to get a snug, but not tight, pull on the fabric and attach staples stopping 2" from the corners
11. To work the fabric into the notched area, chalk a "v" towards the center of the notch, being careful not to cut so deeply that the you don't have enough fabric to pull up and attach to the chair bottom
12. Staple the "point" of the fabric which was left by cutting a "v"
13. Fold and attach the fabric to the right and left of the notches
14. Move outward towards the corners from the notches, folding and stapling fabric neatly at the corners
15. After completing the notched arm chairs, the other seats are easy.
16. Re-attach newly covered seats to chair frames

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In order to cut the upholstery time in half, he left the old fabric on the chair seats. It wasn't that thick, so it worked. He only added squares of batting in the center of the seats and didn't attach them or glue them on, and he eliminated sewing a small pull tab of fabric onto the seat fabric at the notch for attaching.
Finally, he skipped adding a dust cover on the bottom of the seats.
We'll see how these hold up.

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