My coworker came into a dining room set this fall. When she brought it home she knew that the cushions weren't going to match her space, but thought she'd update them with something more fitting when time allowed. Having no experience upholstering, she had a couple of her crafty friends over to help. Did I mention her two crafty friends had yet to upholster themselves? No matter... here's our journey.
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| Side by side comparison of the before and after. We liked the end product so we continued with the three remaining chairs. |
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| Chair one - a success! |
When researching fabric types and quantities for her project, my friend was advised to purchase 1/4 yard for each seat. She went ahead and doubled that estimation and it's a good thing she did! From two yards, the fabric was cut into four quadrants (see below). Each seat was laid onto a quadrant after being removed from the chair to be sure there was enough fabric.
Tip: When choosing your fabric be cognizant of patterns. If you get a fabric with lots of lines that need to remain straight, this may be tricky. Maybe stick with a fabric that doesn't require as much symmetry.
To begin, we used the following:
Test the seat before screwing it back into the frame. You want to be sure that everything looks presentable and fits correctly.
- electric staple gun and staples
- hammer
- fabric scissors
- friends (you'll want two pair of hands while upholstering - one to stretch the fabric and the other to staple and another pair of hands to reassemble the chairs).
Start by laying the first quadrant of fabric (top side down) and seat upside down on the floor. Proceed to cut 4"x4" squares at the top of the fabric that aligns with the front of the seat. Cutting the squares helps to remove excess fabric for stapling while keeping the folds minimal on the edging of the seat.
When stapling the fabric to the seat, we found it worked best to staple near the fabric about 1/2" from the edge. Be cognizant of where the screw holes are in the seat so that when reattaching them to the frame they are easily accessible. Stapling fabric over the hole may make for a mess. Not that we did that or anything....
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| Staple within 1/2" of the seats edge |
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| Remember what I said about making sure you have two pair of hands on recovering duty? Here you have it. One pulls the fabric tight and one staples. Tip: use your knees to create more tension with the seat and fabric as I am in this photo. |
The bottom of the seat is going to be ugly. That's okay because no one can see the bottom. As you go, it's okay to trim the excess fabric so that the seat lays flush to the chair frame. This is a great way to keep track of the pre-drilled screw holes too.
TIP: When pulling the fabric, start with the front of the seat, move down the sides and finish with the back of the seat. Flipping the seat over to check on the stretch and alignment is a good idea. If you're using a fabric with a pattern, be sure that you're keeping your lines straight.
Sometimes the staples need adjusting. Be sure to hammer in any that are sticking out. You don't want them to rub or cause your fabric to loosen.
Viola! The finished product!
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| Photo courtesy of A.Hudak :) |
Thanks for stopping by the Humble Hammock! Do come back :)
Cara
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