Reupholster Dining Room Chairs Near Me – In October, my 22-year-old daughter Andrea came to me and said, “Mom, I need you to help me reupholster some dining room chairs as a Christmas present for my mother-in-law”. I kindly said, “I don’t know how to reupholster chairs, Andrea”. She said, “Mommy!, you’re a sawdust nurse! What do you mean you don’t know how to reupholster dining room chairs?”
That girl. It’s hard to say “no” to her. Probably because of her kind nature and brown eyes. I can’t believe she’s been married for a year already.
Reupholster Dining Room Chairs Near Me
So I gave up and said, “Okay, let’s try”. And we did that. I have to say that as simple as it may seem, reupholstering takes time and patience, but it’s worth it. This can save you hundreds of dollars if you do it yourself! I took lots of photos to show you the process. There may be few, so scroll down if you get frustrated :). I tend to over explain things! Bottom line, I know YOU can do it because I’ve done it and I’ve NEVER done it! I am so excited as I write this!!!
Amazing Diy Repair And Reupholster Dining Room Chair Tutorial
First, I didn’t just wing it (if those chairs were mine, I probably should have!!). To learn the basics, I spent a few hours at Jack’s Do It Upholstery in Salt Lake City. Big shout out to them! The owner, Jack, is my friend Jen’s dad. She just took me on a tour of the place and I watched them do amazing things! Jose, one of the staff, was amazing teaching me how to stitch the fabric on the seat. Good thing I speak Spanish, otherwise I wouldn’t have learned much :). I asked José a lot of questions. He was so patient. We did one of the chairs together (meaning he did 90% and I did the rest) Then I was on my own for the other 7 chairs.
She just showed us how to cut the fabric. Be sure and cut straight, especially if your fabric has a pattern. Leave about 3 inches all around for stitching. A standard size dining chair will usually need a 27″ square of fabric. 3/4 of a yard should cover two seats.
Okay, here we go. I first removed the seat from the chair frame using a screwdriver. It was attached with only 4 screws. We then removed the staples from the bottom of the seat and removed the existing fabric. This episode wasn’t much fun. That became Andrea’s job hehe…You can use a staple puller and needle nose pliers (pictures below) and just pull the staples off. If the clip breaks and a part is stuck in the seat, you can hammer it in (Jen’s tip). Be careful while doing this!.
We decided to keep the existing foam but flipped the wooden seat so we had clean wood to screw into once we reattached the seats (Jack’s tip).
How To Reupholster A Dining Chair Seat
1. First, draw a line down the middle of the seat (from top to bottom) and mark the center. You can (sort of) see the line I drew in the image below. This line will help you stitch to keep the pattern straight. If you are using a solid color drawing, a line is not necessary.
2. Fold the fabric over the seat and pull fairly hard, keeping the fabric under the seat straight. Place one clamp per line. Sew again at the opposite end.
3. Sew the other sides together. Be sure to tighten the fabric tightly before stitching. Now your fabric is pretty good and straight with only four staples.
3. Next, you sew ONE of the corners. Pull the tip of the fabric from the corner down firmly and stitch once in place.
How To Reupholster Dining Room Chairs
4. Now you will sew from the middle clip towards the corner you just sewed. Always pull firmly, making sure to smooth the fabric along the outer edge of the seat.
5. Do the same with the piece on the other side of the corner, always from the middle clamp to the corner.
Tip from Jose: Always sew from the center to the corner. Do not “finish” the corner until both sides adjacent to it are first sewn together. Thanks to this, all the wrinkles can be smoothed out and tucked into the corner.
You can trim off the excess fabric as you go, especially when you’re finishing the corners, this helps keep the bulk. Before you know it, you’ll be done and ready to connect the pipes!
Refoaming & Reupholstering
Jen sewed the piping for us (bless her!) and Jose taught me how to sew it on. Here is a video tutorial I put together with my sister!
Sew the piping close to the seam around the edge of the saddle, close enough that the seam isn’t visible but the piping is.
Always start at the back of the seat to make your seam less visible. See how I’m crossing my fingers in the picture below? So Jose taught me to do it so the pipe stays straight as you go. Hold, slide your fingers and stitch around the entire edge of the seat. No need to worry about the pattern fitting. It’s pure coincidence that the patterns sort of match the picture!
Turn the chair over periodically as you go to make sure the piping is visible but not the seam.
How To Reupholster Chairs With Laminated Cotton
When you are ready to finish, trim the excess tightly so that the two ends are touching but not overlapping.
Finally, you can cover the whole thing with black mesh. This is optional. This gives the seat a clean look and won’t look so scary when you turn the chair upside down (Jose’s tip). Just a few clips to keep it in place.
Done and done! Now do this a few more times until all your chairs are done! 🙂 It took me about 45 minutes for one chair. Maybe closer to 30 minutes as I got more practice!
Once I was done we attached the seats back and admired our work. Seriously, so rewarding! And to think of all the money we saved! Andrea’s mother-in-law loved the Christmas gift!
Reupholstering My Dining Room Chairs
I regret not taking pictures of these chairs before. Trust me, they look much better now than before. Years of wear, spills and stains can make you think you need new furniture. But now this classic, traditional dining set is as good as new and ready for many more years of use!
Please let me know if you have any questions. If I don’t know the answer, I’ll ask Jen! 🙂 Learning how to reupholster a dining chair can save you a lot of money! And dining chairs are the perfect place to start when it comes to reupholstering. Everyone can successfully deal with a dining chair; it’s as simple as sewing fabric around a piece of wood.
Today we are participating in the Do It Over Designers Blog Hop hosted by Ann at The Apple Street Cottage.
We are a group of bloggers who take something old and/or unused and “remake” it into something new. These items can be found in closets, barns, garages, yard sales, thrift stores, you name it! Check out other projects below this article. And don’t forget to come back during the week to visit them all!
How To Upholster A Chair (diy)
Before we get into the tutorial, don’t forget to get your crafting mojo on Birdz of a Feather and subscribe! You can also follow us on Pinterest, Facebook, YouTube and Instagram. Story: How to reupholster a dining chair
If the chairs we are reupholstering today were in a game of musical chairs, my mom, sister and I would be the contestants. When I was the last woman standing, I got not only chairs, but also a dining table and buffet. They weren’t exactly a treat after my sister’s kids and pets got to them first. By the way, the chairs below are not the dining chairs included in this set; this project will
I have to admit, the table and buffet were beautifully cleaned after Hub’s worked their repair magic on them! But the chair? We only got around to painting them and upholstering two of them. All I had at the time was a manual staple gun – ouch! No wonder I didn’t finish them!
Then she flooded our basement, not once, but twice. To be safe, they went back to my mom’s house to be stored in her basement. And here they sat. Skeletal reminders of our unfinished project:
How To Reupholster Dining Chair Seats + Faux Bamboo Chair Makeover
As regular readers know, mom passed away last year and we need to clear out her house so we can get her on the market soon. Since we no longer need the chairs, after reupholstering them, we will try the shipment for the very first time! Hopefully they will find new owners who will love them again (more on that later). Supplies for How to reupholster a dining chair
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