Diy Fabric Dining ChairsDiy Dining Room ChairDiy Upholstered ChairsUpholstering Chairs DiyRecovering Dining Room ChairsIkea ChairParson'S ChairUpholstered SoooooReupholstered Parsons ChairForwardIn the nineties, I worked at a custom furniture manufacturer. I upholstered sooooo maaaaany Parsons chairs that I almost shudder feel nostalgic when I see them now. Parsons dining chairs are fairly...User ReviewedHow to Reupholster a Dining Chair Seat A high-impact way to improve or change the look of any chair with a removable seat is to recover the seat fabric. Whether you have pets and children, or just love to recycle old furniture, you'll appreciate this quick refurbishing technique. Unscrew the seat from the bottom of the chair. Remove the existing upholstery. Measure the width, length, and depth of the seat. Place the fabric wrong-side up on a flat surface. Trim the fabric so that there is enough all the way around to fold over the edge. Fold a flap of fabric along the straightest side and staple from the center working toward the corners.
Repeat with the opposite side of the seat.under Continue along the sides, still tugging firmly to make sure the fabric is tight over the top of the seat. Point the corner towards the center of the seat (along the diagonal). Fold one side down so that the folded edge runs along the diagonal. Fold the other side down in the same manner so that you now have a pleat along the diagonal. Trim any excess cloth. Stain protect the seats.outside Return seat to the chair and screw the base back in. Show more unanswered questions How to easily reupholster a chair video tutorial As you're stapling, take care not to block the screw holes with lots of fabric or staples. You can go through one layer of fabric easily, but staples are a problem. Old blankets that are no longer used can make a good batting for chair seats. A power stapler or staple gun is best for this task. A desk stapler won't be strong enough to penetrate the wood. You may wish to line tape the edges to prevent fraying of the cloth.
Buy extra fabric so you'll have some left over to make matching place mats, runners, or cushions to coordinate. To really tidy the underside up cut a piece of calico or lining material the same size as the underside of the seat make a 1 inch hem all around and staple this over base of the chair, so no fraying or unsightly wood can be seen. Alternative stapling approach: Start with a single staple in the middle of each left side (doing opposite sides first) and then add two staples (moving outward) on each side, rotating each time. This may help keep the stretch consistent across the edges of the chair, as inconsistent stretch is more likely to be a problem when stapling a whole side at once.In the nineties, I worked at a custom furniture manufacturer. Parsons dining chairs are fairly simple to re-upholster. (And unlike the 90s version, the legs are no longer upholstered, whew!) If you’ve got a bit of upholstery experience under your belt, and some basic upholstery tools, there’s no reason to be intimidated.
Here’s how to re-upholster Parsons dining chairs if you want to be proud to say yeah, I did that myself! Any self-respecting upholstery DIYer will have on hand: Enough fabric to cover your chairs (probably 1 1/2 to 2 meters/yards per chair).pneumatic (or manual, if you’re the sort who enjoys pain and suffering). A staple puller and pliers. A rubber or plastic mallet. Metal tack strips (optional). A tack hammer (for studs). The first order of business, obviously, is to strip the old fabric off. This job is much less frustrating with the proper tools. Work gloves help if you haven’t already got rough callused hands. The first thing that I notice about these chairs is how flat the seat is. A well-upholstered dining chair should have a nice, round look to the seat, called “the crown”. A flat seat will look cheap, so if you’re looking for a custom, luxurious look, this is an important step! On the left, you can see the crown on the finished seat.
The crown is achieved by adding a layer of cotton felt to the middle section of the seat, and then a full layer of bonded polyester pulled and stapled at the bottom edge of the chair, just as you would the fabric. Next comes the seat fabric. Make sure you cut the piece large enough to fully wrap around the edges, including at the back. Lay your fabric out on the seat, centering it. Staple the sides first temporarily. You should be pulling it fairly tight across the center and place one staple at the bottom edge at the center of the chair rail.Next, do the same to the front. For the back, you’ll need to make some cuts. Fold the fabric back and make a “v-cut”, just to where the leg post is. Essentially, the v-cut allows the fabric to fold easily on either side of the leg post, with no excess fabric. If you feel it with your fingers, you’ll know what I’m talking about. Cut down the center line toward the post, and then make your v to each side of the post, as close as you possibly can.
Now you’ll be able to pull the fabric through to the back rail. I like to begin at the back, when tacking down the fabric. Pull tight, but not tight enough to cause tension at the front of the chair. Next, take out one of the side staples and pull the fabric toward the back of the chair, not straight down. Staple toward the back leg, and work your way toward the front leg, pull the fabric forward as you go. You want a nice, gentle curve without bulges. Do the other side. To finish the legs, make cuts on an angle and fold under. This is important to ensure that the cut edge will be hidden. The front corners are important to get right. You’re going to have long pleats, and they must be identical. Pulling the fabric taut at the side first, staple on the front face edge, like so: Then, you want to cut away the excess fabric, like so: Fold the fabric under nicely and staple on the front. (The staple will be visible, but hidden with studs, later.) Now you’re ready to do the back.
First add the bonded polyester. Wrap around and staple close to the edge. It should be tight, and not bulky. Lay your fabric on, and tack it in place at the top with one staple. Find the leg support rail and make a “V-cut”. V-cuts also take any tension out of the fabric, which can cause puckers and other unsightly bulges. Pull the fabric through the back. Cut away the excess fabric before tacking in place. Next, pull the fabric tightly upward, and staple at the top to hold it in place. Once both sides are tacked in place, you can go back and place all your staples. You want taut fabric, with no puckers. Now you are going to make your nice, neat pleats at the top corners. Pull tight, cut away excess fabric, pull over and tack down. Did I mention you need to pull tight? Now you can tack along the top edge. *smacking your hand with my ruler for emphasis* This is the most visible part of the chair!Next comes the outside back panel. You’re going to tack it at the top with a bit of cardboard strip.
This gives a straight, sharp edge. Pad the back with a bit of foam or more bonded poly. Fold the fabric down and tack it down at the bottom with one staple. If you have metal tack strips, your job of folding and tacking the sides will be quick and easy. If you don’t have them, you can blind stitch the sides in place. Poke the sharp teeth through your fabric and fold over. Hammer the tack strips down with a plastic mallet. Finish your chair by folding the fabric at the legs, and tacking it down. You can add decorative studs to cover the staples or hand stitch the corner and remove the staple. Hand stitching where necessary is an important detail to make your chair look professional. Blind stitch all long pleats (like at the front), and anywhere that looks loose (such as at the top back corners). Don’t forget your dust cover! So, your Parsons chair is finished! How do you feel? A sense of accomplishment and self satisfaction? I have added studs along the bottom edge of these chairs.