How to Prevent Your Cutting Board From SlidingUpdate your decor with new fabric for your chair pads. Covering your chair pads is a way to update your decor at little expense. Upholstery fabric choices are abundant, ranging from floral designs to stripes. If your chair pad is separate from the chair, you will need enough material to cover the top and bottom. For those pads that sit into the chair, called slip seats, you will need enough fabric to fold to the underside and staple. The type of chair pad you have determines how you figure the yardage. Remove the seat from the chair. Most seats are screwed in, so a screwdriver will work. Unscrew and pop out the seat. For those seats attached with a nut and bold, use the pliers to loosen the bolt. Turn the pliers to the left to loosen the screw. Measure the length of the seat. Using the tape measure, place the tape on the inside of the front of the seat. Guide it to the other side and stop on the inside of the back of the seat. Add 3 to 4 inches to your total.
This allows enough fabric to fold under the chair for stapling. You do not need to measure the width because the width of upholstery fabric is sufficient for the chair. Calculate how much fabric you will need. Fabric is sold by the yard, which is 36 inches. If your seat length is 27 inches, divide 36 into 27. The result is 0.75 or 3/4 of a yard. You will need 3/4 yard for each slip seat. Measure the length of the top of the chair pad from the front to the back of the chair. Add an additional 1 inch for a 3/8-inch seam allowance on each end. Double that number for the top and bottom of the chair. For example, if the chair length is 20 inches, add 1 inch for the seam allowance and then multiply by two. You need 42 inches of length for one chair pad. Measure the depth of the chair. Add an additional 1 inch for a 3/8-inch seam allowance you need to attach the gusset. The gusset is the rectangular strip of material that connects the top and bottom of the chair pad. If the depth is 2 inches, you need 3 inches for the gusset.
Measure the perimeter of the chair pad. Add 1 inch for seam allowance. This is the length of strip needed for the gusset. Calculate how many strips of fabric needed for the gusset. Most upholstery fabric is 54 inches wide, including the selvage or edging. Subtract 1 inch for each side to allow for cutting off the selvage. You now have 52-inch-wide fabric. Divide the 52 inches into your perimeter measurement for the gusset. If your gusset measurement is 65 inches, divide 52 into 65. The result is 1.25. You will need 1.25 yards for the gusset. Therefore, you will need to cut two strips for the gusset. If the gusset strip is 3 inches, you will need to factor in 6 inches. Total your length measurements and gusset measurements. For example, if you need 42 inches for the length of the pad, add that to the 6 inches for two gusset strips. You need 48 inches of material. If you need 48 inches of material, divide 36 into 48. The result is 1.3 yards of material for each chair. Things You Will Need Screwdriver Pliers Tape measure Calculator Tip Warning References Fabric Work Shop: Upholster a Slipseat Photo Credits PhotoObjects.net/PhotoObjects.net/Getty Images Suggest a Correction
athomeinloveI love furniture of all types, but chairs have my heart. Each one seems to have a personality of it’s own. I love seeing a bunch of different chairs in a room, like old friends sitting around chatting...Read More about 5 Iconic ChairsReupholster chairs in about an hour. Chair cushions consist of plywood inserts with foam and fabric that comes off easily. You can reupholster most dining room chairs in about an hour. If the fabric on the cushion is showing age, has become damaged or you're simply sick of looking at it, replace the foam and fabric like a professional using simple hand tools. You can do a single chair, or spend the day doing them in a production mode by taking each one a step at a time. Turn the chair upside down. Look for screws that penetrate up through the frame into the plywood chair seat. Using a drill/driver, remove all the screws, and push the seat from the frame with your hand. There will typically be six or eight screws. Stand the chair upright. Insert a putty knife between the wooden chair frame and the back cushion.
Pry gently on the knife to lift the cushion slightly. Pry it up until the glue begins to loosen. Grab the thin plywood cushion with your fingers, and pull up on it gently. As the glue loosens, pull the back cushion free of the chair frame. Place both cushions face down. Use a staple puller to remove the staples around the perimeter of the fabric. Pull the fabric off the foam. Slide a putty knife under the foam to cut loose the glue. Pull the foam off the plywood. If some if it sticks to the plywood, scrape it off with the putty knife. Spray the cushions with aerosol contact adhesive. Place dense fabric foam on the cushions, and press it down to bond it to the plywood. The foam should be at least one inch bigger than the plywood on all four sides. Trim the edges of the foam off flush to the plywood using a jigsaw. Place the cushions foam side down on a piece of upholstery fabric that is at least four inches bigger than the foamed cushion on all four sides. Place a heavy object on the back of the plywood to compress the foam.
Pull the fabric up tight on one corner. Fold it over, and use an upholstery staple gun to shoot a staple one inch from the edge of the plywood to secure it. Move to the opposite corner diagonally. Fold, staple and shoot another staple. Move to the other corners and repeat. Pull the fabric up on the sides. Fold, staple and shoot staples in this manner, moving from side to side, end to end until you have staples two inches apart around the perimeter of fabric. If you see any pleats, folds or wrinkles, pull them out with your fingers, and shoot staples to secure the fabric tight. Finish by shooting the staples side-by-side around the fabric, maintaining the one-inch perimeter. Place the seat cushion back into the chair bottom. Screw it back in using the same screws that you took out. Apply beads of hot-melt glue to the plywood back cushion. Place the beads of glue two inches apart down the length of the back. Press the cushion into the chair back with your fingers. Hold the cushion tight for 30 seconds to bond the cushion to the frame.