Clearly Helena: Reupholstered Chairs with T-shirts and Fabric Remnants (CH0516)

So happy with our eclectic set of free reupholstered chairs. And I only used unwanted t-shirts and fabric remnants.

The chairs were free (thrown away!!!), I got a chance to learn how to reupholster chair seats, and I managed to recycle from my growing stash of fabric remnants. Who would not be happy?!!!

Our dining chairs had been growing tattier for quite a while. Then just a few days ago, while driving home, we spotted these dining chairs that were going for free by the roadside. Six of them. Perfect!

And when we checked them out, they were really good chairs. Heavy! But that was because they are from solid wood. And nothing was wonky. Everything was sturdy and strong as new. Except for the seat covers which my partner said was a bit smudged.

So finally, I got a chance to try my hand at something I have wanted to try for a while – learning how to re-upholster chairs. Well, their seats anyway. Good to start with something small.
※\(^o^)/※

How To Re-Upholster Chairs

will show some basic photos that will take us through the steps needed to re-upholster dining chairs.

REMOVE SEAT FROM CHAIR
Usually the seats are screwed on. Turn chair over to locate the screws. Unscrew and remove seat.

COVER WITH FABRIC
Cover the seat with fabric and staple all round with a gun staple. Cut off excess fabric.

TIPS:
•good idea to pin down the fabric, along the sides before stapling.
• to give a good finish, you can staple a cover over the new fabric, at the bottom of the seat. Fold in the edges of this over cover. You will see the white fabric in the photos. That is the original cover that was on the chairs.

For 3 of the chairs, I used t-shirts to re-upholster the chairs. T-shirts were a great idea {ahem! ＼(＾O＾)／ }. Just pull it over the seats, adjust, pin, staple, cut off excess. Ran out of t-shirts so for the other 3 chairs, I used scrap fabric. Here, all the fabric I used were stretchy. That could be a bit of a risk as I have no idea if usage will make the stretchy material sag. Time will tell …

If you make a mistake with the stapling, you can easily remove the staples with a flat head screwdriver.

I also gave the wooden chair frame a bit of a polish before replacing the seats. Just simple olive oil & lemon juice.

Put seats back, screw back on. Make sure that the seats are sitting neat & snug on the wooden frames and not sticking up.

And that’s it! Was easier than I thought it would be!