Upholstering Dining Chairs Part 2 – Covering the Seats

While our windows were being replaced yesterday, I worked on upholstering the chairs in my shop. I started with the seat on a chair. On top of the webbing went 2 layers of batting and then the fabric cover I sewed. Once everything was lined up, I stapled it in place. 

The hardest part was the corners, where I had to fold the fabric in place and use hot glue to hold it. It took some time to get the seam to line up with the corner while lining up the fold with the underside of the seat frame and having it all be flat and without folds.

After I completed the first seat, I moved on to the back. Good thing I didn’t continue just doing the seats, cause I realized the fabric at the back was stapled to the wrong piece of the frame. This meant I couldn’t pull the fabric for the back through the gap and I had to re-do it. Better one than 8 though!

For the back I was planning on using 1” foam, but found this too hard when you sat, so am now using ½” foam with 1 layer of batting then the fabric. Stapled at the top and sides and pulled tight, this step is pretty basis upholstering.

Next I started working on the curved pieces for the sides of the seat. I covered them on 1 side with fabric and batting then glued and nailed them in place before completing the upholstering. I made some mistakes with the 1^st one, on the right side and am not happy with the end result. For the second side I improved my technique; I added some foam underneath so there is not gap and got the fabric pulled tighter with less bumps. 

At the end of the day I had completed 5 seats and just the 1 back. The first always takes the longest as you figure out your techniques, so from here on out it should go faster.

And now we know: cutting sheets of 1” foam down to ½” foam with an exacto blade is damn near impossible. It was really uneven and bumpy. I’m going to try with an electric knife next and hope that it is easier!