Who says that just because our mums and dads
have matching chairs we should, too? Besides,
these do match - just in a different kind of way
The word 'upholstery' conjures up images
of Women's Institute meetings and evening classes
in draughty strip-lit sixth-form colleges. But, in
reality, upholstery is the quickest way to revamp
boring old furniture, making it as hip as the new
material you choose. While antiques and big
projects such as sofas are best left to the
professionals, a drop-in seat can be done by a
novice in a couple of hours. Encouraging if you
have your sights set on six.
Dining chairs can be picked up anywhere
from eBay to auction houses; you'll find that sets
of four or more command a higher price than the
odd ones and twos. Don't be too led by bargain
hunting - remember, you'll be living with these
pieces - but it is worth considering buying odd
chairs of a similar style, as I have here. Stain the
wood (or whitewash it if you prefer, LA style) and
upholster the seats to match. The result will be a
fabulously witty mix of period and repro finds that
haven't cost the earth but look like a snazzy
designer collection.
Read through all the instructions before
you start and assess the condition of your chair;
this will help you decide which of the materials
listed on the right you will need to upholster
your particular chair.
You will need
- Chair with a drop-in seat (place your hand underneath the chair seat and push; if it pops out, it's a drop-in seat)
- Hand-held staple gun
- Upholsterer's tacks (buy a box of 10mm and a box of 13mm)
- Tack lifter (this has a V-shaped end that prises tacks out)
- Flat-ended screwdriver (this will do if you don't have a tack lifter)
- Small hammer (a magnetic one to pick up dropped tacks is useful)
- Polyester wadding (2oz wadding is fine for this application; you need a piece 5cm bigger than the chair seat all round)
- 5cm-thick foam, the same size as your seat (you only need this if you intend to start from scratch - see the following instructions. If your seat just needs plumping out, buy more filling identical to the filling already in your chair)
- Webbing (buy the black and white herringbone variety, as this is the strongest sort)
- Calico (tough white cotton used to protect the outer fabric from the stuffing; you need a piece 2cm bigger than your chair frame)
- Hessian (sacking-like cloth that holds the stuffing in place - 10oz hessian is ideal; a piece 1.5cm longer and wider than your seat)
- Fabric, 8cm bigger than your chair frame all round (pick a fabric suitable for upholstery, which will be stronger than normal fabric. Check with your supplier that the fabric you want complies with current fire and safety standards. Some fabrics are generally easier to clean than velvets and wider weaves which hold dust and dirt.)
- Web strainer (this is a wooden tool that enables sufficient leverage to pull the webbing taut enough to stop the seat from sagging for several years.) If you have a strong wrist, a small piece of hard wood that you can wrap the webbing around will do.
Pop out the seat and flip it upside down. Remove the canvas or hessian from the underside. This will either be tacked or stapled in place, so use your tack lifter or the flat end of a screwdriver as a lever to prise out the staples or tacks. (1) If you are using a screwdriver, you may need a bit more force to remove tacks, so gently tap the handle of the screwdriver with a hammer.
Next, take off the fabric cover, using your screwdriver or tack lifter to lever out the staples or tacks that are holding it in place. Keep this on one side to use as a pattern for your new cover.
Underneath this outer fabric, the seat will be covered with wadding and possibly calico - protective layers to cover the seat's stuffing and stop it from rubbing against the outer fabric. Remove both.
If the seat is in generally good order, you'll only need to plump out the existing stuffing before you re-cover it - this is likely to be the case with any reasonably modern chair, and it saves you a heck of a lot of work. To check, look underneath the seat. If the webbing (the heavy, often black and white, braid criss-crossing the bottom of the seat frame) isn't sagging or starting to disintegrate, you're in luck, so go on to the next step, headed 'If you just need to plump out the seat'. If the webbing is looking saggy, however, this is a job well worth doing properly, so go to the step headed 'If the webbing looks bad and you need to replace it'.
If you just need to plump out the seat
The stuffing will be in a couple of layers. Carefully lift the top layer and add two new handfuls of the same sort of padding into the centre. (2) It's vital that you use similar fillings, as different fillings (such as horse hair and polyester wadding) will clump together like dreadlocks, leaving you with a lumpy seat. Go to the section titled 'Attaching wadding and the outer fabric' on page 75.
If the webbing looks bad and you need to replace it
Make a note of how many existing strands of webbing there are crossing the bottom of your chair seat - most chairs have two strands each way, but wider seat frames, such as early Victorian styles, will have three (see above, right). You need to buy enough webbing to replace whatever is already here; take a good look at where it is positioned, as you'll need to replace it in the same way.
Remove the existing webbing by levering out the tacks with a tack lifter or the flat end of your screwdriver. You need to replace webbing evenly, always working from the back to the front, then from side to side. If you have an uneven number of strands, start in the middle (as I have here).
Without cutting your length of webbing, fold the end under just more than 1cm, and place it fold down on the back edge of the chair frame. Tack three 13mm tacks in a straight line along the fold and two more a little further in, so your tacks look like a dot-to-dot 'W' shape.
Insert the webbing into the strainer (see above, left) so the recessed lip is facing upwards and stretch it tightly to the front of the frame. Place the strainer so that the lip hooks onto the underside of the front of the seat frame. Hold tightly and lever down to create tension in the webbing (see above, centre).
Once taut, secure the webbing to the frame by hammering in three tacks in a straight line, as before, approximately 5mm apart. Cut the webbing with 2cm to spare and fold this excess over (hiding the line of three tacks) and hammer in two more tacks. Your five tacks will be in the same configuration as on the other side of the frame, only three of these tacks will be under the webbing. Repeat for the rest of the webbing.
To cover the webbing, before fixing the padding on top, cut a piece of hessian 1.5cm bigger then your seat frame. Keep the grain of the fabric in line with the strands of webbing running from the front to the back of the chair seat. Fold the hessian over 1.5cm and, with the fold facing upwards, tack this edge to the back of your seat frame using 10mm tacks. (3)
Stretch the hessian tightly to the front of the seat frame and temporarily secure it with three tacks - make sure you keep the grain of the fabric straight. It's easy to tell whether you have the grain straight, as the fabric will become tense in a straight line when you pull it, rather than feeling like it's skewing off to one side. Do the same with the sides. Then, working from the middle of each side towards the corners, knock in tacks about 3cm apart.
Fold the raw edges up and over, and tack them down.
Replacing the seat padding with foam
Get a piece of 5cm-thick foam cut to 1cm bigger than the size of your seat frame and place it centrally on the hessian. (4) The reason the foam needs to be slightly bigger is so that it creates a dome in the centre of the seat and the edges curl over, forming a nice curve once they're pulled tightly down.
Attaching wadding and the outer fabric
Cut a piece of polyester wadding 5cm bigger all round than the seat frame. You need to make sure that the wadding is no bulkier than the previous covering, since adding thickness that amounts o more than what was previously on the seat could mean that your finished seat won't fit back into the frame - which really would be a pain at this stage. Stretch the wadding very tightly over the frame and staple it on the underside, leaving the corners. Trim off the excess along each side. (5) Pinch the surplus wadding across the corners and chop away the excess, then staple down. (6)
Cut your covering fabric 8cm bigger all round than the seat. You can use the old cover as a pattern, if you prefer.
Spread out the covering fabric right side down on the floor or on a table and place the padded seat, padding side down, on top of it. Making sure the fabric is straight, fold it up to the frame and lightly hammer in one tack on the underside of the seat frame in the centre of the back, front and each side. This is to hold the fabric temporarily in place, so don't bang the tacks in all the way.
Once the fabric is positioned, staple the centre of the back securely, a couple of centimeters in from the edge of the frame. Then pull the fabric very tight and staple the front, working from the middle out towards the corners, as you did when attaching the hessian.
Staple each side in the same way, leaving the corners as you did with the wadding.
The corners - like the wadding - will have lots of excess fabric. Pull the centre of this excess taut and, holding it super-tight, staple a few times underneath the seat. Now cut away the excess fabric. Fold one side under, creating a neat vertical pleat (see page 151). Professionals tap this gently with a hammer to get a completely flat finish. The pleat may take a couple of goes, but it's well worth getting it right. Once you've cracked it, staple it firmly in place.
Cut a piece of calico 1cm bigger than the seat. Turn the edge under and tack this neatly onto the bottom of the seat, hiding the messy stapling. Now pop your new seat into the frame.
More crafts by Danielle Proud
Excerpted from House Proud by Danielle Proud, priced £16.99, published by Bloomsbury.