My mother and I have been working on reupholstering my desk chair for the studio. She gave me a really good head start on the project by starting it while I was still working on the organization, so that was a big help. The chair we are reupholstering is one I have had for several years and love. When I started redoing my studio, I thought about buying a new desk chair in the right color to save me the trouble of reupholstering this one, but I couldn’t find one I liked as much as this one. It’s very comfortable and has a high back, which I love. So my best option was to reupholster the one I have.
This is what the chair looked like when it was new…
But after having the chair for a few years, my cat completely destroyed it. The woven fabric was perfect for her to get her claws into. So even if the current color was perfect with my vision for my studio (it’s not), I would still have to reupholster it because she has completely destroyed it. And of course, I will be reupholstering it in velvet, which is my favorite cat-proof fabric.
My number one tip for reupholstering chairs and sofas is to remove the old fabric in an orderly manner. I will never forget the show Trading Spaces for many reasons (most of them not good ). But one thing I remember very vividly is the shoddy upholstery jobs those amateurs would do. And under the guidance of those designers (I’m looking at you, Hildi), they would start by ripping the original fabric off, tearing it off as quickly as possible. That may make for exciting TV, but if you’re a newbie to reupholstering, or even if you’re like me and you’re not a newbie but you just don’t do it often enough to be really proficient at it, then you’ll want to take your time removing the original fabric.
At first, removing the original fabric in an orderly fashion will take more time, but in the long run it will also save you time and frustration. First, removing it in an orderly fashion will help you see how the chair was originally upholstered. You’ll be able to see exactly where each piece is stapled together. It will give you the opportunity to take lots of pictures of how the pieces fit together. But most importantly, the original pieces will serve as patterns that you can use to cut out the new pieces of fabric.
Here is my mom carefully removing the fabric piece by piece, starting with the back and then the outside of the arms and wings.
The most important tool for removing old fabric from an upholstered chair or sofa is a flat-head screwdriver. This will help you remove all the old staples holding the fabric together.
But sometimes the staples are so deeply embedded in the wood that you can’t get a flat-head screwdriver underneath them. In that case, I use a new, very sharp razor blade to cut through the fabric around the staple, leaving as much of the fabric intact as possible.
I always take pictures of areas like this so I can remember what they looked like. Without a picture to remind me, I might get to this part, see this lump of fabric that won’t lay flat, and think I’ve done something wrong. Having a picture helps me remember what it looked like originally.
The fabric is usually removed in this order: the back of the chair back, the outside of the arms (and wings for high back chairs), the inside of the arms (and wings), the front of the chair back, and finally the seat. And once I had all the fabric off my chair, this is what it looked like.
This is when you need to evaluate whether you’re going to need new foam or batting. I’ve seen chairs and sofas that had pristine foam and batting underneath old fabric. And I’ve seen others that had old, brittle foam and destroyed batting. Heck, I’ve even reupholstered a daybed that was originally stuffed with something I can only assume was straw. But in this case, the foam on my chair looked pretty good, but the batting looked pretty thin.
So a couple of layers of new batting will be needed on this chair before adding the new fabric.
The fabric on the back had a thick piece of cardboard underneath, so I’m going to repurpose that to give the back some structure.
Once we had removed all the fabric, I was ready to take apart the pieces and prepare them as patterns for the new pieces. Here you can see the piece that wrapped around the back of the chair and the outside of the arms and wings.
They were three pieces sewn together, so I used my seam ripper to separate them.
I also measured the seam allowance and made a note of that measurement. This way I can decide if I want to use that same seam allowance or add an extra allowance when I cut the new fabric. These seams were only 3/8 inch, so I will probably add at least 1/8 inch to the seam allowances when I cut the new fabric.
After I took the pieces apart, I ironed them so the seam allowances would lay flat.
Next, I turned the pieces over and used a permanent marker to take notes. I noted which edges were seams and which were edges to wrap and staple. On the center piece, I noted which side was the top, since that could be hard to determine on a rectangular piece once the pieces were separated. Basically, I just took notes of anything I thought might be helpful to remember.
I did the same thing with the pieces that went on the front of the seat back and on the inside of the arms and wings. None of these pieces were sewn together. Instead, they had a thin black fabric sewn on most of the edges, and that thin black fabric is what gets pushed into the cracks, pulled tight, and stapled in place.
Those pieces of thin black fabric are not visible on the finished chair. So after removing that black fabric, I took notes of the edges that those pieces were sewn to (which I call “draft fabric”).
And then I made note of which edges needed to be wrapped and stapled.
And lastly, I did the same with the seat. This chair has a cushion that covers most of the piece, so there is a large piece of thin black fabric. So before I took them apart, I labeled which edge needed to be sewn and which was an edge to wrap and staple.
Now that I have all of the pattern pieces and they are all labeled, I am ready to use them to cut out the new fabric. Plus, all of my notes will come in handy when I start putting them back together.
We’ll be putting it back together in the exact opposite order that we took it apart. First, the seat, then the front of the chair back. Then, the inside of the arms and wings. And finally, the three-piece back and the outside of the arms and wings that are sewn together. And since I took pictures of the tricky parts with confusing details, I can also quickly run through them. Stay tuned for the new and improved desk chair!
Addicted 2 Decorating is a place where I share my DIY and decorating experience while remodeling and decorating the 1948 home my husband Matt and I purchased in 2013. Matt has multiple sclerosis and is unable to do physical labor, so I do most of the work around the house alone. You can learn more about me here.
