DIY

How to Recover Chair Cushions

This is a guest post by Adventures of a Housewife!

DIY Tutorial on How to Recover Chair Cushions


For almost my entire marriage, we have had my parents old dining room set.  It is not 100% my style but I love that is has 3 separate leaves that make it huge!  It is perfect for large dinner parties and is such a sturdy piece of furniture.  Instead of spending thousands of dollars on a comparable set, I have made it my own, several different times:), by recovering the cusions on the chairs.  Even something this simple gives the set a whole new look, and because it is so easy, you can change them if you change your room design.  Here is my most recent make over:

1.  Remove the pads from the chairs.  Look underneath as there are probably a few screws holding it on.

2.  Measure the pads and determine how much fabric you will need to purchase.  Check places like Walmart that often have great fabric at much lower prices that fabric only stores.

3.  Wash, dry and iron your fabric.  This helps if you ever need to get spots off them by keeping the color more stable.  I also highly recommend spraying the fabric with scotch guard to help keep stains off.

4.  Lay the fabric on a smooth surface and place the cushion on top.  Cut the fabric in the shape of the cushion with enough overage to wrap around adequately.

5.  Lay the first pad, top side down, on a piece of your fabric.  Start by wrapping the fabric snugly around one side and begin stapling the fabric in the middle and then work your way out to the corners, stapling every couple of inches.  Do not pull too hard so that you don’t stretch the fabric but make sure you are pulling it to smooth.

6.  Work your way around the cushion leaving the corners undone.  Once all four sides are stapled, you can start the corners.  I find this helps keep the fabric smooth and in place.

7.  Begin the first corner by pulling the fabric around to the back and cutting off any large amounts of excess.  Fold the fabric tightly on the back and smooth the edges as much as possible.  Sometimes, I will fold the fabric once and then again, almost like a pleat on the back to get it to lay smooth.  Remember that it doesn’t matter what the bottom of the cushion looks like, just the top:)

8.  Once you have all the cushions covered, replace them on the chair frames and admire your work!

 

 

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Emily Buys

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