Upholstery 101

By Ashley Jameson Eriksmoen
Category: Craft, Furniture
Time Required: 2-3 hours
Difficulty: Moderate

Dining chairs are an integral part of good times. Where there’s dinner, wine, and company, there are chairs. But dining chairs are notoriously uncomfortable: no fun for the buns. With simple modifications, that can be changed. Plywood slip seats can be altered to allow a bit of flex, a tad of padding, and a big difference in comfort. At your next dinner party, don’t be surprised if your guests won’t leave!

This article teaches you the basics of upholstery, and our online supplement includes additional techniques for softening that slip seat (see http://craftzine.com/07/101). After this project you’ll be ready to move on to an armchair or chair with a loose cushion.

Upholstering with tacks is the most traditional method, and the least expensive for startup costs. You just need an upholsterer’s brass tack hammer with a magnetic tip, and tacks. Any stapling described in this article can be accomplished with tacks. (Or you can use a pneumatic upholstery staple gun, which is easy on the wrists, fast, and gentle on the fabric.)

There’s a lot of gorgeous fabric, but it’s not all that appropriate for upholstery. Upholstery fabric should be a weave, never a knit, and should have very little stretch along the grain. It should be sturdy enough to withstand having staples put in and ripped out. Jacquards, brocades, denims, and heavyweight woven wools are all good choices.

Steps

Step #1: Prepare your chair.

Check the frame and remove the seat. You want to start with a chair frame that is in good repair. Check for loose joints and for cracks in the wood. See if the chair is structurally sound by giving it a good wiggle. Turn the chair upside down into a secure position. Remove only the screws that go straight down to fasten the seat to the frame; leave the horizontal screws on the cross bracing alone. Remove the seat, and put the screws in a safe place where you can actually find them later (important step!).
Rip and strip. Time to put on your safety glasses: tacks and staples make unpredictable trajectories when you yank on them. If you can’t get hold of a proper staple remover, an oyster shucker will do the trick. You’ll need to remove all the staples and/or tacks from the seat before you reupholster. This is a tedious chore, but necessary so that the new staples can penetrate the wood.
Check the seat. If the plywood seat pan looks cracked or weak, get a fresh piece of high-grade Euro-ply. The thickness of your seat pan will help to determine whether to make a webbed seat or a slotted seat. (Instructions for these techniques are available at http://craftzine.com/07/101.)