Floral Chair - jcaroline creative
You are here: Home > How To's > Floral Chair Re-Do Floral Upholstered Chair

Floral Upholstered Chair

How-to provided by www.jcarolinecreative.com

Printable Version
Floral Upholstered Chair
Don't pass up that nondescript chair. ($3 Goodwill) The fabric on the redone chair is Alexander Henry's Home Black Veronique. It took 5 yards of fabric.

I'll call this a "pictorial essay" versus a tutorial. Since every chair is going to be a little different, I will try to impart to you what I learned from this chair and the new materials I learned to use.
Step 1
I bought some new tools and needed some upholstery supplies for this chair. I bought mine online at DIY upholstery. You might have an upholstery supply store in town (but honestly, that's not very likely). I liked this website because they had pictures and descriptions of all the items. If you do a search for upholstery supplies, you'll find a number of sites. Be warned however. There are a million and one upholstery tools and supplies and it is easy to get overwhelmed as to what you need for what purpose when. Use your old chair as a guide, and if necessary, call the upholstery supplier and ask questions.
  • Staple lifter (the yellow handled thing)- I used one on this chair and loved it. It is so much more effective than a flat blade screwdriver for removing staples. However, I would advise wearing gloves because if you poke that device into your finger you are going to be very angry and bloody.
  • Tack Strip (the brown chipboard strip on the far left)- It is used to keep the edge of the fabric straight even if your staples aren't.
  • Pli Grip/Ply Grip/Curve Ease (the silver strip shown)- Provides a "hook" to hold your fabric and create a finished edge on straight or curved edges. Usually used on the back piece of a chair. I wasn't able to staple it on- I used tacks every 2 to 3 holes. I found some tacks at Lowes that worked, but you can also ask the upholstery supplier if they have tacks that will work.
  • Tack Hammer (the wooden handled hammer)- A small hammering surface great for installing tacks, such as on Ply Grip. Mine has a nylon tip as well which is designed to not scratch decorative tacks. I used that side to hammer down the Ply Grip.
  • The supplies shown on the right are for button "tufting". Your chair may not need any tufting, though it is often used now for decorative purposes more than functional. That super long needle is called a Bolster needle. My mother loaned me hers, but I also found some needles at JoAnns. The canister holds Button Tufting Twine, which is nylon string to securely hold your buttons without stretching. And for the buttons, I used the You Cover buttons in 7/8".
Step 2 Here is the chair as it started. I've numbered the order in which the pieces will be re-upholstered. You will learn a ton about how to put the chair back together when you take it apart.
Step 3 This chair took forever to strip and remove all the staples and nails. I am going to estimate that I spent two to three hours on this. If the project is complicated, keep notes or take pictures as you strip it down. Definitely save your fabric pieces and label them if necessary. You'll use those as the pattern for your new upholstery.

While it is naked is a good time to repaint or stain the legs. I couldn't find a black stain, so I spray painted the legs matte black and then sanded them lightly.

See those strips hanging down? That is jute webbing, usually used to hold in springs. This chair had it all along the sides and back. I kept them on just in case, but towards the end decided they weren't necessary and took them off.
Step 4 I kept the cotton batting that was on the chair seat as it was clean and in good shape. However, I added a layer of Bonded Dacron (it is like a very fluffy quilt batting- 1" to 1 1/2" thick) because I wanted the seat to be a little overstuffed. I could not find cotton batting available anywhere but online. I found the Dacron at a local upholstery distributor. I had to buy a 20 lb. roll, but several websites sell it by the yard.

A local upholsterer was kind enough to explain how the Dacron and cotton batting are used. Cotton batting is used predominately on seats, as it is very dense and will not compress over time. However, it does not perform as well on vertical surfaces as it has a tendency to slip. That's why traditionally, chairs had tufted (buttoned) backs to keep the cotton batting secure. Bonded Dacron performs well on the vertical surfaces of a chair, as like modern quilting batting, it will not shift. However, on a chair seat, it will eventually compress.
Step 5 Use the old upholstery as a pattern for the new. I cut the pieces about 2" larger all the way around because I wasn't sure if the new stuffing would require more fabric or not. And it is much easier to cut some fabric off and impossible to add fabric back on. You can ignore the cut outs for the back legs and arms- I just worked on that once it was on the chair. This chair had welting EVERYWHERE, but I chose to eliminate it on spots where it just complicated things (like around the seat).
Step 6 Here I placed the fabric on the seat, stapled the back side so the fabric was stable and clipped around the arms. I don't have a great secret for clipping out those pieces- in fact, later you will see where I did it WRONG. Just clip conservatively and fold under your raw edges. And don't clip anything until you know where the fabric is going to lay (so get most of your positioning and stapling done before bringing out the scissors).
Step 7 After the seat was secured, I worked on the front corners of the seat. In the picture above I had done some sort of mitered thing, which I didn't like, so I just tucked the extra fabric under the front to form a straight fold and stapled it down.
Step 8 The piece under the knees was next, so I stapled the welting or cording on it. (If you want to know about cording, see this.) I just picked where I wanted the cording to be and measured from the bottom of the chair to ensure that it was straight.
Step 9 Now I added the fabric piece to the front. This is where you use the Tack Strip. See how my staples are all wonky? But the fabric will hang/fold against the tack strip, so it will be straight. Just butt the Tack Strip against the welting and staple.
Step 10 Then I cut a piece of Dacron for the front and stapled it on in a couple of places to keep if from moving on me. The Dacron (or cotton batting) provides a little rounding to the strip and most importantly, hides the bumps from staples, Tack Strip and any other oddity sticking up.
Step 11 This chair originally had welting all around the bottom, which I didn't want. However, it had ridges at the top of the front legs, so I just cut some welting and stapled it around the ridge to hide it.
Step 12 Here we are at the cutting stage again. Yuck. Fortunately, this leg came out okay. Clip what you need to form the fabric around the legs.
Step 13 Fold under the raw edges and staple. (You are looking up the leg onto the bottom of the chair.)
Step 14 The Dacron on the back fell apart when I took the upholstery off, so I placed new Dacron on the back and cut to fit. I stapled it in just a few places (like five or six) at the top of the back to make sure it didn't slide down on me.
Step 15 Here you can see how the fabric on the seat and the bottom of the back is passed through the slot between the chair and back and stapled to the frame in the back. If you have too much fabric, you can just trim it after you staple.
Step 16 The back had rounded corners, so I just folded the fabric four times to create a little "pleat". Hold the folds with your fingers and staple the whole thing together. (My mistake in the past has been trying to staple each fold and you end up with a mess of staples, the last few not even holding.)
Step 17 I added buttons to the back of this chair because I felt like my back was a little loose and tufting definitely takes up some slack. I used pins to mark where I wanted the buttons to go, which I made my marks by measuring and sighting. This shows that huge needle poking through the front with both ends of the twine through the needle eye.
Step 18 This shows the needle coming out the back side. Pull the twine as tight as you can and staple to the frame.
Step 19 Now you are looking at the outside back of the chair. I stapled some quilting batting (2 layers of low loft) to the back. I didn't use the Dacron because I thought it was too thick for the back, but now I think it would have been fine. Again, the batting is nice as it hides little bumps, etc., but I found on this chair, once you pull the fabric taut on the frame, the batting is not right up against the fabric. Long story short, I think the thick Dacron would have been fine. Could you not use any batting? Ummm.... I think it does help protect the fabric from the frame when you push in on the back, either moving it or knocking it up against other furniture, etc.

You can also see the Tack Strip stapled up against the cording and the fabric ready to pull down to cover the back.
Step 20 Here I've attached the Ply Grip to the back of the chair following the cording. I couldn't staple it because my stapler would not get close enough to hit the holes, so I tacked the strip every 2 or 3 holes. I first used "cut tacks" (those black ugly tacks), but decided they didn't sit flat enough, so I then used tiny headed silver nails. You can barely see them in the picture and they were just big enough to not slip through the holes.

I also tended to get the Ply Grip too close to the welting, which makes it difficult to flatten it and let the welting come down over it. I kept it about 1/8" from the edge- I would have been better off keeping it 3/16" to 1/4" away.
Step 21 Once the Ply Grip is installed, I bent it down a little bit (so it didn't stick out at a 90 degree angle) and used my finger to lightly stick the fabric down in the "trough". I used a grease pencil and marked the fabric in the "trough" so I would know how much to trim. Then I took the fabric back out, trimmed it, and then using my fingers, stuck the fabric back in and folded down the Ply Grip. Once the fabric is secure and where you want it, you can take the nylon end of the tack hammer and hammer the Ply Grip completely flat. The welting then protects the edge of the Ply Grip.
Step 22 Ooops. I was pounding the Ply Grip with a hammer to flatten it and I created a hole in the fabric. Don't do that. Quite frankly, I'm not sure why it happened here and not on other areas. I think perhaps the fabric was caught on a corner of the Ply Grip and then as I hammered, it knocked it loose and tore it. Fray Check will keep it from getting any worse.

It looks like my seam is separating a bit, revealing the Ply Grip underneath.
Step 23 Ooops. It seems I cut a little more than necessary to fit around the leg. I applied some Fray Check to keep it from raveling and just hope that no one notices or picks at it. A nail would help secure it if I can find one that is not too shiny.
Step 24 I covered the bottom in a solid black cotton. I just cut a big square of fabric and then trimmed and folded as I went around the chair. And yuck, more cutting around the legs.
copyright 2008 j. caroline designs, l.p.
Feel free to use this pattern and instructions for personal or commercial use. Please do not reprint these instructions without permission. You may link to this page from your website without requesting permission.
Printable Version