"Cushy Tushy"

Recovering a Seat Cushion


The easiest and most inexpensive way to reinvent a chair and make it like new for your afternoon tea table is to recover the seat cushion.  With a little bit of fabric and maybe some new foam rubber, you can transform an old, worn out relic into a beautiful new seat.  And it takes no more skill than stapling cloth to wood.


Materials

2 yards fabric (medium to heavy weight)
(Should cover 4 chairs)
Staple gun with extra staples
Hammer
Needle nose pliers (long slender type)
Flat head screwdriver (or tack lifter)
Scissors





1)  Turn the chair upside down and set it on the edge of a table.  Remove the screws from the four corners of the seat.  Lift the chair frame off of the seat and set the frame aside.




2)  Using the flat head screwdriver (or a tack lifter, which you can purchase from a hardware store), remove the staples from around the edge of the old fabric.  Needle nose pliers may help pull the staples from the wood once they have been loosened.




3)  Using the old fabric as a pattern, cut out the new material about a half inch larger than the old cloth.  This will give you a little extra to work with.  If the old foam rubber is worn, you can replace it with new foam at this point.  Just like the fabric, use the old foam as a pattern to cut out the new cushion.




4)  Lay the new fabric right side down on the table.  Place the seat bottom, foam side down, on top of the fabric, centering the seat on the fabric.  Beginning at the middle of one side, fold the fabric under about a half inch and wrap it over the foam and wooden seat bottom.  Shoot a few staples into place along the folded edge of the fabric.  Repeat this step on the other three sides, working on opposite sides at a time, pulling the fabric tightly across the seat cushion as you work.




5)  To create the corner pleats, pull up the corner point of the fabric straight over the corner of the wood.  Fold the fabric under as you did on the sides and shoot one staple in to hold the fabric in place.  If you have a lot of excess fabric folded under on the corner, trim some off before stapling.




6)  On one side of the corner, fold over half the remaining fabric and pull it toward the center forming the first side pleat.  Keep the fabric taut as you staple it into place.





7)  To form the second side pleat on that same side, fold over the remaining fabric and pull it toward the first pleat.  Keep the fabric taut as you staple it into place.




8)  Repeat this folding and stapling process on the other side of the corner to form the two pleats on that side.  You should now have a neatly pleated seat corner.




9)  Do the same on the remaining three corners, folding pleats toward the corners and stapling them into place.  Always pull the fabric taut as you work.




10)  With the seat bottom fabric side down on the table, turn the chair frame upside down and line up the seat opening on the frame with the seat bottom.  Reinsert the screws back into the four corners and tighten into place.




And there you have it.  For very little time, effort and money, you have a brand new chair (or set of chairs) to sit and relax on and enjoy afternoon tea for years to come.  So grab those chairs and start recovering.  You'll be amazed at the transformation!







Photos:  Copyright 2007  Lighthouse Literary, Inc.                                                                                                                                          



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