How to sheathe a folding chair with your own hands. Do-it-yourself office chair upholstery: features, instructions and recommendations. Partial restoration of the chair
Unfortunately, sooner or later any chair loses its appearance. After all, the more convenient it is, the more often it is used, and, accordingly, the upholstery of the chair wears out faster. In addition, a solid chair may not fit into the updated interior after the next repair. All these problems will be solved by reupholstering the chair with a new fabric.
Another reason to resort to is the purchase of an inexpensive faceless "semi-finished product" that requires beautiful case or reupholstering to give it a personal touch. This chair will be used as an example. The upholstery of the chair is made of linen, which is usually used for upholstering the bottoms of armchairs and the backs of sofas facing the wall. Such material does not have increased wear resistance and is not treated with dirt and water-repellent impregnations, like special furniture fabrics. Therefore, it quickly loses its appearance and requires replacement.
Tools and materials:
- pliers
- furniture stapler and staples
- screwdriver
- ripper
- tailor's scissors
- safety pins
- marker
- blended fabric for interior parts
- decorative furniture fabric
- padding polyester 25 mm thick
- strong threads 45 - 70 LL (lavsan-lavsan reinforced threads commonly used in the manufacture of upholstered furniture)
- sewing machine and needle for heavy fabrics (No. 100)
- confident sewing skills
1. Take the camera and remove the chair from all sides, paying special attention to the knots - the junctions of several fabrics. These photos will come in handy when you need to assemble from patterns new case. Don't trust your memory.
2. Unscrew the legs. Use a screwdriver to pry up the furniture staples and remove them with pliers.
3. Remove the old fabric from the chair. Open the seams that interfere with this, and then use the ripper to separate the cover into parts. It is not necessary to cut the fabric with scissors, because all the details must remain exactly in the form in which they were made by the manufacturer of the chair.
4. Iron the details and sign them.
5. If it occurred to you to wash the details, and after washing they sat down significantly, then you have to do the following: take a piece of cheap fabric, use safety pins to fix it on the chair so that it duplicates decorative upholstery. Cut off the darts with pins and draw with a marker. After you remove the fabric from the chair, the details should be drawn on it. Add seam allowances, make sure the symmetrical pieces are really symmetrical. This method of building patterns is also used when the old upholstery is not removed, and an additional removable cover is made to update the chair.
6. Calculate how long the cut of the decorative upholstery fabric you will need. To do this, you need to prepare a cutting plan. Lay out the parts so that they fit in a width of 1.4 meters. This standard width special furniture fabrics. Arrange the parts so that the longitudinal thread of the canvas runs along the seat and along the backrest, and across the armrests of the chair. The sample chair does not have armrests, so only general direction threads (all parts lie across the longitudinal warp thread).
7. If the fabric you have chosen has a graphic pattern that will need to be joined, the cutting plan must be done directly on the canvas, purchased with a decent supply. You should also take into account the direction of the pile, if you have chosen a pile material. Usually cutting is done in such a way that the pile is directed down.
8. Open the parts with a little margin in case the new cover does not fit perfectly. Baste the details with a temporary hand stitch.
9. Examine the chair. Reinforce loose knots, tighten screws and nuts. Replace the compressed synthetic winterizer. Try on the cover by temporarily securing it with a few staples where the fabric is hidden from view. If the fabric is wavy, adjust the pattern by removing excess in the seams or, conversely, adding where the fabric is too stretched. Patterns may not sit down immediately, because during operation the old upholstery, most likely, was deformed. Make as many fittings as needed to eliminate all defects. A hand needle will not leave marks, while a ripped machine stitch will leave punctures that will ruin the look of the fabric.
10. Prepare sewing machine to work with heavy fabrics according to. Check the quality of the seam on unnecessary fabric remnants. Stitch all the details. Make cuts on the allowances in those places where one piece is sewn to another along a curved line or at a right angle so that these allowances do not pull the material from the inside.
11. Put the new seat cover on. It is better to fix the fabric with staples together in order to be able to evenly stretch the cover. On the sample chair, the inner contour is first fixed, then the outer canvas is attached to the bottom. Excess fabric goes into folds that are invisible on the visible part of the back of the chair.
Then, using a stapler, the inner part of the seat is fixed.
12. In those places where the holes for the legs are located, it is necessary to make holes in the fabric and screw the legs.
13. Line the removable part of the seat (in our case, a piece of foam rubber) with synthetic winterizer and insert it into a new cover.
At first glance, reupholstering a chair may seem like a simple and enjoyable experience. This is true if you have enough sewing skills, patience and free time. The first time is better to choose office chair or simple shapes tending to a rectangle. Upholstery of a magnificent chair with a complex three-dimensional construction it is better to entrust to professionals.
If an old chair has lost its appearance and functionality, you can try to restore it instead of recycling it. It is necessary to redo the chair with your own hands until the degree of its deterioration reaches its limit.
Restoring furniture - an exciting activity, not too complicated, but time-consuming.
Types of alteration of the chair
Since the degree of furniture damage is different, the types of its restoration and alteration also differ in their degree of complexity. If the chair, in addition to losing its appearance, began to stagger over time, then it will need to be changed spike connections dried out from time. It is necessary to inspect the chair: if the contacts of the grooves and spikes are loose, they can be easily removed from the sockets, therefore, the dimensions of the spike will need to be increased, the power jumpers should be replaced. In this case, the chair will need to be completely rebuilt.
If the frame is holding up well, and the problem is only in appearance, it may be necessary to replace the coating. The wooden parts of the chair are always varnished so that the wood is better preserved. To replace the varnish layer, you must first carefully remove the old one, and you can additionally apply paint or cover them with patterns on the parts.
Tools needed for work: screwdriver, wrench, safety pins, pliers, screwdriver.
Carved and stucco elements often complement armchairs well after restoration and alteration. Resurfacing requires time, patience and care. In order not to spoil the upholstery fabric, the chair is sometimes completely disassembled.
by the most simple view restoration is the upholstery on the armchair. Upholstered furniture is transformed beyond recognition when the worn old fabric is replaced with a new one, and the upholstery no longer sags and keeps its shape well. if you have the tools, you can do it in a day, an experienced person can do it even faster.
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Chair preparation: tools and materials
It will take a lot of time and tools to completely overhaul the chair. All parts must be well sanded, removing layers of dirt and grease on them, sometimes you first need to wash in warm soapy water and dry. Old varnish and the paint will partially fall off when washed. Using an iron brush, you can speed up this process and even remove the coating completely, but further grinding of the parts will still be needed. In order to remake the chair, the following items are needed:
- foam rubber, synthetic winterizer, latex for a new filler;
- dense upholstery good quality;
- scissors;
- Screwdriver Set;
- hammer;
- screwdriver and screws;
- furniture stapler and special staples for it;
- sandpaper or grinder with a grinding wheel;
- clamps;
- metal clamps;
- wood glue;
- paint, stain, thinner, nitro varnish and suitable paint brushes.
If all operations are not required to remake the chair, some of the tools responsible for them can be excluded.
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How to disassemble the chair?
A tool for disassembling the chair into parts is practically not required, since the back and armrests need to be loosened even more and removed, with some effort and trying not to break the wooden spikes. Even if they sit loosely in the nests, it is always more difficult to extract the fragments than the whole part. To disconnect the joints will help a hammer wrapped soft cloth, or special rubber mallet. Strong joints are disassembled with extreme care, since it is there that it is easiest to break the fasteners.
Some connections in the chairs are fastened with screws with stripped or stuck threads. Stubborn screws can be softened by dropping technical oils on them, and stripped threads have to be removed with pliers using force. In order not to be confused in the future, all extracted parts and fasteners are immediately marked.
Taped joints help separate hot water. I moisten a rag in it and put it on an unyielding place for gluing, repeating the process until the glue gets wet and the parts come apart. You can help the separation with a thin knife, gradually pushed into the gap. If the remnants of glue and the unreliable element are in a hard-to-reach place, you can do more tricky. Put on the spout of the teapot rubber hose, the jet of steam is directed to the seam. This softens even the tightest joints, after 1-2 minutes the parts can be separated.
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Inspection and restoration of wooden parts
All elements of the chair after parsing, removing the upholstery, washing and sanding should be carefully inspected. The existing cracks are glued together tightly with clamps. Smaller defects after gluing hold well paper tape. If the parts are round and large, metal clamps will come to the rescue. Unnecessary holes and chips are filled with a mixture of glue and sawdust. Restoration and alteration of the chair will not be successful if the glue does not dry and set properly. Therefore, at least 2 days are allocated for drying.
Then the final grinding of the chair parts takes place using sandpaper various factions. The surface must be perfectly smooth.
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Bonding and assembly of parts
The places of gluing and joining are again carefully inspected. Shrunken parts to give them the desired volume are wrapped with a bandage, dense coils with glue smearing at each turn. If the legs no longer sit in their nests, you need to wedge them. To do this, a slot is drilled in the end, a wooden wedge, thin but wide, is driven into it. Thus, the diameter of the butt will be increased and the legs of the chair will sit firmly in their nests. This is suitable for those chair models where the legs are inserted directly into the seat board.
But if a chair of a different model is remade, in which there are drawers under the seat and crossbars between the legs, then the process is different. Most difficult option- rocking chair. These parts are interconnected with spikes and additionally reinforced with glue. In the weakened seams of this kind, glue is injected with a syringe through a thin hole drilled from the inside. And if the spike itself shrunk from time to time, then thin wedges are added during assembly in the form of specially planed wood chips or matches. They are dipped in glue and hammered into the nest together with the spike. The seat from the outside can be additionally fixed using special metal corners to give the frame special strength and durability.
Having completely disassembled and glued such complex connections, on inside corners frame, trapezoidal bars are screwed with screws. In this design, even small discrepancies will warp the chair even worse than before, so the frame and the ends of the bars must match perfectly. During assembly, the glue seizes better under pressure, so the frame is pulled together with clamps and clamps with the obligatory observance of a strict ratio of angles. The glue that has come out of the joints is removed with a cloth, wiping the parts dry. The frame costs 2 days, after which you can proceed to final finishing armchairs.
used daily cushioned furniture quickly overwritten and loses its attractiveness. It is not necessary to purchase a new chair right away: when the frame is in good condition, you can replace the upholstery yourself and give the product a “second life”.
Restoration begins with an inspection: the integrity is checked wooden parts and the places of their connection, as well as the condition of the springs or foam rubber filler. As a result of the check, a conclusion is made about the constriction with new material or a complete replacement soft parts. In the process of updating the chair, a tool is used:- Screwdrivers turn out the screws;
- Wrenches unscrew bolted connections;
- Nails and staples are removed with wire cutters and pliers;
- A new skin is fixed with a stapler;
- use if the fabric coating has a complex shape;
- In most cases, the flaps are held together with a needle and thread.
The new fabric is selected according to its density and quality; tapestry, jacquard or velor are suitable.
The old upholstery is carefully removed, which will play the role of templates - the removed pieces are superimposed on new fabric and outlined in chalk with a margin of 20–30 mm. Worn out springs are replaced with jute plaits, interlaced in a checkerboard pattern and stapled to the back of the frame. A filler will be placed on top of the shock-absorbing fabric, for which various materials and their combinations:- Sintepon;
- Foam rubber;
- Batting;
- Coir;
- Horsehair.
The advantage of do-it-yourself restoration is the ability to choose the most convenient structure of the updated chair.
The substrate is made multi-layered:- Burlap and foam rubber are cut to the size of the seat;
- The synthetic winterizer is cut off more by 50–100 mm on each side;
- Burlap is applied with the first layer, foam rubber is applied with the second;
- The third layer of padding polyester due to large sizes closes the "pie";
- The edges top material sewn to the frame;
- The pillow in the middle is additionally fixed with threads in 4-5 places.
Restoring the appearance of furniture that has fallen into disrepair is not at all difficult.
If the upholstery on the old chair has become unusable, you should not rush to throw it away, just drag it with a new fabric.
You can restore chairs and sofas with your own hands, saving money on buying new interior items.
In addition, hauling furniture is also a good way to earn money, with the help of which it is quite possible to replenish the family budget.
Before pulling the chair, you need to carefully inspect it. Determine which parts need to be replaced and which can still be used. As a rule, foam cushion pads, rubber straps used for screeding, and upholstery are most affected. Therefore, it is wiser to change them. It also needs to be replaced metal parts: nails, screws and staples.
Furniture disassembly
In order to disassemble the chair, you will need the following tools:
- pliers;
- keys;
- Phillips and regular screwdrivers;
- pliers.
First of all, it is necessary to remove the back wall and the plywood bottom of the chair. They are usually secured with small nails or self-tapping screws. If the plywood is suitable for further use, then it should be removed carefully.
Remove the foam padding that sits on the bottom of the seat and gives the chair a bounce. Twist the nuts that secure the legs to the back of the furniture. If the fasteners are rusted, use a special liquid to remove corrosion from the metal.
Next, you need to remove the old upholstery and remove the softening layer from the back. To do this, use a flathead screwdriver and pliers. Pry off the old brackets with a screwdriver so that one of the mounting legs comes out wooden surface. Then the staple is finally removed with pliers.
By prying several fasteners at once, you will avoid damaging the plywood. Pull them out one by one so as not to get scratched by the staples that have not yet been pulled out. A wound on the skin rusty metal can cause a lot of trouble. Therefore, it is best to disassemble the chair with gloves or mittens.
After removing all fasteners, the old upholstery is removed and the gasket is removed. Old foam rubber can crumble and crumble into pieces. If you are restoring furniture in an apartment, then lay it on the floor polyethylene film or newspapers. And only then remove the worn softening of the chair, otherwise small debris will scatter throughout the room.
The wooden frame of the chair is restored separately. It is necessary to remove a layer of varnish or paint from it, glue loosened elements and paint all parts of the structure.
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Backrest restoration
In order to restore the chair with your own hands, you will need a special furniture stapler and attachments to it. Ordinary office braces won't work, as they are made of softer metal and their legs are much shorter. It is best to use 6 mm and 10 mm staples. To reupholster the chair, you will need about 2 packs of fasteners of the first type and 1 pack of the second.
If the tension of the tightening tapes on the back just loosened, then they can be tightened. To do this, fastening tapes are removed from one side, the tightening element itself is pulled up, and its free end is shot with a stapler. Staples need to be driven in, changing their position in relation to each other, and not fastened exactly in a row. This technique will help to avoid delamination of plywood. It is necessary to restore the tension on all elements.
If rubber bands become rough or cracked over time, they must be completely replaced with new ones.
In the design of old chairs, the longitudinal tape is passed between the transverse ties crosswise (alternately above and below the transverse tapes). If the back of the chair is curved, then it is better to put the transverse screed on top of the transverse bands. So the load on the furniture will be distributed more efficiently, and the chair will no longer be sold.
Be sure to cut all the allowances of the tapes along the frame bar or stepping back a little from its edge. Otherwise, bumps and bumps may appear under the new upholstery, spoiling its appearance.
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Removing old upholstery
Next, you need to remove the old upholstery from rear wall armchairs. Usually its edge is glued and it is not difficult to remove the fabric. Use a flathead screwdriver to pry off the edge and pry it off the base. If the glue holds the upholstery firmly, then cut it with a clerical knife.
Old fabric can be reused. It is pulled over the back so that the new foam pad does not tear along the tightening tapes. Besides, worn upholstery will become the basis for fixing the new softener. Therefore, it should be removed very carefully.
Now the old upholstery needs to be fixed again. Align the fabric on the back frame, then place the frame on the end. The upholstery is fixed starting from the lower left corner, shooting it with a stapler. After fixing the fabric with 1 fastener, slightly pull the upholstery to the right and place another 1 staple about 1 cm from the previous one.
The fabric must be stretched so that it does not sag, but also does not form diagonal stretched folds. Small waves are allowed. You will align them when you adjust the tension of the upholstery on the second side. But large creases will be difficult to remove.
We fix the fabric and turn the frame with the opposite side towards us. We stretch the upholstery as much as possible and fix it again. Next, we fix it around the entire perimeter of the frame, constantly slightly pulling the fabric.
At the corners, we lay oncoming folds (folding the fabric in an envelope), cutting off the excess so that the upholstery does not stick out. We fasten the staples, capturing both sides of the fold with one fastener. This will prevent the fabric from spreading. Secure all 4 corners by shooting 2-3 staples.
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Preparing the furniture seat
As carefully as you did with the back, remove the fabric from the seat and remove the worn foam. Remove all nails, old screws and screws. If the fasteners are not removed, then they must be carefully drilled out. Cut off excess fabric from the attachment points, removing threads and glue residue.
With pliers, grab about 5 mm of the rubber band and pull it on, leading it over the edge of the frame and resting it on the bar. Secure the edge of the tie with a stapler. Staples must be placed, changing their position in relation to each other. Otherwise rubber band may break. Re-tension all bands in the same way.
As in the case of the back, we reattach the old upholstery, repeating the previous operations. If the chair foam is not too worn, it can be reused. To do this, lay the foam from the seat across the frame so that it protrudes from three sides, and from the fourth does not reach the edge of the frame by about 10 cm. The gasket is glued, the excess is cut off with a clerical knife.
Take the old foam pad from the back and glue it to the seat. Since it is 2 times thinner, then fold it in half. Don't forget to leave a fold allowance for the frame. It is wiser to glue the gasket first, and only then cut off the excess.
All joints must be securely glued so that subsequently the foam rubber does not disperse along the seam. To do this, the joints of the gaskets are smeared with glue, left for several minutes until the surface becomes viscous. And only then the parts are connected, squeezing with force. Glue the fold last, attaching the foam to the base, and cut off excess allowances.
In the same way, a new gasket is attached if you do not want to use the old foam rubber. To soften the backrest, you will need a new softener anyway. If you do not have foam rubber of the required thickness, then you can glue 2 layers of thinner pads together.
Lay the chair back on the softener sheet. The back of the foam is aligned with the bottom edge of the chair frame. Leave a fold allowance on top. The back is outlined with a marker, then a softener is cut out.
Glue the padding to the seat back fabric and cut the edges flush with the frame. Glue all edges carefully. Only after the adhesive has completely dried, cut off a softener strip equal to the width of the bottom bar from the lower edge of the back of the chair.
Every home has old furniture, and sometimes it is so loved by everyone that you simply don’t want to throw it away and replace it with a new one.
If you have an old chair and you do not want to part with it, then you can restore it.
It is not surprising that we are thinking about how to sheathe a chair with our own hands.
You can always restore your favorite chair. Many people are interested in how to sheathe an armchair with their own hands, to give it a modern, fresh look and at the same time do not part with your favorite thing.
Before you begin the restoration of the chair, check its frame for strength.
If you try, then a second life for furniture is possible. As you know, the more comfortable your furniture is, the more quickly the upholstery becomes unusable, because you use it quite intensively.
DIY springless chairs home craftsman can make it like new. When starting furniture restoration, make sure that the frame has sufficient strength. If this is not the case, then the joints of the wooden parts must be glued and fixed. When reupholstering a chair, it is necessary to replace the padding that is inside the furniture, which is usually made of batting and canvas. Thus, the new upholstery will lie better and last longer.
To update the seat experienced master everything is prepared in advance. Stock up on materials that you will need in the course of the work, so as not to be distracted in the future.
Tools and materials
- For stuffing - batting, foam rubber, cotton wool.
- Linen canvas.
- Fabric upholstery for a chair.
- Stapler, nails, scissors, hammer.
- Tailor's chalk.
- Centimeter.
Usually the chair has padding, which is horsehair or coconut fiber, which is covered with linen canvas. A layer of batting is required on top of the upholstery. This way you will prevent sagging. The best option in this case the thickness will be 25 mm. Also suitable interlining, synthetic material, it is also sold in specialized departments of furniture stores.
Starting to close the chairs, it is necessary to follow a certain order. First of all, process the inside of the heaps of your chair. Next get busy inside backs, and after all the work done, deal directly with the base and seat. Following this sequence exactly, the white linen cover is stretched in such a way that the batting has the desired position. Finally, cover the outer sides of the chair with upholstery fabric, only without a gasket.
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Material consumption
Remove the old upholstery carefully, as it will still be useful for a new pattern.
This step is quite simple, no complicated steps are needed to calculate the material consumption, you just need to get measurements from the upholstery that you removed. In this case, it must be taken into account that over time, deformation of the tissue occurs, it is stretched. Therefore, when cutting, it does not hurt to leave additional allowances. If you have chosen a fabric with a pattern for covering, the consumption should be reviewed so that the location of the pattern is harmonious. Try to keep it all over the surface. Remember to check if the new gasket matches the old one. cushioning material by thickness.
To this end, you will need to beat the old batting as much as possible, in this form, compare. Often, to preserve the old shape of a chair that has received a new upholstery, batting is used in a thick layer. Therefore, it is important to consider the presence additional expense. An example for such a cutting can be considered an old upholstery. But it's still better to take new measurements upholstery fabric, guided by the chair.
When working with batting, be careful, as the surface of the chair can become uneven and bumpy.
The batting must be handled carefully so that the surface of the newly upholstered chair does not turn out to be bumpy. Batting should be placed on the stuffing, covered with canvas, cut out the gasket. It should have a size due to which the edges could go beyond the close-fitting.
Adjacency to the edges of the gasket of any material should be soft. If horsehair needs to be fluffed, then this is not done with a gasket made of other materials. Thanks to batting, you will not only optimally update your favorite chair, but you will also be able to adjust its appearance.
For example, when changing the thickness of the gasket, it is easy to change the proportion of the handles, make them wider and more massive, giving the chair solidity. The presence of thicker handles makes the furniture more comfortable, but do not forget that the seat will become narrower.
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Final upholstery step
Corner wrap example.
To obtain a flawless work result, it is necessary to carefully process the front corners. If they are rectangular, tuck them in with one fold, and if the corners have rounded shape, you want to create a whole wreath of folds. Particular attention should be paid to the processing of a right or sharp corner, while the ends of the fabric must be stretched over the corners directed towards outside. Next, the fabric is held and nailed. Here the distance from the corner of the frame is approximately 25 mm. A strip of loose fabric next to the nails is cut off, retreating 15 mm from the edge. Such a cut should be even, directed upwards. Excess fabric is cut off, adhering to the angle of 90 degrees.
The fabric that remains is laid in a separate fold, it must be pulled parallel to the corner of the frame, down, swept to the underside. If the seat has a rounded corner, the tension of the fabric should be such that the distribution of the free part occurs evenly on the sides. Now pull the end of the fabric optimally, and secure it under the crossbar with a stapler or a nail. prune excess material as neatly as possible, lay the fabric on both sides with even folds. In this case, both wreaths formed by folds must be pulled in such a way on the underside of the crossbar so that they overlap under the chair. Nails are used to secure the edges.