How Do You Reupholster Dining Chairs with Backs?

To reupholster a dining chair with a back, remove the seat pad first and set it aside, then strip the old fabric from the backrest while photographing each stage. Cover the back panel and the inner back separately, working from the inside outwards, staple the fabric to the frame under even tension, and finish the outer back with a panel of fabric attached using cardboard tack strip so the edge is invisible. Refit the seat last.

A chair with a back is genuinely more involved than a drop in seat, because there are two or three separate fabric panels that must meet cleanly. It is still an achievable home project. The difference is that order of work matters, and getting it wrong means unpicking and starting again.

Assessing the Chair Before You Begin

Look at how the existing fabric is attached. Chairs fall broadly into two groups: those where the seat lifts out and the back is upholstered separately, and those where the whole frame is covered as one piece.

If the seat unscrews from below, you are in the easier group. The back will usually have an inner panel facing you and an outer panel behind it, sometimes with piping or a decorative trim where they meet.

Check the frame condition too. Reupholstering a chair with loose joints is wasted effort, because dismantling it later to fix the frame means damaging your new work. Tighten screws and re glue any moving joints before you buy fabric.

Count your chairs and be realistic. The first chair takes considerably longer than the rest. Allow a full day for chair one and perhaps two hours each after that.

Measuring and Buying Fabric

Measure the widest and tallest points of each panel you need to cover, then add a hundred millimetres in every direction for pulling and stapling. For a typical dining chair with a seat and a padded back, budget around one and a half metres of fabric per chair on standard width upholstery cloth.

Patterned fabric needs more, sometimes considerably more, because the pattern must repeat consistently across the set. Ask for the pattern repeat measurement and add one full repeat per panel to your calculation.

Choose an upholstery weight fabric rather than a furnishing or dress fabric. Dining chairs face daily abrasion and a lighter cloth will thin at the front seat edge within a couple of years. If you want to see how different weaves look in a dining setting before committing, our modern fabric dining chairs UK sale range is a useful reference.

Stripping the Old Cover

Photograph the chair from every angle before touching it. Then photograph again after each layer comes off. These pictures are your assembly instructions, and they are worth far more than any general guide once you reach the awkward parts.

Remove any decorative trim or piping first, then start on the outer back panel, which is usually the last thing that was fitted and therefore the first to come off. Look for tack strip along the edges, a thin cardboard or metal strip that creates the crisp folded edge.

Pull staples with a staple remover and pliers rather than tearing the fabric off. Ripping fabric away leaves staple crowns buried in the frame that will catch your new cloth.

Keep the old panels. Flattened out, they become templates for cutting the new fabric, and they show exactly how each piece was shaped around the frame.

Checking Padding and Webbing

With the cover off, inspect what is underneath. Foam that has compressed to a fraction of its original thickness should be replaced. Webbing straps that sag or have snapped need renewing before you cover the chair, since they carry the load.

Replace webbing by stretching new strips across the frame in a woven pattern and stapling each end with a fold for strength. Pull them taut. Slack webbing gives a seat that feels soft in a bad way.

Add a layer of polyester wadding over any foam, wrapping it slightly over the edges. This is what stops the foam edge showing as a hard line through the fabric and it is the detail that most distinguishes an amateur job from a professional one.

Covering the Back

Start with the inner back, the panel that faces the person sitting down. Cut your fabric using the old panel as a template plus your allowance. Position it, then place one staple at the centre top and one at the centre bottom, pulling gently.

Add centre staples on each side, then work outwards towards the corners in alternating directions. Check the grain of the fabric stays straight as you go. It is easy to introduce a diagonal pull that only becomes obvious once the whole panel is fixed.

Where the frame has uprights, you will need to cut the fabric to fit around them. Cut a Y shape towards the upright, stopping a few millimetres short, then tuck the flaps around and staple behind. Cutting too far leaves a visible gap that cannot be fixed.

The outer back goes on last. Cut the panel with a generous allowance, then attach the top edge using cardboard tack strip: lay the fabric face down against the chair with the strip along the fold line, staple through both, then flip the fabric down over the strip. This creates a sharp invisible edge. Pull the sides and bottom taut and staple, folding the corners neatly.

Refitting the Seat

Cover the seat pad in the same way as any drop in seat: fabric face down, pad on top, staple centres first then work outwards, pleating the corners inwards.

Refit the pad and check the fit before tightening the screws. Fabric adds thickness, and a pad that was a snug fit before may need a little easing. Never force it, as that puts pressure on the frame joints.

Stand back and look at the chair from across the room. Small tension inconsistencies that are invisible up close often show as shadows at distance, and they are easy to correct while the staples are fresh.

Finishing Details

Trim surplus fabric close to the staple line, but not so close that the weave can fray back past the staples. Around fifteen millimetres is sensible.

If the original chair had piping or decorative studs, replicate them. They exist to cover the junction between panels and without them the joins are exposed. Self covered piping in the same fabric looks discreet, while a contrast piping in a darker tone adds definition.

Finally, treat the fabric with a suitable protector if the chairs will be used daily. Test on an offcut first, since some treatments slightly change the colour or handle of a fabric.

Is It Worth Doing?

Reupholstery makes sense when the frames are good and the chairs have a shape you cannot easily find elsewhere. Older chairs in solid hardwood are usually worth the effort, as are inherited pieces with sentimental value.

It makes less sense on lightly built chairs with stapled frames, or where the fabric cost across a set of six approaches the price of new seating. In that case, replacing is the practical choice, and our modern dining chairs UK sale range spans upholstered, wooden and leather designs. For a fully coordinated dining space, the modern dining table and chairs sets UK sale collection matches seating to tables directly. We are Furniture in Fashion, and we ship free to most UK mainland postcodes.

Frequently Asked Questions

How much fabric do I need to reupholster a dining chair with a back?
Allow around one and a half metres per chair for a plain fabric on standard upholstery width. Patterned fabrics need extra to keep the design aligned across every chair in the set.

Do I need a professional staple gun?
An electric or pneumatic staple gun makes the job far easier and gives more consistent depth, but a good quality heavy duty manual gun will do the work on softwood frames. Hardwood frames are difficult with a manual gun.

Can I reupholster over the existing fabric?
It is possible where the old cover is clean, taut and thin, and it saves considerable time. The result is bulkier at the edges and corners, so it works better on simple shapes than on chairs with tight detailing.

What is tack strip and do I need it?
Tack strip is a thin cardboard or metal strip used to create a sharp folded edge on outer back panels. It is inexpensive and it is the difference between a crisp professional edge and a visible staple line.

How do I keep the pattern consistent across a set of chairs?
Cut all the panels for the whole set before you start stapling, positioning each piece at the same point in the pattern repeat. Mark the top edge of each panel so nothing gets fitted upside down.