How Do You Make Dining Chair Seat Covers?

To make dining chair seat covers, remove the seat pad from the chair frame, use it as a template to cut fabric with a generous allowance all round, then either staple the fabric to the underside of the pad for a fitted finish or sew a slip cover with elasticated or tie fastenings for a removable one. A single drop in seat pad takes around twenty minutes to recover once you have the materials to hand.

The stapled method gives the neater result and is the one most people should choose. The sewn slip cover method makes sense if you want to wash the covers, or if the seat is fixed to the frame and cannot be removed.

Working Out Which Method You Need

Turn a chair upside down first. If you can see four screws holding a padded panel to the underside of the seat frame, you have a drop in or screw fixed pad, and stapling is straightforward. Remove the screws, lift the pad out and work on it separately.

If the upholstery wraps directly around the chair frame with no removable panel, you are dealing with a fully upholstered seat. Recovering that in place is possible but considerably harder, and a sewn slip cover is usually the more practical route.

Some chairs use a stapled pad with no screws at all, held by tension and a rebate in the frame. These lift out with firm upward pressure at the back edge.

Choosing the Fabric

Upholstery weight fabric is essential. Dress fabric will wear through at the seat front within months. Look for a woven fabric with some body to it rather than a loose weave that will distort when pulled.

Rub count matters. Where a Martindale figure is given, 20,000 is a sensible minimum for a dining chair and 30,000 or above gives real longevity. Cotton and linen blends, heavy twills, upholstery velvets and woven jacquards all work well.

Avoid fabrics with a strong directional pattern for your first attempt, since matching the pattern across a set of six seats adds a level of difficulty and a lot of extra fabric. A plain, a subtle texture or a small all over design is much more forgiving.

For fabric quantity, measure the pad width plus twice its depth plus 10 centimetres, then the same for the length. That gives the cut size for one seat. Most standard seat pads need around half a metre of 140 centimetre wide fabric each, so a set of six typically takes three metres. Buy a little extra for safety.

The Stapled Method Step by Step

Remove the seat pad and set the screws somewhere safe. Take a photograph of the underside before you start, since it records how the existing fabric was folded at the corners.

Decide whether to strip the old cover. If it is clean, dry and not bulky, you can staple straight over the top, which preserves the pad shape and saves time. If it is stained, damp or already double layered, take it off. Remove old staples with a flat screwdriver and pliers rather than tearing the fabric away.

Check the foam while the pad is bare. If it has flattened or crumbles at the edges, replace it now. New foam costs little and transforms the comfort far more than new fabric does.

Lay the fabric face down on a clean surface. Place the pad on top, foam side down, centring any pattern by eye and checking from the front rather than the back. Cut with at least 5 centimetres of allowance all round.

Start stapling at the centre of the front edge. Pull the fabric firmly over the pad and put in one staple. Move to the centre of the back edge, pull the fabric taut and staple. Then do the centre of each side. Working opposite edges in this order keeps the tension even and stops the fabric pulling to one side.

Work outwards from each centre staple towards the corners, placing staples every 3 to 4 centimetres and keeping consistent tension. Firm but not stretched: overtightening distorts the foam and creates a hard ridge at the edge.

Leave the corners until last. Pull the corner point straight up and staple it, then fold the excess on each side into a neat pleat facing inwards and staple through it. Trim away the bulk once stapled, but not so close that the fabric can fray free.

Trim the surplus fabric back to roughly 2 centimetres from the staple line all round, refit the pad to the frame and reinsert the screws.

The Sewn Slip Cover Method

For a washable cover, make a paper template of the seat top first. Add 1.5 centimetres of seam allowance around the template and cut your top panel.

Measure the depth of the pad and add a skirt panel that runs the full circumference plus seam allowance, cut deep enough to reach around 3 centimetres under the pad edge.

Sew the skirt to the top panel with right sides together, easing gently around any curves and clipping into the seam allowance on curves so it sits flat when turned.

Along the bottom edge of the skirt, fold and sew a channel wide enough to thread elastic through. Thread the elastic, pull it up until the cover grips under the pad, and stitch the ends together.

For chairs where the back posts pass through the seat, cut a notch at each rear corner and add ties. Ties are more forgiving than elastic in that situation and look intentional rather than improvised.

Practical Points People Miss

Prewash any natural fibre fabric before cutting if you intend to wash the covers later. Cotton and linen shrink, and a cover that fits before washing will not fit afterwards.

Consider a fabric protector spray on a light coloured fabric. It gives you a few extra seconds to blot a spill before it soaks in, which in a dining room is the difference between a mark and no mark.

Add a layer of thin wadding over the foam before covering. It softens the edge profile, hides any imperfection in the foam and gives a noticeably more professional finish for very little effort.

Use a staple gun with the right leg length. Around 8 millimetres suits most seat pads. Too long and the staples come through the top of a thin base board. Too short and they will not grip.

If the base board itself is soft or split, replace it with a piece of plywood cut to the same shape. This is a common issue on older chairs and it is a five minute fix.

When Recovering Is Not the Answer

Recovering solves a tired or stained cover. It does not solve a wobbling frame, a cracked back leg or a seat that has never been comfortable. If the chair structure has failed, the time and fabric are better spent elsewhere.

It is also worth being realistic about the total cost. Good upholstery fabric, new foam and wadding for six chairs adds up, and at a certain point a new set makes more sense, particularly if the existing chairs are the wrong height or size for the table. Our range of modern dining chairs UK sale covers a broad span of upholstered and timber designs if you reach that conclusion.

If it is only the room that feels tired rather than the chairs, refreshing the table can have more impact than reupholstering. There is a wide selection of modern dining tables UK sale to consider at Furniture in Fashion.

Frequently Asked Questions

How much fabric do I need per dining chair seat?

Around half a metre of 140 centimetre wide upholstery fabric per standard seat pad. Measure the pad width plus twice its depth plus 10 centimetres to get the exact cut size.

Can I staple new fabric over the old cover?

Yes, provided the existing cover is clean, dry and not already doubled up. Stripping back is better if it is stained or if the pad has been recovered before.

What is the best fabric for dining chair seats?

An upholstery weight woven fabric with a rub count of at least 20,000 Martindale. Heavy twills, cotton blends and upholstery velvets all perform well in daily use.

Do I need to replace the foam?

Only if it has flattened, hardened or started to crumble at the edges. Since the pad is already stripped, replacing tired foam at that point is quick and makes far more difference to comfort than the fabric does.

How do I make removable washable covers?

Sew a fitted top panel to a skirt, then thread elastic through a channel along the bottom edge so the cover grips under the pad. Prewash the fabric first to allow for shrinkage.