Upholstery of chairs with your own hands. Is it difficult? Do-it-yourself chair reupholstery Upholster a round chair

Furniture restoration includes updating the frame, replacing upholstery, decorating and allows you to restore items that have become unusable. , which have retained a strong frame. Upholstery with fabric will restore the aesthetic appearance and fit the furniture into color scheme when updating the interior of a room. Before you reupholster a chair with your own hands, you will need to prepare tools and materials, draw up patterns for elements, etc.

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To reupholster chairs, you need high-quality upholstery. Only furniture fabric is recommended, since decorative fabrics will not withstand constant loads and will wear out quickly. The material must be durable and retain its shape. Important requirements for the composition - ease of cleaning with a brush soap solution and in the wash.

The most common types of dense fabrics for upholstering furniture are: flock, jacquard, chenille, tapestry, velor, boucle, etc. Interior items are also finished with leather, eco-leather, etc.

Flock is a popular material for finishing upholstered furniture. The fabric consists of cotton (35%) and polyester (65%). The material has a fine pile, is comfortable to use, durable, high quality, and wear-resistant. Caring for flock is simple; the fabric can be easily cleaned with a brush and soapy water, since a thin layer of adhesive is applied to the base of the fabric during production.

Jacquard is often used for upholstery of furniture, because the material is dense and has a textured surface. Fabric is produced in 2 ways: the fabric is woven from threads of different colors or created using single-color fibers of a neutral shade. Monochrome canvases are additionally decorated with prints from colored paper using a hot press. The advantages of jacquard are strength and wear resistance. However, caring for the canvas is difficult.

The advantages of velor are: smooth surface front part, composition strength. The material has a small pile. The canvas is characterized by low creasing, so it is optimal for finishing pieces of furniture.

Chenille is similar in quality and texture to velor. Chenille fabric is made by weaving pile between two threads, which are connected in a spiral. The advantages of the fabric are high strength, affordable price, practicality.

Bouclé fabric is also used in furniture decoration. The fabric is practical, light, soft and elastic. The material drapes well, has water-repellent properties, and is resistant to deformation. Threads for creating fabric can be colored or plain. The material is easy to finish and allows you to correct defects and uneven seams.

Tapestry fabric is often used to upholster a chair. The material is heavy, consists of 3 layers, the weave of the threads is dense. To make a tapestry, synthetic fibers or natural yarn are used. Artificial threads are added to improve the performance characteristics of the material. Patterns and geometric patterns on the canvas are created by joining threads and yarn different shades. It is necessary to take into account that tapestry upholstery will not suit high-tech and modern styles.

Required Tools

Reupholstering chairs requires restoration tools. The set includes screwdrivers, pliers, keys for bolts, a furniture stapler, sheets sandpaper, brushes, scissors. You will also need: an anti-stapler for removing low-quality fasteners (staples), PVA glue, a hammer, a tape measure or measuring tape, a sewing machine, a ruler, a pencil and chalk. To create patterns you will need sheets of cardboard.

To restore furniture, you need appropriate padding. It is recommended to cover the chair with your own hands using padding made of padding polyester, batting or sheet foam rubber with a density of 30-50 kg/m³. Polyurethane compositions are not recommended.

The reupholstering process: step-by-step instructions

Before you reupholster a chair with your own hands, you need products. You will need to clean the furniture from old upholstery materials, sand the surfaces, and remove any unevenness. If necessary, the chair can be painted a different color or coated with translucent varnish. You will need to prepare the fabric, cut out the elements, line the surfaces of the chair parts (back and seat) with foam rubber, then reupholster them.

Preparing fabric and foam

Before calculating the amount of fabric, you need to measure the dimensions of the chair. The upholstery fabric must match the size of the frames of the back and seat. Seam allowances of 10 cm are required. To create patterns for finishing elements, you can use old fabric parts of the chair.

Furniture fabrics are produced in widths of 130-140 cm. Therefore, from one width of fabric you can cut out elements for upholstering 2 chairs. If there are patterns on the fabric, it is necessary to arrange the pattern so that all the furniture in the set looks harmonious.

The old upholstered chair base can be saved. But if the quality does not meet the requirements, the filler will need to be replaced. A thin layer of glue must be applied to the wooden seat, then a layer of foam rubber is laid out. The material must be pressed and allowed to dry, it will take about 10-15 minutes.

Foam rubber blanks can be made in advance, taking into account the size of the elements. It is allowed to stick the material to parts of the chair and then trim off the excess fabric.

A layer of thin synthetic padding is laid on top of the foam rubber. The size of the material should be slightly larger than the base so that you can freely wrap the frame on top.

Seat reupholstery

Before reupholstering the seat with fabric, it is necessary to check the integrity of the frame. It is necessary to tighten weak connections and glue cracks. The parts are tightened with clamps and left for several hours.

Then the rough upholstery is done. It is necessary to stretch the fabric over layers of foam rubber and padding polyester. It is necessary to carefully staple the edges of the rough upholstery. If the fabric becomes more stretched during the decorating process, you will need to remove the staple using a thin screwdriver. After adjusting the canvas along the frame, the material must be secured again using a stapler.

What do you do with old furniture?

Seeing a multi-colored cover on a chair, tightly tied with beautiful ribbons, you just want to lift it and see what condition the upholstery is in. Most often it turns out that it is deplorable. Are people really that scared of upholstering chairs with their own hands? This work is not as difficult as it seems, and the result will please you for a long time.

Anyone can reupholster chairs

Preparatory stage

Here is a list of tools and materials that we will need:

• Fabric (chenille, jacquard, tapestry, flock). Before going to the store, you should measure the seat of the chair, adding 15-20 centimeters on each side. This reserve is needed for hems and upholstery heights.
• Filling (sheet foam rubber 40 mm thick, batting, latex, padding polyester). When deciding how to reupholster a chair, we choose the appropriate padding. Polyurethane balls, buckwheat husks and others are definitely not suitable bulk materials. Still, the seat of the chair is not as airtight as a pillow, and it experiences considerable stress. After some time, the fine filler will slowly begin to crumble. If foam rubber is chosen for the seat, its density should be 30-50 kg/m3, otherwise during operation it will sag all the way to the plywood.
• Cardboard for the pattern.
• PVA glue.
• Furniture stapler and staples (or hammer and furniture nails).
• Pliers.
• Screwdrivers.
• Scissors, tailor's centimeter.
• Pencil, chalk for marking material, ruler.

Removing old upholstery

Preparing fabric and foam

Re-upholstering requires a precise approach. You can't do without a template here. We place a piece of cardboard on a plywood seat and trace it with a pencil. We remove the plywood and add 2-4 cm to the drawing for allowances. Now the template can be cut out with scissors or a stationery knife.

Using a ready-made stencil, we cut out the foam rubber for the new upholstery using a sharp knife.

You can make a cardboard template, or copy the plywood seat directly onto the foam rubber

If the old fabric covering was not used to cut a new one, as was said earlier (well, you never know what happened, maybe oil was spilled on it), then we cut the material according to the same pattern. We trace it with chalk on the fabric and add 10 centimeters to the hem on all sides. Cut out the resulting outline.

If the fabric has a pattern, then upholstering chairs with your own hands becomes a little more complicated. In this case, we purchase the material with a reserve so that the picture lies in the center, without displacement, otherwise the chair will have an unpresentable appearance. We first apply the fabric to the seat, achieving the ideal arrangement of lines and patterns. We immediately record the result obtained with clear markings so as not to do the same work twice.

The seat of the chair in some models may not be a solid piece of plywood, but a frame intertwined inside with mesh or rubber. In this case, we check the condition of the wicker base. If the material has become unusable, we replace it with wide and dense rubber bands.

Note the replaced woven base

Chair seat reupholstery

Glue the foam to the top side of the plywood seat. After the glue has dried, we lay the upholstery fabric wrong side up, with the seat on it, the foam facing the fabric. We fold the fabric reserve on all sides onto the plywood. Now upholstering a chair with your own hands is no longer a sealed secret for us.

We successively target the edges of the upholstery to the plywood seat with a furniture stapler

Pulling the material tightly, we sequentially adjust the edges of the upholstery to the plywood seat, in increments of 1-2 cm. There should be no weak spots or large folds between the fasteners. We knock out unreliable staples with a hammer. Trim off excess fabric. If the seat of the chair is square, we lay folds at the corners directed towards the center of the seat, bend the material and adjust it to the plywood.

Trim excess fabric

Chair reupholstery completed successfully

We install the reupholstered seat on the chair, attach the plates and screw all the screws into place. Now we can praise ourselves for what we have given new life old chair, saving the family budget and once again confirming his reputation as a jack of all trades.

It happens that the furniture frame is still capable of serving for a long time, but the upholstery has already failed. It's a shame to throw away such products. The Internet often searches for the answer to the question of how to reupholster a chair with your own hands step by step at home, using available materials. This is not difficult to do, the main thing is to prepare everything you need in advance and clearly understand the algorithm of work.

Before you start working at home, you need to select materials for upholstery and soft substrate. You can use what you have on hand, or purchase products from specialized furniture stores. Particular attention should be paid to the structure and density of the fabric.

For soft substrate

For a soft backing, you can use foam rubber. This is the most common and cheap material. Its more expensive and high-quality analogue is padding polyester. However, experts recommend using natural options, For example:

• copra;
• batting;
• horsehair;
• burlap.

The recommended thickness of the cushion is 3–5 cm for the back and 6.5–7.5 cm for the seat. If the plywood base does not have springs, it is better to make all 10 cm. Otherwise, the person will feel discomfort while sitting on the chair for a long time.

Foam rubber

Sintepon

Copra

Batting

Horsehair

Sackcloth

For upholstery

The fabric for upholstering the chair should be dense and hold its shape well. Another important requirement is wear resistance. The material should be easy to clean from contamination.

When choosing material for children's furniture, you should choose options that do not cause allergic reactions. It is not recommended to use light-colored fabric, as it quickly loses its presentation.

Leather

Jacquard

Flock

Velvet

Chenille

Tapestry

Required Tools

Before you reupholster the chairs with your own hands step by step, you should take care of the tools. To work with textiles you will need sewing machine. To remove old upholstery you need an anti-stapler. The frame is dismantled using screwdrivers of different diameters and pliers. Also home handyman should be prepared in advance:

• thick cardboard;
• glue and a brush for it;
• furniture stapler with staples;
• nails and hammer;
• measuring instruments - tape measure, square, measuring tape.

Reupholstering a chair with your own hands can be done in different ways. If you don't have a furniture stapler, you can use wallpaper nails (with flared heads) instead. They fit smoothly into the upholstery and hold it well. Some craftsmen also use an attracting strip with screws, which reliably hides the seams (in this case, you need to pull the fabric simultaneously along the entire perimeter). However, special staples still last longer. The hammer can be successfully replaced rubber mallet, since when working on reupholstering furniture, great physical effort is not required.

Stages of work

Restoration and upholstery of chairs with leather consists of several stages, performed in a certain sequence. The main thing is to know how to change the upholstery. First, the product is freed from old fabric. The next step is dismantling the frame. Then it is attached new material with a soft backing and an updated backrest.

Removing old upholstery

Before you reupholster a chair, you need to expose its frame. You will need a special regulator to remove furniture staples. It can be purchased in specialized stores. Sequencing:

1. Align the edge of the adjuster with the center of the bracket, lift the tool up, pressing on the frame.
2. Wait until one of the ends of the fastener pops out.
3. Grab the staple with pliers and pull it out.
4. Repeat the same several times, depending on the number of fasteners.

After this, the fabric is removed. First, the seat of the chair is exposed. Then the upholstery is removed from the back.

Under no circumstances should you forcefully tear out the upholstery: intense mechanical stress can damage the frame. You need to remove old fabric from the seat in stages, starting from the edges and gradually moving to the center.

Disassembling the frame

To parse wooden frame For the components when reupholstering a kitchen chair, you will need a mallet. You need to tap the joints of the parts with a tool, and the product will easily fall apart into its components - the back, the base for the seat and the legs. The good condition of the parts is indicated by the absence of fungus and mold, scratches, nicks and chips. If the old parts are rotten, they need to be replaced (this often happens when a chair long time was in a damp room).

Making a soft substrate

The size of the backing on the chair should correspond to the length and width of the seat (plus a seam allowance of 1.5–2 cm around the entire perimeter). Then, if there is excess fabric left, the protruding ends can be carefully cut off. Step-by-step instruction:

1. The pattern is made on paper or directly on the material. Form soft pillow can be square or round, it all depends on the seat.
2. The finished product is cut out with sharp tailor's scissors.
3. It is placed on the seat using glue, which dries in 10–15 minutes.
4. It is better to additionally add a small layer of synthetic padding on top.

You can make a soft base from horsehair or dried grass the old fashioned way. These materials are good because they last a long time. Also, dust mites do not breed in them.

Remove traces of old upholstery

Cut out the soft pad

Stick to the seat

Attaching new upholstery

When replacing the upholstery of a chair, you must perform all stages of the work correctly. The fabric tension should be as tight as possible. There should be no folds. You don't need to hit them with a hammer with full force. Step-by-step instructions for attaching the upholstery:

1. Secure in two places in the center - in the front and back.
2. Pull and secure left and right.
3. Evenly distributing the load, fasten it on both sides in turn.
4. Repeat step 3 back and front.

You can use wallpaper nails, but it will take longer. They should be short so as not to tear the soft backing. In this case, when repairing a chair with your own hands, you will additionally need a tape made of dense material.

Align the main fabric on the seat

Stretch and secure in several places with a stapler

Attach fabric around the perimeter

Finished seat

Restoration of the back of a chair

Working with the back consists of two stages - covering it with fabric and applying paint and varnish. If there are cracks, they need to be puttied or sealed. Step by step guide will be as follows:

1. Pull the upholstery over the back of the product.
2. Fix the fabric with a stapler in the direction from the center to the periphery.
3. Glue foam in front.
4. Secure the fabric with the edging to the edge.

Next, the excess fabric for upholstering the chairs is cut off. The upholstery is decorated with braid to hide staples or nails. After this, you can varnish and paint the back. Acrylic is best. Substances on water based should not be used, this coating wears off quickly.

Features of re-tensioning the base with belts or a snake spring

To restore old chairs on canvas, you will need synthetic rubberized belts of approximately the same width. They are fixed in the center of the bar towards the frame. The new strip is secured with staples, rotated and fixed again. Then it is secured and tensioned on the opposite side. A soft substrate is placed on top. The tools you will need are a steelyard and a furniture stapler with staples.

You need to pull with a force of 1 kg on the seat, 8 kg on the back. When one side of the belt is already secured, a steelyard is hooked to the other end and pulled until the desired number appears. The desired length is marked with a marker.

To replace the snake spring, it must be fixed to the frame using special fasteners, and they, in turn, must be mounted using brackets on long legs. At correct location This part has a slightly curved shape. If you want the upholstery to last longer, place a fabric layer between the twisted wire and the pillow. This is done so that the foam rubber does not fray over time.

If the reupholstery of the chair is successful, you can try restoring other, larger upholstered furniture: an armchair, a sofa, a kitchen corner. The work is carried out according to the same principle, only the dimensions and shape of the product change. Restoring old broken things will help you save on buying new ones, and will also become a fun hobby for people who love to make things.

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No matter how dear your furniture is, over the years it wears out and the time comes when it is no longer possible to use it. The first thing to deteriorate is the upholstery on sofas, armchairs and chairs; it not only becomes outdated and dirty, but also deteriorates. Because of their unsightly appearance, you have to part with your favorite soft chairs. If your family has antique furniture that you inherited, then there is a chance to restore it.

To reupholster chairs, you must comply with the basic requirement - to preserve the wooden frame, but the final result will depend on your efforts and your desires.

If the chair is not very worn and abrasions have formed in some places, then you can disassemble it - remove the back and replace the old fabric with a new one of a suitable shade. If the frame is severely damaged by bark beetles, then such a product can be restored, but the chair is unlikely to be as strong as before and over time it will still begin to deteriorate and crumble. Carpenters do not advise starting restoration of furniture damaged by grinder beetles. Individual elements can be replaced, but if the chair is badly damaged, there is no point in restoring it.

In the 60-90s of the last century, burlap, felt, cotton wool and hay were used as fillers for upholstered furniture. Even now, some furniture factories continue to use 90s technologies in production, and use plant fiber as a filler for chairs. Over several years of use, such a natural filler quickly cakes, lumps can form in places, as a result of which the upholstery fabric quickly becomes unusable.

How to choose upholstery

When choosing fabric for upholstering a chair, consider the following:

• density of the material - it should hold its shape well and be durable;
• the fabric should be easy to wash;
• the ability to treat the surface with soapy water or clean it with a brush.

Popular fabrics:

• jacquard – thick fabric, has good wear resistance, no puffs form on it;
• chenille is a popular upholstery material for upholstered furniture. The fabric is very dense and durable;
• tapestry - made of cotton, the material can be washed by hand or in a washing machine;
• nubuck or artificial leather - abrasion-resistant material;
• velvet, flock - durable fabric, does not fade;
• leather - “breathes”, but is not resistant to mechanical damage(scratches).

How to reupholster a chair with your own hands

To ensure that the work of reupholstering a chair is completed in a short time, think in advance what materials you will need and prepare the appropriate tools.

Tools

List of materials and tools:

• textile. It is best to use furniture fabrics for upholstering chairs - tapestry, flock or jacquard. They are abrasion resistant and durable. Before you go to the store to buy fabric, you need to arm yourself with a centimeter and decide on the amount of material. Take measurements of the chair seat and add another 10 cm on each side to the resulting figure. This reserve will be used for the hem, as well as for the height of the upholstery;
• filler. Good recommendations received such a filler as sheet foam rubber (thickness no more than 40 mm), you can also use synthetic winterizer, batting or latex as a filler. You cannot use bulk materials (buckwheat husks, polyurethane or silicone balls) as filler for the chair seat, since the load on this part of the chair will be much higher than the load on the pillow. If you use fine filler, after a few weeks of use it will begin to crumble. If foam rubber is chosen as a filler, then its density should be from 30 to 50 kg/m3. If you use a material of a different density, the foam rubber will sag and sitting on such a chair will be uncomfortable;
• thick cardboard to make a pattern;
• glue and brush. It is best to buy PVA from a hardware store;
• stapler and furniture staples or a cheaper option - small nails and a hammer;
• screwdriver;
• pliers;
• tape measure and sharp scissors;
• ruler, pencil, chalk or piece of soap for marking.

How to remove old fabric

Work must begin by removing the old upholstery.

How to properly remove worn fabric:

1. First you need to remove the seat. To do this, you need to turn the chair upside down and, in a strictly specified sequence (it is advisable to remember the order of actions, since you will then have to put the chair back together) disassemble the fasteners. First, pry up the fasteners with a screwdriver, then remove the nails, unscrew the screws and remove the metal plates. The staples can be easily pryed with a screwdriver and pulled out with pliers. If they become unusable, the staples can be thrown away and all other fasteners can be placed in a separate bag so as not to be lost.
2. Now you need to check the condition of the wooden frame of the chair. If it is loose, then reupholstering the furniture will not solve the main problem; the appearance will be beautiful, but sitting on a loose chair will be unsafe. Therefore, it is first necessary to eliminate all cracks in the wood (fill with colorless sealant or glue with PVA glue), install clamps, and preferably seal the loose connections.
3. Now it's time to remove the old upholstery fabric. Place it on the floor plastic film or lay down old newspapers. Remove the old fabric and carefully remove all the foam. On at this stage When reupholstering chairs with your own hands, you need to decide on the measurements, so don’t rush to throw away the worn-out fabric - you can just make a pattern right away from cardboard or cut out the seat right away according to the old model. Put it on wrong side new furniture fabric, old canvas and outline the outline with chalk.
4. Now you need to put the fabric aside for a while and work on the base of the seat. Remove the remaining crumbled foam rubber that has stuck to it and remove the old glue.

Let's prepare the fabric and foam

Since it will be difficult for a beginner to reupholster a chair without a template, we’ll just start making one. You can make a template in different ways. First option: place a plywood seat on a sheet of cardboard and outline it with a pencil. Now the plywood can be removed, and in our drawing we can add 10 cm allowances on each side. Cut out the template with scissors or a sharp stationery knife. Second option: use a ready-made template and attach the old fabric to a sheet of cardboard, trace the outline with a pencil. This will be our template. Choose for yourself suitable option and make a seat template.

We have a ready-made stencil - you can cut it out of a sheet of foam rubber with a sharp knife the required part. Using the same principle, we make a fabric template: trace it along the contour and add another 10 cm on each side (it’s better to have a small supply of fabric than not have enough). We cut out the detail.

If you have chosen fabric with a pattern, then you also need to initial stage– when purchasing fabric, take this point into account and take the material with a reserve. Place the fabric with the pattern so that it is in the middle and there are no offsets. If this rule is not followed, the chair will not look presentable. Now you need to fix the fabric and mark.

In some chairs, instead of the usual plywood seat, you can see a frame made of mesh or rubber. When wicker base is normal, then nothing needs to be done; if the material has become unusable, then it must be replaced with dense, wide rubberized tapes.

How to reupholster a chair

First, glue the foam rubber to the plywood. The foam rubber is glued with PVA glue. Apply a layer of glue to the front (top) part of the plywood seat with a brush and apply foam rubber. Wait for the glue to set. Work on fabric upholstery can begin after the glue has completely dried.

When the glue dries, check again whether the foam has stuck well - if there are un-glued areas, then it is advisable to fill them with glue and wait for it to dry completely again. After which you can fix the upholstery fabric. Place it wrong side up, place the seat on top so that the foam is facing the fabric. Tuck the fabric (this is extra) onto the plywood on each side. Pull the material tightly so that the fabric does not bunch up. Now take a furniture stapler and shoot the edges of the fabric to the plywood. Work sequentially, in increments of no more than 2 cm. Large folds should not form between the staples. If you see that large folds form in the places where the curves are formed, and the furniture staples do not hold them in place, then you can reinforce these places with furniture nails. Tap the nails with a hammer. Excess fabric can be trimmed off after the chair is reupholstered.

If you are reupholstering a square chair seat, then you need to put folds in the corners and direct them to the center, fold the fabric, and then attach it to the plywood.

We install the re-stretched chair seat back on the frame, first attach the plates, and then tighten the screws. Do-it-yourself chair reupholstery is complete. This is what the restored chair looks like:

How to reupholster a chair, you can watch this video:

A chair is one of the frequently used objects in everyday life, so it wears out faster than other furniture. Buying a new one (especially when the old one is important to the owner) is not necessary if the structure of the old one is intact. The bases of office and home chairs can last up to 10 years with constant use, while the upholstery will deteriorate within 3-5 years. That is why the issue of constriction is so relevant.

Used for reupholstering furniture different kinds textiles, leather or its substitute. The choice depends on individual preferences and financial resources. However, if you choose fabric upholstery, it is not necessarily cheaper than leather. For example, imported silk, brocade and some types of satin can even exceed it in cost.

Let's consider the most popular materials:

• Leatherette. The most inexpensive, but at the same time the most short-lived material. As a rule, its “lifespan” is 1.5–2 years with active use of the chair. This is even less than budget options fabric upholstery. Of course, there are high-quality leatherettes, the quality of which is almost as good as natural material, but they also cost almost the same as genuine leather.
• Textile. According to the increase in cost, the material can be classified as follows: chenille (fabric made from synthetic threads and cotton fibers), flock (a substitute for velvet), jacquard with an adhesive layer (smooth, durable and dense fabric, has water-repellent properties, characterized by a mixed composition of threads), microfiber ( the texture is similar to suede) and tapestry (dense, thick fabric). Such wide choose helps you find upholstery textiles that fully suit both your needs and financial capabilities.
• Genuine Leather. The most expensive, prestigious and quality material. However, it is worth considering that working with genuine leather requires special equipment and skills, so the cost of reupholstery should include not only the price of the material itself, but also the cost of the necessary tools.

When choosing leather, pay attention to its thickness. If you choose leather thicker than 3 mm, it will be difficult to work with due to the lack of elasticity. It is most convenient to use a material whose thickness is no more than 1.5 mm for upholstering a chair.

To upholster an armchair or bar stool, it is recommended to use genuine leather or thick textiles. It is better to attach the material to the base using construction stapler or glue. The process will take no more than 15–20 minutes (with a certain skill).

To qualitatively update the genuine leather upholstery on a chair, you will need the help of professionals.

As for a leather piece of furniture, in this case the work will take much more time and effort. The fact is that the “executive chair” is more difficult to disassemble and assemble. In addition, often reupholstering leather furniture involves removing old upholstery and cutting out new upholstery, which is fraught with some difficulties and will require certain skills. To avoid possible breakdowns or other troubles, it is better to entrust the work with such an item to professionals.

We suggest that you familiarize yourself with the most in a simple way furniture updates. We are talking about upholstery with artificial Alcantara.

Alcantara chair upholstery

Self-adhesive Alcantara is an artificial suede equipped with an adhesive layer. Its service life is 3–7 years. Despite the low stretch coefficient, the elasticity of this material is sufficient to make it comfortable to work with when restoring furniture. It fits well on surfaces and takes their shape.

Please note that real self-adhesive Alcantara must have the words “Made in Korea” on it. back side and a lined cage with 5 cm squares.

Tools and materials

We will be reupholstering a Chinese-made office chair. For this we need:

Necessary calculations

To avoid unnecessary production waste, it is important to correct calculation materials. Use a measuring tape to measure all parts of the chair. We will work with back cover, the back of the chair and the seat, and in our case the dimensions are:

• 53 cm - cover;
• 53 cm – back;
• 45 cm – seat.

Please note that to securely fasten the new upholstery you will need to make allowances of 5 cm on each side. If you make more, it doesn’t matter, the extra parts can be cut off with a stationery knife.

We bought 1 each for work linear meter beige Alcantara and white, of which we needed:

• 50 cm of beige fabric on the seat;
• 58 cm of beige fabric on the back;
• 58 cm of fabric per cover.

Preparatory work

We will work with all the parts separately, so the chair will need to be disassembled using pliers for the nuts. As a rule, all parts can be easily unscrewed, some even by hand. The process takes no more than 5 minutes.

Then we start preparing the fabric. We take Alcantara beige colour, which we will need to reupholster the back and seat. Using a marker and ruler along the back of the fabric, measure out the required dimensions for different parts and cut with scissors. We do the same with the white fabric for the lid.

There is no need to remove the current upholstery, as Alcantara fits perfectly over old textiles.

Master class on updating a piece of furniture with your own hands

Once the preparation is completed, you can proceed directly to the reupholstering process. Let's start from the back of the chair:

Alcantara glues quickly and firmly, so all excess must be cut off immediately - after an hour the material sticks so that it will be impossible to peel it off and carry out any manipulations.

Now we work with the seat:

The work is done easily and quickly, the whole process takes about 40 minutes.