Recovered Swivel Dining Room Chairs

I’ve been wanting to recover these swivel dining chairs for some time now. They were still in good shape (I’ve had them for over 18 years) but the fabric and design are outdated and I wanted to add more color to the room.

This is the fabric I chose. I found it at Joann’s at 40% off. I can’t believe how expensive home décor fabric is, but it’s still cheaper to recover than purchase new chairs!

The first thing I did was to remove the cushions from the frame and legs and then remove the fabric from the cushions.

For the bottom cushion, I had to remove the dust cover and the fabric. There was a TON of staples! To remove the staples I used a small flat head screwdriver to pull up one side of the staple and then needle nose pliers to pull out the other side.

For the back cushion, I removed the staples at the bottom and slipped off the cover. I ripped the cover apart and saw that the seam allowance was about 3/8”. I ironed all the pieces and used them to determine how much material I needed for 4 chairs.   

I cut the new pattern pieces from the old ones.

Pulling the fabric tightly, I stapled the fabric to the seat cushion. Then I stapled on the dust cover.

I sewed the back cushion cover and slipped it over the cushion. I left the plastic on the top of the cushion because it makes it easier to slip the cover on. I added more batting and then stapled the bottom opening in place.

I attached the cushions to the chair base and frame.

To insert the side screws, I used pins to locate the holes in the cushion, then used a nail set punch to poke a hole through the fabric.

Here they are!  I’m really pleased how well they turned out. The fabric is beautiful and definitely adds more color to the room!