Upholstering Dining Chairs

[Sairey]

I need to recover AND repad some dining room chairs. I've tried to research on the internet but all the sites I find assume that the padding is intact and you just have to whack some cloth over the top.

So can anyone explain, please, how to repad the seats. I would assume that a pad made of foam rubber would squash very quickly but the wadding stuff that's in there now is (a) thin and rumpled and (b) old and manky looking.

thanks

Sairey

[The3rd Earl Of Derby]

The darn thing is so simple.

Locate a furniture upholster and they will sell you off cuts of padding.

[S Viemeister]

You'll need MUCH more padding than you think.

Are they slip seats?

I start with a piece of batting which is smaller than the seat, then add more layers, each one _just_ a bit bigger than the one before, until the last one, which just barely wraps over the edge.

Then I take a piece of calico several inches bigger than the seat, and staple/tack it at the centre of each side, stretching firmly, to evenly compress the padding. I continue to staple the calico in place, alternating sides, and making sure the corners are neat and not bulky. When that's done, I trim off the excess fabric.

Next step - a piece of poly batting (about 1" thick), just big enough to reach the edges of the seat.

Finally, I take a piece of the upholstery fabric, cut big enough to wrap past the edge of the calico, and staple or tack this in place the same way as the calico was done, compressing the batting as I go. Trim off any excess, and re-install the seat.

Sheila

[dingbat]

Hard to say what's needed without knowing more description of what you have. Are you looking at a drop-in seat on a loose frame ? A foam pad over a plywood base ? Full-blown buttoned work?

Libraries are chock-full of upholstery books and the techniques aren't (usually) that hard to pick up. Hardest part is finding suppliers! J A Milton do web ordering and although they're not cheap, they're convenient as a one-stop shop. If you fancy buying a book, David James' "Upholstery: A Complete Course" is the one to get.

don't need much in the way of tools - maybe a web stretcher, but you can make that from scrapwood. A long double ended needle is worth having though, because a chair really does need to have the pad sewn through to the hessian, if it's to last well.

In general upholstery is easier and quicker than you expect, but more expensive and uses more materials than you'd believe.

If you use foam, spend the extra for latex - gives a much better end result.