How to Redo an Easy Chair

Since purchasing new furniture can be expensive, many people opt to repair or redo their existing pieces. By patching damaged leather or recovering an old easy chair you can save money and still reap the benefits of purchasing a new piece of furniture. You no longer have to deal with the eyesore of old, worn furniture and you can customize your new piece to fit a new or existing decor scheme.

Easy chair
Scissors or seam ripper
Needle-nose pliers
Upholstery fabric
Sewing shears
Staple gun
Upholstery needle and thread

Instructions

- 1
  Remove the cushion from the easy chair if it is separate from the rest of the chair. If the cushion cover has a zipper, undo the zipper and remove the cushion. If there is no zipper, use a pair of scissors or a seam ripper to undo the main seam on the cushion cover and remove it.
- 2
  Locate the staples or upholstery tacks holding the upholstery fabric in place. In many cases, the staples and tacks are located on the back of the chair or on the inside, concealed between the cushions.
- 3
  Use a pair of needle-nose pliers to remove the staples and upholstery tacks then pull away the existing fabric covering the easy chair. Use caution when removing the fabric so it does not tear because you will use these original pieces as templates for cutting your new coverings.
- 4
  Lay your chosen upholstery fabric out on a large, flat surface. You may want to iron severely wrinkled fabric first. Minor wrinkles may stretch out during the installation process.
- 5
  Lay the original pieces of fabric from the easy chair flat on top of the new fabric with the right sides facing the same direction. Use the original fabric coverings as templates to cut pieces from the new fabric using sewing shears.
- 6
  Recover the chair by placing the new pieces of fabric where the original pieces of fabric were. Tuck the edges of the fabric between the cushions and pull the fabric tight against the chair frame to avoid wrinkles and bulges.
- 7
  Secure the new fabric coverings in place using a staple gun. Press the nose of the staple gun tight up against the chair frame, sandwiching the fabric tightly in between, to ensure that it is attached snugly.
- 8
  Lay the chair cushion flat on top of a large piece of the new fabric and fold the fabric around the cushion, wrapping it as you would wrap a Christmas gift. Trim away any excess fabric as you go to ensure that the cushion is snug rather than bulky.
- 9
  Use an upholstery needle and thread to sew the new chair cushion together at the seams. You may need to sew back and forth through the seam more than once to ensure that the cushion will stand up to repeated use.
- 10
  Place the newly covered cushion back on the easy chair.

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Chairs