How to Recover a Parsons Chair

Remove all the original fabric from the chair. Start at the underside of the chair and use the screwdriver or pliers to loosen any staples. Make sure to completely remove all the staples or upholstery tacks and any old foam on the seat.

Tear apart any seams using a seam ripper. Save the old upholstery to use as templates for the new upholstery. Make sure to mark each piece of fabric appropriately, especially for pieces that need sewing together.

Cut a new piece of foam and set it on the seat.

Lay out your new upholstery fabric on a large, flat surface. Lay out your saved templates on top of the fabric. Leave 3 inches between the edges of each pattern piece

Pin the pattern pieces to the new upholstery fabric. Cut around the pattern pieces allowing an extra ½ inch for seam allowance and stretching the fabric on the chair.

Center the new upholstery fabric seat on top of the foam. Pull the fabric on the front of the seat gently and staple it to the middle of the underside of the chair. Repeat with the two sides. Stuff the excess fabric down at the back of the seat and staple in place. (This is a little harder since there is a back to the chair; just get down as far as you can. You need to do this with the back of the chair too.) Finish stapling down all the fabric on the underside of the chair.

Sew the pieces of the back of the chair together at the top and the sides.

Slide the fabric over the back of the chair. Pull the fabric tightly at the back to the underside of the chair and staple in place.

Stuff the excess fabric at the front of the back of the chair down into the seat and staple in place to finish your reupholstering job.