Covering Rush Seats

In my previous post, you saw me refinishing my old table and chairs from Craigslist. I had a vision in my mind for the chairs, and they turned out exactly how I had hoped. I've re-upholstered chairs in the past (longer ago than I care to admit), but Mr. Un-Handy has not. It was also his first time using a hot glue gun. He learned the hard way that its hot. He has a nice welt on his arm in the shape of the point of the gun. 

Tip: Do what I didn't, invest in a nice hot glue gun. It'll save you lots of aggravation. I promise. Really. 

Anyway, here we go!

Supplies:

Fabric of your choice (I used two yards to cover 4 chairs. I did not need that much.)

Foam

Hot glue gun or staple gun

Screwdriver

Scissors (Invest in good scissors too. You'll thank me someday.)

Serrated knife to cut foam

1. Flip your chair over and unscrew the seat from the frame.

2. Since my seat was rush (I know, I think I committed the ultimate crime by covering them, but they weren't in great shape), it had no cushion. It also had no wood on the underside. If I were re-covering a typical chair, I would have stapled the fabric into the wood on the back of the seat. Since I didn't have that, I decided to use extra strength hot glue. 

3. Lay your seat on the foam. Cut around it with either a serrated knife or scissors. Mr. Un-Handy thought scissors would do the job, but I was really happy with my knife. Use whatever you're happy with! 

(I'm using the scissors here, but still the knife was easier for me.)

4. Lay the fabric with the wrong side up. If you're using a pattern, be sure that its straight. Put the foam on top of the fabric, and the chair seat on top of that so that the bottom of the seat is facing you. 

5. Start on the straight side and glue (or staple) your fabric. On the opposite side, pull the fabric as tight as you can, and glue that down. 

6. Our seats had some tricky corners that I didn't take into consideration. By the 3rd chair we finally got it down! We ended up folding the fabric like wrapping paper and making some relief cuts.

7. Trim the excess fabric from the back of the seat. 

8. Now it's time to re-assemble your chairs. Line up everything and screw your seats back on. Make sure the seat is as tight to the frame as it should be. If some of your fabric gets bunched up, use your knife to get it straight again. 

Now you're all done! I hope they look great! Here's my finished chair. I love them!