Furniture loses its original appearance over the years, so it sometimes needs to be repaired. Thanks to high-quality restoration, you can make a worn item look beautiful. The chairs are used a lot, so the upholstery, peeling paint and outdated design are problems that force craftsmen to restore this furniture. In addition, it is an easy option for updating the interior. The rest of the article will tell you how to sheathe an old chair, and what materials are needed for this.
General information
Before you start repairing furniture, you need to determine its type and purpose. To select the necessary materials, you first need to assess the nature of the damage to the chairs. By purpose, they are classified into the following groups:
- For the home - versatile chairs that can be placed in the kitchen, living room and other rooms.
- Street - these are models made of polymeric materials or plastic. Sometimes they are made from wood, but it is pre-treated with moisture resistantimpregnations.
- For office - mobile chairs, the design of which is equipped with a backrest, armrests and height adjustment.
- Bar height up to 80 cm. The availability of upholstery on these varieties depends on the model.
By type of seat there are such chairs:
- Soft.
- Rigid without flooring.
- Semi-soft - chairs with 2-4 cm padding, usually made of foam rubber.
Described models can be restored independently.
Repair Methods
It is not necessary to immediately throw away old furniture, because it can be restored. There are such successful options for how to do this:
- Connect the parts in a new way. This method is suitable if the chair is wobbly or some of its elements are broken.
- Make a carriage coupler, the canvas for which should be cut with a margin. When the pieces are prepared, they need to be applied to the foam rubber and the fabric is pierced with a needle from the back. In this way, you can quickly restore the seat.
- Craftsmen upholster a chair with a backrest in new fabric or leather.
- Changing armrests is another event that can restore furniture. In this case, you will have to disassemble the entire structure and examine the parts for cracks and chips. Damaged areas can be repaired with putty and wood glue.
Next, the process of how to sheathe a chair will be described in detail. This is a laborious task that everyone can do on their own.
Required materials and tools
To sheathe a chair with your own hands, you must first prepare everything that you may need to complete this task. For dismantling, the following tools are needed:
- hammer;
- stationery knife;
- nail puller;
- pliers;
- scissors;
- screwdriver.
For the pattern should be prepared:
- pencil and chalk;
- ruler;
- construction roulette;
- cardboard or thick paper.
And before you sheathe chairs with fabric with your own hands, you need to get the following additional tools and materials:
- furniture stapler;
- sewing machine;
- chisel;
- plywood;
- nails;
- sewing threads;
- PVA glue.
For upholstery you will need the following elements: lace, ribbons, buttons and filler. If you need to restore the wooden parts of the chair, you need to buy a primer, paint and varnish.
Initial stage - removal of old upholstery
Initially, you need to disassemble the chair. When performing dismantling work, it is necessary to remember the location of each individual part, since this information may fall during assembly. Before sheathing a chair, it is necessary to remove the seat, that is, remove all its fasteners: nails, bolts, staples and steel plates. If there is a backrest, it must be disassembled in the same way.
The next step is to inspect the frame for hidden defects, chips, poor qualityconnections, as well as checking the condition of the springs. If the last elements have become unusable, they should be replaced with jute tape. When this step is completed, you can begin to disassemble the removed seat: remove the staples, remove the finishing fabric and filler.
Choice of upholstery
This stage is an important part of the recovery process, since the quality of the chair depends on the type and style of the fabric. The main condition is that the material must be strong. In addition, the surface will have to be cleaned periodically with a brush and soap or a cloth, so for kitchen models, upholstery should be chosen that is easy to clean.
The following materials can be used to restore the chair:
- Tapestry - strong and durable two-layer fabric. Due to the large selection of textures, it has become famous in the furniture industry. Covering the chairs with this type of fabric is a good solution, since the tapestry is washable and does not accumulate dust due to its antistatic properties.
- Chenille is a beautiful and affordable textile fabric. But the disadvantage of this fabric is that it is hygroscopic, i.e. water stains will remain on the surface, so it is not recommended to use the specified upholstery for kitchen chairs.
- Flock is a durable textile that is easy to clean.
- Velor is an expensive and impractical upholstery material. But very beautiful.
- Self-adhesive alcantara - wear-resistant artificial suede. The service life of this soft finishing material is at least 7 years. In addition, workeasy with him. And even a beginner can quickly restore furniture with elastic Alcantara.
- Eco-leather and dermantin - inexpensive upholstery materials, the service life of which is from 2 to 5 years. Scratches, cracks and other defects quickly appear on them.
- Genuine leather - high quality upholstery material. However, you need to work with it carefully, as there is a risk of damaging this prestigious coating. Covering chairs in leather results in furniture that will last for years to come.
The quality of an upholstery depends on the technical properties of the fabric from which it is made.
Choice of filler
For these purposes, you can use synthetic winterizer, foam rubber, latex or batting. If the first material was chosen, first you need to pay attention to its shade and smell. A sharp aroma and a dull white color are signs indicating that toxic or low-quality raw materials were used to make the padding polyester.
Before sheathing a chair, you need to carefully check the strength and structure of the purchased material, since the fabric that tears easily will not work.
If sheet foam rubber was chosen as a filler, its quality must also be checked. To do this, you need to know: the smaller the bubbles, the more reliable the material.
How to sheathe a chair: step by step instructions
The first step is to repair the frame, the cracks and chips of which need to be glued and puttied. Weak joints must be sealed with a wedge and glue. If there are damagedsprings, which means they must be replaced with strips of jute tape. It is better to change the plywood bottom for a new one, but you can simply clean it of filler and glue residue. Next, the frame must be painted or varnished, but the surface must first be treated with a primer.
The next step is to reupholster the seat. To complete this step, follow these instructions:
- Cut out the details from the fabric and filler. If the old upholstery has been saved, new elements can be made according to its template - otherwise you will have to use cardboard or thick paper.
- Draw the outlines of the details on the plywood sheet and add a few centimeters for allowances.
- Cut out the filler with a sharp blade or utility knife.
- Make a fabric pattern using the same pattern. The main thing is that the picture does not move. In addition, it is necessary to leave allowances of 10 cm for the hem.
Next, the seat is covered according to the following plan:
- Glue filler to the top side of the base.
- Wait for the item to dry.
- Cover the foam with upholstery fabric so that the base is correctly positioned relative to the pattern.
- Neatly nail the edges of the fabric to the seat with a furniture stapler. However, it will not be easy to complete this step on your own, since the fabric needs to be stretched evenly from all sides. If the execution technique is violated, the filler will quickly deform.
- Cut off excess pieces of fabric.
If the seat cannot be detached from the frame, all operations must be carried out on the chair. Besidessprings are recommended to be covered with burlap or other dense fabric.
At the end of these works, it is necessary to sheathe the back of the chair. How to do it? The answer is that the execution technology is similar to the previous step. It is advisable to pull the fixed back with jute ribbons and cover it with burlap, and then attach the filler. If you plan to decorate furniture with a carriage tie, for this you should cut out in foam rubber or padding polyester, and small holes for furniture buttons in the fabric.
Final stage - assembly and finishing
When all the details of the chair are ready, you can proceed to the final step. If, when disassembling the chair, it was noted and indicated what and how to fix it, then no problems should arise. The parts of the chair just need to be glued together and reassembled in reverse order.
To decorate the finished product, it is recommended to sheathe the back of the back with fabric and carefully fasten it along the edge. It is customary to decorate the seams with braid, lace, beads or decorative nails.
Conclusion
The article described how to sheathe a chair. Doing it yourself is an easy task. The main thing is to comply with some conditions:
- During dismantling, mark the order and features of connecting parts.
- It is desirable to use universal fabrics as upholstery material. If finances allow, genuine leather is the best choice.
- The quality of the filler should be checked at the time of purchase.
- Hurry will not lead to anything good, soeach task is recommended to be done carefully.
If you follow these tips, you will end up with a quality chair.
