Make Your Own: Upholstering Dining Chairs to Tufted Accent Chairs

Tools & Supplies:

Wooden chairs
Foam- 3 inch and 1/2 inch thickness
Batting
Upholstery fabric
Fabric covered buttons/Upholstery buttons
Tufting twine/ thick and strong thread
Measuring tape
Jute webbing ( or any strong fabric)

Heavy duty stapler and pins
Staple puller/ remover
Hammer
Nails
Scissors
Screw driver
Long needle

Before starting the project, make sure the chairs you plan to upholster are sturdy and stable. If required, tighten any loose screws or glue any joints using industrial grade glue.

Upholstering Seat:
First step is to dissemble any existing fixed cushions from the chairs. For that, flip the chair upside down and loosen the screws from the bottom four corners. Then loosen the staples to remove the fabric and foam from the bottom wood panel. If you are working with a chair with no cushions, you may skip this step.

chair with bottom cushion and wood panel has been removed

It is necessary to fill up any medium/large gaps on the chair surface before attaching foam, batting, and fabric. My chair has a gap between seating and the back. to cover up that, I nailed two pieces of plywood on the front and back to make the surface free from the gaps. (You may also use jute webbing or any thick and strong fabric strips to cover up the gaps). For the backside of seat back, I used a fabric instead of webbing and staple them in place.

Now keep the bottom wood panel back on and screw it in place. Cut 3"thick foam, same size as the bottom wood panel and glue it to the panel. Cut and wrap 1/2" thick foam along the sides of the wood panel and glue/staple the edges of the foam to the chair. Cover up the entire seating area and sides (including 3" and 1/2" foam) with batting. Staple the batting edges to the underside of the chair. Trim off any excess batting.

(Tips: If you have any old quilt or comforter, you can replace it for batting. Because batting is the material that is used for making quilts and comforters.)

Place upholstery fabric on the seat and spread it out. The dimensions should be enough to cover the seating area and all four sides of the chair, plus 3" to staple on the underside of the chair. Pull the fabric tightly along the sides and staple it on the underside of the chair. Similarly, pull the fabric tightly along the front and back and staple it on the underside of the chair. When working with the corners, be sure not to bulge with fabric or batting. You may trim off any excess fabric or batting from the corners and fold inside and staple to get a nice boxed look.

Upholstering Chair Back:

Once you finish seating, the next step is to work on the chair back. Cut 1/2" foam and batting according to the dimensions of the front side of the chair back, plus 2". Staple them to the backside of chair frame. Spread upholstery fabric, pull tightly, and staple on the backside of the chair. Repeat the same for all sides. When working with the corners, be sure not to bulge with fabric or batting. You may trim off any excess fabric or batting from the corners and fold and staple.

Tufting:

Decide the location of each tuft and mark it with a pen. String upholstery thread on a long needle. Push the needle from the backside to front along the tuft mark, leaving at least 5" of the string on the backside. Then, string fabric covered button, insert the needle from the front, at least 1/4" away from the original tuft mark and pull it from the backside. Pull the two ends of the twine tightly and tie them together on the back to keep in place. Repeat the same for the remaining tufts.

Finishing underside and backside of chair:

For the backside of the chair, cut the same upholstery fabric and batting, same size as the backside of the chair. Staple batting followed by the fabric. Before stapling the fabric, make a 1/2" fold along the edges and then staple it. Make sure to pull the fabric tightly before stapling.

You may use upholstery tacks to give a bit more fancy look and cover up the staples.