Upholstered Dining Chair - No Sewing Machine Needed!

Carol Becker
by Carol Becker
3 Materials
$60
4 Days
Medium
I had acquired a dining table with two chairs for about $10 and wanted to convert them into pieces I would be proud of in my home. Here is the finished product of the chair:
So, to add some context, I havent used my sewing machine in years and like to find work arounds that don’t involve sewing. I also had limited experience with upholstery. So limited that I thought it was Apholstry! So, by no means am I an expert. Here is the chair I started with:
See! Super basic. I bet you probably have one of these or know someone who does! They are so common. Well, I started out by breaking it down to it’s parts using a screwdriver and wrench.
Piece...
By.....
Piece....
And this is what it all looked like broken apart. I thought I was going to just upholster the seat and reassemble it with a nice, comfortable cushion, so I found some left over foam from my previous foray into upholstery. Then I lay out my batting and fabric.
Then I stapled these layers as tight as I could get them.
Then I trimmed the excess fabric and this was the result of the seat cushion:
Well, I had planned to stop there and just screw this upholstered cushion back onto the rest of the chair, which would have looked totally cool and a million times better than how it originally looked. But, I was feeling experimental and wanted to keep going! I started by measuring out my pieces of fabric, foam and batting and cut these out.
I stapled on the fabric, batting, and foam to the chair back first. This made it so the back would be nicely cushioned. I encourage folks to stretch, stretch, stretch the fabric as hard as they possibly can! I stapled it to the chair back because I knew I’d be adding another layer there. I then stapled the back panel on.
Next, I put the chair seat base back on. I measured the fabric needed to cover around my seat base and cut it out, but needed a hem. As I said, I don’t use my sewing machine much so I broke out my iron and fabric glue. I glued the fabric down and ironed it together to create a fake hem line. I actually find this method very effective and only needs a light cleaning on my iron to get rid of any excess glue.
When done, this is how it looked stapled to the base. I had some exposed staples in the back. I knew I needed to hide those but didn’t know how, and wanted to do something cheap and easy. So, I recalled about a decade ago when I learned how to make a binding for quilts! Well, I took the premise and modified it because I really didn’t want to use my sewing machine (basically, my sewing machine needs servicing and i Should get it done but I don’t prioritize that).


I took a long strip of the fabric. I applied fabric glue to one edge, foldled in half, and ironed it tight to create a fake hem on the pretty edge. It really doesn’t matter much if the rough edge is ugly because that it is the side I used to staple along edges with exposed staples. Then, I folded the binding up and nailed the fake hem edge into place using upholstry nails.
So, here are some of the pictures:
Not perfect, but not too bad on the chair back. Staples were all covered!
The back
The seat cushion.
And, ta-da!!! The final piece next to the table I fixed up (from an earlier post) . Overall, I love it and since I have a second chair, I am going to do that one too! But, in a different fabric! I think the overall look will be modern, pretty, and functional. Let me know what you think!
Suggested materials:
  • Wooden chair from Craigslist - free   (Craigslist)
  • Fabric, foam, batting, fabric glue   (Joanne’s fabric)
  • Upholstery nails   (Amazon prime)
Frequently asked questions
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  2 questions
  • C. D. Scallan C. D. Scallan on Nov 20, 2017

    I think it looks fantastic ! How much fabric did you use overall ?

  • Marva Gardner Marva Gardner on Jan 12, 2019

    HELP!?!?! How do I get break this chair down when there are NO screws? I LOVE the sleek lines you made with just stretching & staples, but once i remove the straw cane there is NO seat. And what about the space between the top back of the chair? Do I create a solid line with batting, cushion, & fabric? If I can figure these questions out, I believe I can do this, too! Thanks for the inspiration!

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