My beloved G Plan dining chairs were an awesome find from The Modern Show last year held at Dulwich College, SE London. I wasn’t necessarily in the market for new dining chairs but as soon as I saw the perfect mix of teak and dark wood I knew I had to have them! Luckily, my husband and I had travelled in his roomy work van so our impromptu purchase didn’t incur any hefty delivery charges.
The only thing I didn’t love about them was the original fabric that was covering each of the seats: a rather itchy cord material in dark grey with large white spots (extremely retro, but not in a good way). I knew that re-covering them would be a fairly simple job and I have been textile hunting ever since.
And then there I was in John Lewis last week, just browsing in the haberdashery (as you do), when I saw it...An art deco style fan patterned fabric in navy. It had a slight stretch to it too which is great quality to look for when re-upholstering. It wasn’t a bad price either at £10 per meter (especially as I only needed one).
I began by using a screwdriver to release the screws and remove the seats. I was going to get rid of the old fabric but decided against it as I didn’t know what condition the padding would be in underneath and had visions of being covered in stuffing.
I trimmed around the seat, following the contours, leaving about 5-7cm clearance. I then made two small cuts at each ‘corner’ and fixed these with a staple.
To keep the fabric from bunching, I placed a loose staple to attach the fabric at the centre of each of the sides. Working out from that centre point towards each corner, I used the ‘stretch and pleat’ method, stapling as I went. If I noticed some gaping then I simply cut a vertical slit (4cm) in the excess fabric so that it could be easily overlapped and fixed with a staple.
I worked my way round in the same way – working from the centre, out to the corners – stretching, pleating and stapling as I went. I then checked that everything looked smooth and not ‘bunched’ from the top of the seat and threw in some extra staples for good measure.
I re-attached the seats by inserting and tightening the screws. (I removed the screws again shortly after, as I wanted to trim away the excess material that wasn’t visible at all but was driving me crazy because ‘I knew it was there’ and re-attached them for the second time).
So there you go – easy! Just three more chairs to go...
The only thing I didn’t love about them was the original fabric that was covering each of the seats: a rather itchy cord material in dark grey with large white spots (extremely retro, but not in a good way). I knew that re-covering them would be a fairly simple job and I have been textile hunting ever since.
And then there I was in John Lewis last week, just browsing in the haberdashery (as you do), when I saw it...An art deco style fan patterned fabric in navy. It had a slight stretch to it too which is great quality to look for when re-upholstering. It wasn’t a bad price either at £10 per meter (especially as I only needed one).
To cover 4 chairs:
1m fabric
Scissors
Slotted screwdriver
Staple gun
Staples (13/6mm)
Scissors
Slotted screwdriver
Staple gun
Staples (13/6mm)
I began by using a screwdriver to release the screws and remove the seats. I was going to get rid of the old fabric but decided against it as I didn’t know what condition the padding would be in underneath and had visions of being covered in stuffing.
I trimmed around the seat, following the contours, leaving about 5-7cm clearance. I then made two small cuts at each ‘corner’ and fixed these with a staple.
To keep the fabric from bunching, I placed a loose staple to attach the fabric at the centre of each of the sides. Working out from that centre point towards each corner, I used the ‘stretch and pleat’ method, stapling as I went. If I noticed some gaping then I simply cut a vertical slit (4cm) in the excess fabric so that it could be easily overlapped and fixed with a staple.
I worked my way round in the same way – working from the centre, out to the corners – stretching, pleating and stapling as I went. I then checked that everything looked smooth and not ‘bunched’ from the top of the seat and threw in some extra staples for good measure.
I re-attached the seats by inserting and tightening the screws. (I removed the screws again shortly after, as I wanted to trim away the excess material that wasn’t visible at all but was driving me crazy because ‘I knew it was there’ and re-attached them for the second time).
So there you go – easy! Just three more chairs to go...
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