Reupholstering an armchair

Hi everyone,

here’s a question about sewing:
Has anyone here ever reupholstered an armchair?
I bought an old, worn-out but super comfortable armchair and would like to put a new cover on it. But having a professional do it is so expensive! And I found some patterns on how to staple the fabric in place. Is there anyone here with experience doing this?
I’m not sure if it’ll actually work. And how long does something like this take?

Best regards, Virginia

Hi Foxis Nadel
I did something similar ages ago, and I can tell you—it’s not nearly as easy as you’d think. These armchairs can be pretty stubborn. Especially since you’re probably using a slightly sturdier fabric that doesn’t pull into shape so easily. It can be really exhausting at times, and if you do it for a while without any practice, the result might not turn out the way you imagine, and you might end up with sore muscles too.

So my advice would really be to have a professional do it. If that’s too expensive, there are two options.

If you want a simple solution, buy a nice throw and just drape it over the chair.
Of course, you could sew the worn cover down first so it doesn’t slide around.
IKEA has some really nice throws, but a blanket with a pretty pattern will work too.
Just throw it over the chair and that’s that. It’ll still look ugly underneath, but at least it’s easy.
So you’ll end up with an ugly armchair hidden under a pretty throw, but it’s cheap and quick to do. The throw should definitely be big enough, though.

Properly reupholstering an armchair is hard work. You have to make sure the fabric is smooth and lies evenly, because otherwise it looks silly and is uncomfortable to sit on. Like if you end up sitting on a fabric edge.
And if there’s a pattern on the fabric, you also have to make sure it looks good and isn’t crooked or anything.
So you have to pull the fabric taut, make sure the pattern doesn’t shift, and staple it in place—that’s pretty hard to do on your own. It’s better to have two people; then it’s easier.
You just have to make sure you cut the fabric beforehand so that it covers the backrest, the seat, and the armrests, if there are any, and that there’s still enough fabric left so you can staple it down securely.
And make sure you staple it often enough. If you only put in a few staples here and there and someone sits in the chair, twists around awkwardly a few times, and those few staples come loose, not only will it look silly, but the staples really hurt if you step on them. And you’ll have to start all over again.
When stapling it in place, you should also make sure there’s enough fabric so that you can staple it underneath the seat—otherwise it’ll look really silly if all the staples are visible.
And you’ll also need to check whether the upholstery fabric can withstand stapling. If the fabric is so delicate that it just tears where it’s stapled, you won’t get much use out of it.
And if the armchair’s material itself isn’t sturdy enough, you can staple as much as you want—the staples just won’t hold in the chair.

Would you mind linking the tutorial? I’d love to take a look.

Well, this might not be what you wanted to hear.
Maybe someone else has had better experiences with this than I have and can give you some tips.
I’d really advise you to go with the “lazy” method—just throw a cover over it, even if it looks shabby; you can always take it to a pro later. Or just go to a pro right away.
But I really didn’t want to discourage you with my experiences, so I truly hope someone else chimes in with some good tips. I’m sorry if my post isn’t what you wanted to hear.


 

What I forgot to mention
between the backrest and the seat, you have to be careful
you also need to staple into the gap there, if there is one, because otherwise the fabric will run straight across, so to speak, from the top edge of the backrest to the front edge of the seat. And if the fabric is stretched very tightly, you can forget about sitting comfortably. So staple into that gap too.
You also need to do the same for the gap between the armrests and the seat, and also for the gap between the armrests and the backrest.

Or do you want to cut the fabric up first and secure each piece separately, or cover the whole chair with just one piece of fabric?
Does the chair have a removable seat cushion?

have a look on YouTube
there are lots of videos there about reupholstering armchairs

@muetzekatze :
Thank you so much for all the tips and the honest answer! It’s totally fine if you tell me what I’m getting into and that it might be too difficult. At least that way I have a realistic idea of what to expect!

I didn’t get my instructions from the internet—I found them the old-fashioned way in a handicrafts book. Unfortunately, I’m on the go right now and the book is at home, but later I can describe exactly how it’s explained there.
I think I’ll also watch some videos on the topic.

I really can’t afford to have the armchair reupholstered, so unfortunately it’ll have to stay that way until I can save up for it, but throwing a blanket over it is at least one solution I can consider. Of course, it would be nicer to have a reupholstered armchair. I’ll take another look at the instructions and then speak up again. Maybe someone else will have a tip by then.

By the way, I can remove the seat :)

@FoxisNadel
I’m glad you like my answer, even though it includes a good dose of realism. I really hope other users will chime in—maybe there are some tricks that make the whole thing a bit easier.

Having an armchair reupholstered by a professional—did you see what it said in the video description from the link above?
The man needed 11 hours for it, plus material costs, of course.
For that kind of money, you could easily just buy a new armchair.

Look, the ladies in this video make it look so easy
but it’s only a bench and not an armchair : )

The tip about using pins so the fabric holds better in the corners until you can staple it down is really good
and the ladies also give tips for handling the fabric in the corners so it turns out nicely.

And a bench is also reupholstered

so maybe it’s not that difficult after all? When those ladies do it, it looks totally easy. Maybe I just handled my armchair experiments clumsily. I don’t really remember exactly anymore. : ) But then again, there are two of them, and they have an electric stapler—not to mention that they both know what they’re doing : )

Take a look here
this is how even complicated armchairs can be reupholstered quite easily ;)
The Transformation - A New Armchair in 3 Days

There are ready-made armchair covers that you can just pull over the chair.

What happened to the armchair?
It’s a shame that people ask questions here and then don’t follow up to say whether the project actually worked out.