How to Recover a Chair Seat Cushion

If you have a chair or dining chair with outdated upholstery fabric, here is How to Recover a Chair Seat Cushion quickly with no sewing required.

My desk chair has been reupholstered several times, and I decided it needed another update. Since I had some farmhouse-style stripe fabric left over from another project, I decided to give the chair a farmhouse flair.

Here’s how easy it is to do.

Remove the Chair Seat cushion

Most chairs of this type have a wooden chair bottom that is screwed from underneath and easily removed with a screwdriver.

You can remove all the fabric from the seat if desired. Because I wanted to increase the cushion’s softness, I left the original material and batting in place.

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Measure & Cut Fabric

Next, measure your seat bottom and allow approx. Three inches additional for all edges. This seat bottom is 20 inches at the widest point, so I cut the fabric 26 inches wide. Do the same for the depth of the seat bottom.

In addition, be sure to allow for any pattern. Since the fabric has a stripe, I ensured the line would be in the center of the cushion once attached.

Gather Supplies to Recover A Chair

1. High Loft Batting Material
2. 1/2 yard of desired fabric
3. 1/4 yard of drop cloth fabric
4. Staple Gun & Staples

Attach Batting Material

I choose to add an additional layer of batting. If you are happy with the softness, you may skip this step.

Begin by wrapping the batting material around the top of the seat bottom and pull tightly as you staple. In addition, cut off any excess fabric at the corners.

Add Fabric To The Chair Seat Cushion

Next, do the same with the desired fabric. Be sure to align the material correctly if there is a pattern to consider.

Once again, pull the fabric tightly around the edges to ensure that the fabric is smooth once turned over and attached to the chair.

Also, be sure to tuck the material at the corners.

Finish with Drop Cloth Fabric

The last step is to cover the raw edges of the fabric and batting with another material. I chose to use drop cloth fabric because I have plenty of scraps on hand, and it’s cheaper than the fabric I used for the top of the seat cushion.

You can see also see this DIY Hand Painted Drop Cloth table runner project.

Re-Attach Seat Cushion

Screw the seat cushion back into the chair frame, ensuring that the screw goes through the new material into the wooden frame.

If the screws are too short, purchase a slightly longer screw of the same diameter.

The Recovered Chair Cushion

I love the Farmhouse feel of the new chair cushion. It’s perfect to use at my desk.

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The chair feels brand new and goes from trash to treasure within a few hours.

Check out this deconstructed chair tutorial if you want to see other chair makeovers.

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