Reupholstering a Bargain Chair for the Bedroom

A few months ago, I spied a little chair outside a second hand furniture shop. She was full of potential, and I knew she’d fit in my Civic. With a price tag at $40, I decided to take her home.

Here’s a picture of the chair in the living room after I brought her home. Note the nubby rust fabric, and check out the pleated skirt!

This weekend, I purchased 4 yards of fabric at Jo-ann’s, in a red and white print to go with the colors in the bedroom. It came to about $21 – the fabric happened to be on sale! I have to say, I went a little out of my comfort zone with this pattern.

When I got home, I cut the skirt off of the chair, and I started making a pattern for the new cover. The pattern ended up being 5 pieces: seat, left arm, right arm, back (inside) and back (outside). I made these by holding newspaper against the chair and tracing the size of the piece for each pattern.

I cut the pattern out of the fabric, and then … I sewed the cover with my new sewing machine!! It’s been ages since I last sewed, but I seem to have retained a decent amount of what my mom taught me back when we used to sew together (Thanks Mom!). I realize this was a pretty big project to tackle, having not sewn anything in probably 15 years.

After the cover was complete, I staple gunned the bottom of the cover to the bottom of the chair’s frame to give it a more polished look.