Reupholstering chairs

This weekend we went to John Lewis to do our wedding gift list, and I visited their haberdashery department for the first time. The shop near us has a great haberdashery with lots of different yarns, threads and great fabric. I have been meaning to reupholster our dining room chairs almost since we got them from a kind person through Freecycle, and this was the perfect excuse to get some great fabric.

I got two meters of purple cotton to cover 6 chairs, and actually it was only slightly too much. I also got a staple gun (getting the right staples was a nightmare involving visitng Hobbycraft and Paperchase just before closing time).

All I did to cover the chairs was unscrew the seat covers, take off one of the existing pieces of fabris, cut a square of new fabric the same size and staple it over the existing cover. It was really easy but quite time-consuming and tiring to do. Anyway, I think it ended up looking really good and fits great with our dining room decor.

BEFORE: stained, old-fashioned fabric that doesn't go with our decor!


AFTER: Lovely new purple fabric that fits in perfectly


I like this fabric so much that I'm thinking about making a tablecloth to go with the seat covers. Not sure how easy this will be so I'll have to investigate it!