If you're not ready to retire the old recliner, reupholster it.
Reupholstering furniture is not as difficult as it appears at first blush. Recliners, however, are more complex pieces of machinery. Even if you've upholstered chairs, sofas and pillows before, a recliner looks like a tough job at first glance. Fortunately, the job may not be as complex as it looks if you can manage the stitching, have the equipment and materials and take the job in small steps. It may take some time, but even someone relatively inexperienced can do a competent job of it. Does this Spark an idea?
Instructions
1. Measure the chair surfaces to get an estimate of the amount of fabric you'll need. Recliners take between 7 and 12 yards of solid-colored fabric. If you want to use stripes, patterns or plaids, you'll need to add at least 3 extra yards of material in order to match up the pieces.
2. Take apart anything on the chair that moves. Set the parts aside on a table in the order that you take them apart. If you have a digital camera, take pictures of everything as you take it apart so, in case you forget put them back together, you have a photographic record from which to work. Label the parts as to where they go.
3. Remove any staples, nails or tacks that hold the fabric to the chair frame. You may have to remove some fabric before you can take apart some of the mechanical pieces. Use the screwdriver, a heavy duty staple remover or needle-nosed pliers to pull up out the fasteners. Do your best not to tear the fabric as you take it apart. You'll need the pieces as patterns for new pieces.
4. Mark the fabric pieces so you can duplicate them. Use a marker to label where the edges of the fabric pieces go together. Keep the pieces of each section together so you don't get confused.
5. Lay the old pieces on the new upholstery fabric and mark them for cutting. If you have stripes or patterns, you'll have to match carefully and cut the new pieces so the patterns will line up. Be sure to include any hidden tabs or attachment pieces to make sure it will fasten together correctly.
6. Remove any foam padding, stuffing or batting from the chair. Use it as a template to cut new padding if the old is worn. Staple the new padding to the parts of the chair from which you removed the padding. Lay the fabric over the padding and staple it back in reverse order from the way you disassembled it.
7. Sew the pieces of the arms and the back together before you slip them over the padding and staple the open ends in place. Use straight pins or fabric glue to hold the parts together while you stitch them. Be sure you use thread that matches the colors of the fabric.
8. Slip the reassembled arm and back fabric pieces over the arms and back of the chair. Pull the fabric tight, and attach the pieces at the bottom and the insides where they were attached before. Then reassemble all the moving parts in reverse order from the way you disassembled them. Clean and lubricate moving parts with machine oil.
9. Attach the seat, footrest and back, carefully stapling any loose edges of the fabric once the chair mechanism is back together. This is most important on the footrest, seat and back, which must move without catching on other parts of the chair.
Tags: back together, fabric pieces, take apart, arms back, edges fabric, from disassembled