Motor Home Project Part II: Reupholster Dinette Chairs

Summerdale, AL

As soon as we finished reupholstering the valences, Paul started in on re-covering the dinette chairs. We have two upholstered chairs we use every day and two wooden folding chairs we store under the bed and only use when we have company.

Upholstered dinette chair before

Although the upholstered seats on the folding chairs still looked new, the two everyday chairs were pretty worn.

The seats on the chairs we use every day had started to look dull compared to the folding chairs we only use occasionally.

The first part of re-covering the chairs was to remove the old fabric. Like the valences, there were hundreds of staples; and like the valences, Paul wanted to preserve the pieces of material so he could see how they were cut, fit and folded when it came time to put on the new fabric.

Paul removed hundreds of staples from the old fabric on the chairs.

Paul had prepared a detailed cutting chart for the material for the chairs just like he did for the valences. He used the old pieces of fabric to double check his sizes and then proceeded to cut all the pieces of new material using the ¼" plywood on the bed as a cutting table.

Then came the assembly. Paul put the new fabric on in the reverse order of taking the old fabric off.

One of the last items to be assembled was the band around the bottom edge of the seat. Margery sewed up new welting for the top edge of the band using her trusty Singer Featherweight, then sewed the welting to the material for the band.

Margery sewed welting for the chair trim on her Singer Featherweight.

Paul cut the trim band to length after stapling it to the chair seat.

The band gives the chair a little more detail and a more finished look rather than just wrapping the fabric for the seat down around the bottom and stapling it underneath.

We simplified the seat back and eliminated the sewn ribs because we would have had to sew through both the fabric and the foam. We were confident the Featherweight had enough power to penetrate through both the foam and the fabric, but we didn't think the Featherweight be able to feed the thick foam through the presser foot.

Dinette chair after

Folding chair after

Our final task was to make new throw pillows for the sofa. We had ordered enough of the fabrics we used for the valences to make two pillows. The pillows have the solid color on one side and the tropical leaf pattern on the other. Margery sewed the pillows on her Featherweight leaving an opening big enough to get her hand inside to stuff them with polyfill. After the pillows were stuffed, she sewed the opening shut.

Stuffing one of the pillows with polyfill

The stuffed pillow was a little hard to handle to get the opening sewn shut.

Finished pillows

The upholstery project took us about two weeks to complete working off and on between doing other things. We're pleased with the results.

Finished valences, chair and pillows

Now that we have finished our big upholstery project, we need a little relaxation. However, we also have a couple more restaurants we want to hit and a little sightseeing we want to do while we're in Summerdale, so stay tuned.

Comments

[Marsha]

Oh my goodness what a lovely job. You two are so talented. Have you thought of working for Tiffin when you two retire? They need some good people with your great taste.
Enjoy your rest time. You have earned it.

[Mike & Gerri]

GREAT job!! All the colors just flow together so nicely!!
Paul...you are very talented and Margery did such a great job with the trims and pillows. What a team!!

[Jeff & Barbie]

Super job on the chairs, pillows and valences. It really looks great!

[Echo traveler]

It all turned out great! Isn't it fun!!

[christineg]

I am really glad I got to see this. I had wondered about re-doing the valances and upholstery in our 2001 (outdated) Class C. Now I might just attempt it after seeing yours. What an awesome job you all did!