Are you looking to spruce up your sewing room with a vintage sewing chair makeover? If so, read on for some tips on how to go about it! As a beginner seamstress, adding a vintage sewing chair to your workspace can be a great way to get started. Not only will this chair add character and personality to your sewing area, but it will also be a great place to sit while you sew. Here are four tips on how to create a vintage sewing chair makeover.
A few weeks ago, I shared my Craft Room and part of my tour was my newly reupholstered vintage sewing chair. I have seen this chair a lot online and at thrift and antique stores, so I thought I would share how I did it in case you come across one too and want to give it a new life!
Vintage Sewing Chair Makeover
I loved the mid-century lines of this chair. I couldn’t pass it up!
It even had this storage compartment in the seat. So cute!
The original vinyl upholstery was rather dingy and beat up though, so this definitely needed to be changed. I was rather intimidated at first, particularly by the piping and the sides of the chair. But I just carefully took the chair apart and saw how they did it way back when, and used the original pieces as templates for the new fabric.
I started with the seat of the chair. First I removed it by unscrewing the hinges and that little chain that keeps the lid from flopping over. Then I removed the wood piece on the underside of the seat (the natural wood square part shown below). All of the fabric raw edges will be hidden under this wood piece, so yay! Then I removed the upholstery and the piping. I saved the piping to reuse later.
I cut out a new piece of thin foam the same shape as the chair. Then I cut out a piece of fabric about 2 inches larger than the chair, making sure the pattern was centered. Well, ideally it would be 2 inches all around, but I only had a little bit of this fabric left, so two of the sides were less than two inches. But phew, there was just enough! First, I stapled one side, then I pulled it taught (but not too taught that it warps the pattern of the fabric) and stapled the opposite side. Then I stapled the other two sides the same way and stapled each corner, folding the fabric in neatly and pulling it taught, and making sure all the corners are folded so they all look the same.
Next I worked on the piping. First I trimmed the raw edge off the original piping as much as I could to remove the bulk. I was not able to completely remove the vinyl as it was stuck pretty well to the piping. You could also just buy new piping.
I cut 2”-wide strips of fabric, sewing the strips together, enough to cover the piping plus about 2 inches for wiggle room and for the finish later. Note: I did not cut the strips on the bias, but I think I should have so they fabric would have curved along the chair a bit better. Anyways, here’s how you sew the strips together (see pic below). (1) Place two strips right sides together at a right angle. (2) fold the corner in and crease. (3) Sew along the crease. (4) trim off the corner to about a 1/4” seam allowance and press open.
When you’re done making the long strip of fabric, fold it in half, and insert the piping inside. Pull the new fabric so that it hangs over the end of the piping by about 1 inch, as this part will cover the other end of the piping to leave a nice finish. You will need to use a piping foot or zipper foot in your machine. Start sewing where the piping starts, leaving the 2-inch overhang open. Sew as closely to the piping as you can.
The good thing about re-using the piping, besides keeping it out of the landfill, is that the curves are still formed to the chair! This made it easy to position the piping back on to the seat. The original piping was stapled to the top of this piece of the seat that we removed (see above), so I’m going to do the same.
Staple along the piping all the way around, reserving a few inches at the ends. Take the end that has fabric 1 inch longer and fold in the fabric about 1/2 an inch. The two ends of the piping should be butted up against each other. Then that end of the fabric envelops the other end to finish. Staple down the piping as usual. Sorry I did not get a picture of the end part.
Finally I reassembled the seat, screwing it all back together so the raw edges of the piping and the red seat cover are hidden inside, so that it looks like this.
Now for the bottom part of the chair. I removed the piping and vinyl from the sides of the chair, making note of how everything was attached. So it looks like the piping is stapled on first, underneath the vinyl piece. They used a cardboard strip in between the piping and the vinyl, but I decided not to use it as it was beat up by the staples. But anyways, I had always wondered how they were able to attach that side fabric with a clean edge…they stapled it onto the chair onto the seam allowance, and then folded the rest of the fabric over it to cover the staple. Hope that makes sense. Will talk about that more in a second.
I removed the piping completely, and repeated what I did above with the first piping piece.
Then I stapled the new piping back on, in the same spot i.e. along the upper edge.
Now for the side fabric. I used the original piece of vinyl to cut a strip of fabric, taking into consideration the pattern and centering it as best as I could (I was running out of fabric!). I also made sure to unfold the vinyl along the sides, because I will be folding in the edges and I need enough fabric to do that too.
After I cut out the strip of fabric, I pressed a fold down both long edges in the same amount as they did the vinyl, about 1/2 an inch. In the end, it just had to be wide enough to cover the sides of the chair plus 1/2 an inch underneath (plus the seam allowance of the folded edges), and long enough to allow for at least 1/2 an inch seam allowance at one end to fold over for a clean finish.
So just want to stop here to show you where we are at. The top of the seat is done, and I’ve put it on top of the bottom part of the seat, where we have just stapled on the 2nd piece of piping. We are about to cover the rest, below the piping, where the light wood is.
Take the strip of fabric with the pressed edges and center it onto the chair, starting in the front. The ends will meet in the back and overlap. Line up the top fold over the raw edge of the piping. Then, flip up the fabric so that the seam allowance is still laying flat against the chair and covering the raw edge of the piping. Staple right underneath the fold, so that the fold is right up against the piping. Do this all around until about 2 inches to the end of the fabric, which should be in the back of the chair. Fold in one edge about 1 inch and staple it down. Flip the fabric down so that it covers the sides of the chair. Make sure it’s smooth; if there are any creases, you will have to undo the staples at this point to do it over again.
The bottom edge of the fabric will go over the bottom edge of the chair. With the edge folded under, staple the fabric to the bottom of the chair.
I reassembled the chair. All done. I will eventually restain the wood parts to cover up the wear on the corners and the legs but I like the original stain color so it will look pretty much the same.
I know this tutorial was VERY specific to this particular chair. As mentioned, I’ve seen this chair around so if you find one where the original upholstery isn’t looking so good, don’t be afraid to take it on.
And that’s what I’m taking away from this experience and applying it to other re-upholstery projects I may come across in the future…follow how the original upholstery was attached, and you may be able to figure it out!
There’s nothing quite like a vintage sewing chair to brighten up any room, and with a little love and care, they can look beautiful and fresh again! In this blog post, we’ll show you how to shop for the right fabrics and supplies, as well as give you some helpful tips on how to turn a drab old chair into a show-stopping statement piece. Stay tuned for more exciting updates!
