Add permanent upholstery cushion to chair or stool - PEP BB textile.straw.upholstery.stool

Here is my submission for the Textiles - Straw - Add a Permanent Upholstery Cushion to a Stool BB.

To document the completion of the BB, I have provided the following:
- the fabric you're starting with
- sewing your cushion
- stuffing material and process
- the finished project

The short story: My parents love garage sales (which they are missing!) and thrift stores so when they found a matching pair of upholstered ottomans, they called to see if I wanted them.  I said sure.  Dismantling an ottoman produced fabric, matching piping, foam, dacron (likely polyester), wheels, and plywood.  

I only used the fabric and the piping from the ottoman!  I already had a staple gun, staples, and alpaca seconds (for stuffing) on hand.  

The stool is part of a bar stool/chair that my sister didn't want anymore so I took the chair off and repurposed the stool.

I am pleasantly surprised at how comfortable the stool is now since we never used the barstools as they were not comfortable.

There is a card-table chair that's sat beside #2 Son's computer for a decade or longer that his guests sit on. It's plastic upholstery has been cracked for almost as long and I'm tired of looking at it.


I had to remove tons of staples, as the video above acknowledges, but I also used vice grips as I consider vice grips a woman's best friend!


I used the base to cut 4 layers of wool felt for padding. I've been told in the past that padding should be cut 1/4 to 1/2" larger than the base so that the cover fabric doesn't wear on the edge. I opted for 1/4" because I needed to be able to ease it in such a way that it didn't interfere with reassembly.


The seat was attached with 4 "L" brackets which were riveted in place. I had some 100% cotton canvas that was thicker than the original material, so I had to be very careful with folding the fabric around the curves so as not to end up with thick areas that would have interfered with reassembling the chair. If you look carefully, you will see a note I wrote on in pencil, "Front Bottom" - yes people, in this case it really was quite obvious, but sometimes reassembly can be more difficult than one might expect and taking pictures of how things come apart and putting notes on things are things I consider to be good back-up!


The chair back did not have anything wrong with it, but I wanted it to match the seat, so I made it a cover. I have 3 more of these chairs hiding under a bed in case they're needed, so I tucked the pattern in with them.


So here's the finished chair. Yes, it's a little more boring than I might have chosen, but #2 Son *hates* change and this is primarily his space, so I used material that he would find calming and almost the same as the old cover. It's a place to sit, not a focal point! More importantly, it no longer looks wrecked and dirty and unloved!

I am not a professional upholsterer  ... I learned alot and I already thinking of how to improve on the next one.

Used an old remnant of cotton duck canvas and cream cotton piping.