How to Make Your own Wing Back Chair Cover

There are numerous reasons to re-cover a chair. Covering a wing back chair can hide stains, small tears and other imperfections from years of wear. You can also cover a wing back chair to make it fit in with a new living room set. If you need to cover a wing back chair in your home, you don't have to buy an expensive cover. If you are good with a sewing machine, you can sew your own.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Sewing tape measure
• Heavyweight fabric
• Sewing machine
• Upholstery twist pins

1. Measure the chair with a sewing tape measure. You will need to measure the back of the chair from the floor to the top of the chair. Fold the tape measure over the top of the chair, remove the seat cushion, and let the tape measure go all the way down to the seat. Stretch the tape measure out across the seat and let it drop to the floor. Add 5 inches to give you a little extra. This will be the length of your fabric.

2. Measure the width of the chair. The widest part to cover will be the chair's base, so measure it the same way you measure from back to front. Let the tape measure touch the floor on one side, go up and over the arm, stretch the tape measure across the seat, and go up and over the other arm, letting the tape measure touch the floor on the opposite side. This width will help you determine how many pieces of fabric you will need to cover the width of the chair. Most fabric comes in 36-inch-wide bolts, so if your chair is 90 inches wide, you will need three pieces of fabric the length that you measured.

3. Get the dimensions of the seat cushion. It will have its own cover. You will need the height, width and depth of the cushion to determine how much fabric you will need.

4. Use a heavy fabric like cotton twill. Thin fabrics will not hold up through normal wear and tear, and the original fabric of the chair may show through a thin fabric.

5. Sew the lengths of fabric together. Use a sewing machine to make one large piece of fabric out of the lengths of fabric that you purchased to fit the chair. You will sew the long edges of the fabric together, and should end up with a piece long and wide enough to cover the entire chair.

6. Fit the fabric to the chair. Lay the fabric over the chair evenly. Tuck the fabric into all crevices. With a wing back chair, you will need to also tuck the fabric in at the wings. You should be able to do all of the tucking with just your fingertips and the fabric should stay tucked. Fold the fabric up at the bottom all around the chair with the fold on the backside of the fabric and pin into place. Take the cover back off and hem the fabric at these folds to give it a nice bottom finish. Return the fabric to the same place on the chair and tuck all the fabric into the crevices. You will have extra fabric all around the chair. You can make this fabric look nice by folding the fabric over and pinning it to the underside of the chair arms and the back of the chair with upholstery twist pins.

7. Make the cover for the cushion. You can take your time with this or make it simple. If you want a fitted cushion cover, you can cut out pieces of material for each side of your cushion, sew them into the same shape as your cushion, and stuff the cushion inside. Or, if you rarely remove the cushion from the chair, you can simply wrap the cushion in fabric and tuck any extra fabric in around it. This is easier to do up front and makes it simple to remove later for washing.

Resources

• Cover Dining Room Chairs