How to Sew an Office Chair Cover

Make a cover for an office chair.

While the frame of your office chair may be as good as new, you know it's time to make an office chair cover when the seat cushion and chair back have seen better days. Making an office chair cover will extend the life of your chair, saving the immediate expense of purchasing a new one. With the right fabric, your office chair cover can make a fashion statement that rivals any designer office chair on the market.

Things You'll Need

• Heavy-duty fabric
• Scissors
• Sewing machine
• Thread
• Old sheet
• Tape measure
• Marker

Instructions

Make the Pattern

1. Measure the width and height of your chair's backrest and the width and length of your seat.

2. Cut a piece of the old white sheet a little larger than the back's measurements and lay it across the back of the chair. Trace the outline of the chair's backrest onto the white sheet using a marker.

3. Add the length of the backrest to the length of the seat to make one long measurement, and then add the measurement of the seat's thickness plus a few inches so the piece wraps down and under the front of the seat. Cut another piece of the white sheet a little longer than this length and a little wider than the width of the seat and backrest.

4. Trace the outline of the front of the chair onto the sheet and mark the position of the crease where the back of the seat meets the bottom of the backrest. Draw a horizontal line at that position on the sheet.

5. Cut the patterns out, leaving a few inches outside of the outlines for the seam allowances.

Sew the Office Chair Cover

1. Lay the patterns onto your heavy-duty fabric--upholstery, vinyl or outdoor canvas--and pin straight pins to hold the pattern in place. Cut out the pieces of heavy-duty fabric.

2. Hem the bottom edge of the piece cut for the back of the chair.

3. Lay out the front piece of the office chair cover with the right side facing up. Lay the hemmed back piece on top with right sides facing each other, and pin across the top and down the two sides and sew. Snip the rounded corners to ease the fabric at those points.

4. Hem the rest of the edges on the long piece of the office chair cover for the front. Sew a narrow elastic band around the edges of the seat cover.

5. Turn the cover inside out and trim away any hanging strings. Slip the cover onto the backrest of the office chair, and then extend the front elastic edge over the front of the chair's seat.

References

• Cozy Cottage Slipcovers: Office Chair Slipcover
• Joyful Abode: How to Re-Cover an Ugly Office Chair
• Turkey Feathers Homecraft: Sitting Pretty

Resources

• Enley Enterprises: The Original Chair Saque