Covering A Chair Seat With Leather

[chancey77]

Here are 2 other pictures.

It's strange how the pictures come out sideways or upside down here, when I view them in Photoshop, they're fine. If I open them in a browser, they're not. So I rotated them 180 deg then saved then rotated them back, then saved again.

I guess it's because I'm left handed and my iPhone has some kind of image compensation where it knows which way is up and it can pass the info to Photoshop, but browsers don't read it.

IT IS BECAUSE YOUR PHOTOS ARE TO LARGE- RESIZE THEM TO 1000 PIXEL WIDTH MAX 1200

IF YOU ARE LOADING INTO YOUR GALLERY THEN THERE IS A FLIP RIGHT/LEFT BUTTON ABOVE THE PHOTO.

AND GET THE RIGHT LEATHER...DON'T MESS UP THAT COOL CHAIR!

THAT THING IS RIGHTEOUS!

:)HAHAHAHA

Personally I would use natural leather make a top and bottom and lace the edges together with a double loop stitch that is black...but that is me:) all about the lace! And the natural leather will age well and gather patina quickly. Or sew the edges together with fat white waxed thread with dark brown distressed leather maybe even better....but like the way it is in you picure you made a very classy chair look cheap sorry..I know it is a photo and not in real life...but just by going with what I see, it is very cheap looking.

Edited March 9, 2012 by chancey77

[Northmount]

I would pull both sides up tight (stretch it) and staple them, but stay back from the corners 2 or 3 inches. For the front corners, start pulling the side up and toward the center of the seat. Get a couple staples in and keep working your way towards the front and around to the front. If (and I'm sure you will) need to do some folding, try to work the folds to lay pointing toward the side and down the side away from the front. Keep the folds (or pleats if you wish) small and keep stretching the leather to make it lay neatly. You will need to go back and forth a little on both sides of the corner as you are pulling the leather up tight and staple it. Once it is all stapled down tight the way you want it, you can trim off excess leather so its not all bunched up underneath.

For some practice before you do the chair, take a scrap about 6 to 8 inches square and a piece of 1/2 or 3/4" plywood similar to your seat. A piece of foam would be a nice addition if you have some. Lay the leather on top a corner on the practice seat so it hangs over the sides a couple inches. Staple the inside corner down firmly (several staples cause your going to stretch/pull hard against them). Then work on the corner to see how much you need to stretch and what size of folds or pleats you are going to be left with.

Another option is to cut the leather 1/2" larger (for a seam allowance) than the size of the seat on all edges. Cut another strip to make piping with. Cut another strip wide enough for seam allowance for the piping, plus height of the cushion, plus an inch or two to overlap under the seat board. Sew it all together, pop it onto the seat, pull the sides up evenly all around and staple it in place. This one doesn't need to be pulled up near as tight, since you are building a cover shaped to fit instead of stretching to fit. Trim off the excess and mount the seat. You can practice this one with a cheap fabric. I have noticed other threads here about using piping. Look them up and see how to make it.

Making a "tailored" seat seat cover is usually more work, but it will probably last longer than where you stretch the leather to make it fit. Where the leather (or even vinyl upholstery material) is stretched tight, it will wear faster and tend to snag much more easily. The "tailored" one has some give before it starts to tear or abrade since it is not stretched to tight.

For your back corners, experiment with some scrap or cheap material first. You'll figure out how to make it fit and look nice fairly easily. The big thing is to dive in and try it.

Time to get busy!

CTG

[SimonJester753]

The more I looked at it and thought about it, the more I thought I'd have to stitch the corners and the less comfortable I became with the project. I've never stitched leather. The only sewing I've done in recent years is the occasional button.

The friend whose chair it is and I were in a town with a lot of antique shops. There was a store that did upholstery. We stopped in to as advice. The guy gave me a handful of tacks and some advice. We went home and skillfully avoided the task.

I turned to my friend and said "let's bring it to the upholstery guy." She agreed.

I've always said that one of my strong point when it comes to DIY stuff is to know when I'm in over my head and back off.

Here is the results: