Revive An Old Computer Chair

Supplies Checklist:

• Old Computer Chair
• Material (about 3yds. will be sufficient)
• Heavy Duty Stapler
• Screwdriver
• Scissors
• Thread
• Spray Paint (optional)
• Buttons

Step-By-Step Tutorial:

• Gather the supplies above.
• Unscrew the bottom and the arms.
• Put your screws in a safe place! You don’t want to lose them. A ziplock baggy or any old container you have lying around will be good. I just used an old candle holder that was sitting there.
• Now you should have two arm pieces, the base with the wheels, and the chair itself. I also removed the arm pads to cover those as well.
• Clean down everything to prep for painting.
• Unscrew/detach the back from the seat.
• Now you have a seperate seat and back of the chair to work with.
• Cut a piece of fabric large enough to cover the seat and lay the seat on it with the wrong side against it and the right side on the work surface.
• Using your stapler, staple all the way around the seat, and be sure to pull it tight.
• When you’re done it should look something like this. Be sure not to cover up any screw holes you’ll need to get to in order to put the chair back together.
• Cut off as much excess material as possible.
• Done with the seat! Lookin’ good.
• Lay out the arm pads in the same way as the seat, with a piece of material under each one large enough to cover.
• Staple all around in the same way as you did the seat.
• The back will be a little trickier because you can’t just staple it on the back. So we’re going to have to make a cover for it. First lay the material down with the back of the chair on top. Cut around the material the general shape of the back of the chair. Be sure to leave extra room for seam allowances.
• When you have one piece cut, cut out another with the same shape, but slightly large for the back piece.
• Fold the larger piece in half to find the center.
• Cut into two pieces right down the middle, long ways.
• Hem the straight edge of both of these pieces.
• Mark where you want your button holes. There will be buttons down the back of the chair to enable putting it over the chair.
• Make your button hole using the button hole settings on your sewing machine. If you’re doing it by hand, then good luck! A sewing machine is so worth it just for this.
• Cut open the center of the button hole with a seam ripper.
• Lay the button hole side right over the other side where the actual buttons will be. Using a temporary fabric pencil make a clear dot by putting it through the button hole to get the exact spot for the button.
• Sew on all of your buttons by hand. You could also probably do a lacing thing here if you wanted to instead.
• Using two large triangles I am going to attach them to the front and back to account for the thickness of the chair. So lay one triangle down against the front material piece, right sides together.
• Do the same with the other side as well.
• Then cut off the triangle to the curve of the front of the chair.
• Do not sew all the way down and all the way up. Sew it just enough so that you can flip it right side out and lay fairly flat.
• Attach the triangle part to the back of the chair material. Don’t worry if it doesn’t completely line up laying flat, just match up all the edges, pin, and sew.
• After you have the sides sewn in, sew the top of each side together.
• Leave the bottom open, don’t sew this part.
• Hem the bottom. It won’t be hanging however, you will be tucking it in the back of the chair so it’ll be nice and clean. But we need this open in order for it to get over the chair. You could also probably use elastic.
• I also spray painted all the plastic/metal parts for a little bit fresher look. This is completely optional though. I think it looks nice.
• Finally we’re done, and the chair has an entirely new life!

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