Quick & Dirty Office Chair Cover

Update: Below is the original chair cover instructable I did. I wanted to add a picture of the newest cover I made. It's a heavier deep red fabric and more attractive. It is sewn around the edges by machine very quickly and roughly. I inserted cheap and strong clothesline cording to cinch it and tie it to the chair pads. Very QUICK and easy!

I needed a quick cover for my expensive office chair. This took less than 45 minutes to make. You can use just about any kind of fabric. An old sheet would be great. I used a medium weight, Teflon coated, cotton upholstery fabric. I will just throw it out when it gets beat up or I get too sick of the pattern (sort of ugly). Perfection is not the aim here. I am going for function not fashion.

Step 1 Find fabric, clear 2" wide tape, cording and scissors.

Drape the fabric on the chair and estimate how much fabric you will need. Make sure you have fabric for a very wide hem to go underneath the seat and in the back of the chair. Your fabric should be approx 8 inches larger than the chair pad size.

Recklessly cut around the chair with the fabric draped on it. Take your fabric and place it on a flat surface, right side down.

Comments

[coolguy]

You could also use spray adhesive to cure the slippage issue. I'm pretty sure that's how the manufacturers do it too.

[glitteringsky]

Manufacturers spray adhesive to the foam (or use heat) but not to existing fabric. I wanted to protect the original fabric on the chair (the chair is from the United States Senate floor, and Obama might have sat in it)!

[Very Keri]

When I did this a few years ago, I spray painted my ugly black chair, then I made a slip cover for the top/back. After that, I sat there for at least an hour hand stitching my fabric to the seat of the chair. My results were very nice, but I was temporarily cross eyed after the fact!

[chickchoc]

Use FabriTac or some other permanent fabric adhesive to secure the casing. This won't show either and eliminates sewing, etc.

[altomic]

wow, that is craptastic!! great instructable but the material blurghhh

[robgonzo]

Nice instructable, good job. If you put a piece of that anti-slip rug underlay between the fabric and the chair you can keep the cover from sliding around.

[glitteringsky]

Thanks! Much appreciated. Good idea. Luckily it doesn't slide around since the fabric is heavy weight.

[glitteringsky]

Hi spiderspell. I wouldn't recommend elastic. Too flimsy and the rubber thread breaks down. Cording, even twine or similar is very strong and stays tight with no stretching. :)

[spiderspell]

Wouldn't elastic work better than the cord so it doesn't come loose like a cord would?

[glitteringsky]

Thank you! It is so easy to do. Thats why I thought other people might appreciate the simplicity. I was using a pillowcase before to protect my chair. That got old.

[mikesty]

Great instructable, and looks pretty. I ought to do that with this chair because it's got an awful stain. I tried to clean it but it just made it worse and it looks really messed up.

[HamO]

Nice instructable, great idea and something I need to do at my office. Thanks for sharing.