Covering tutorials
Where all the work becomes visible
Placement, tension, cuts, pleats and corners: every covering technique, from the drop-in seat to the club chair.
Guide 2 · Step 4 · Covering
In short: covering is the stage where the final fabric is fitted over the padding and fixed to the frame. It comes after webbing, springs and padding, and before finishing (braid, double welting, decorative nails). A good covering is taut without being strained, follows every curve, and hides its fixings completely.
Every decision made earlier, in the stripping, the foundation and the padding, either pays off or catches up with you here. A well-built seat practically covers itself; a poorly built one fights you at every corner.
Before you start: choose your fabric with the fabric guide, work out the quantity with the fabric calculator, check your tools, and look up any word in the glossary.
Four principles for every piece
The rules of a clean covering
01
Order
Each panel is fitted in a set sequence, so the next one hides the fixings of the one before.
02
Tension
Even in both directions, from the centre outward, never one full side at a time.
03
Grain
The straight grain stays straight from the first staple to the last, or the fabric pulls and twists.
04
Corners
They are cut and folded, never bunched.
Find your tutorial
What are you covering today?
Before the fabric
Calico and wadding
On any project with complex padding or an irregular shape, a calico underlayer before the final fabric is one of the most important professional habits. It reveals every imperfection in the padding, every tension issue and every difficult corner, while you can still fix them. By the time the final fabric goes on, everything should already be resolved.
White calico on a seat before final fabric
On a simple foam seat
A layer of wadding under the fabric is often enough.
Cutting
How to cut
Cutting is where fabric is lost or saved: a cut too short can’t be undone, and a cut in the wrong place shows forever. Learn to cut around legs, posts and frames with confidence.
How to cut the fabric on a seat
How to cut when you can’t see
How to upholster a seat with a wrap-around cut
Seats
How to cover a chair
Every type of chair has its own covering logic: the sequence, the tensions and the cuts differ on a cabriolet, a modern chair, a bergère or a small occasional chair. From the easiest to the most demanding.
A drop-in seat
The easiest seat to cover, and the best place to learn the method you will use everywhere: tension along the length, then the width, fix, fold the corners, close the underside.
How to cover a drop in seat chair
A small chair
A great confidence-builder: a clean, efficient approach that covers all the key techniques without the complexity of a larger or more ornate piece.
How to cover a chair with a solid wooden seat
A modern chair
Clean geometric lines make any imprecision in tension or placement immediately obvious.
How to cover a modern bridge chair (3 videos tutorials)
A cabriolet chair
With its exposed curved frame and tight surfaces, one of the most demanding pieces to cover cleanly: every centimetre of fabric shows against the wood.
How to cover a “cabriolet” chair
The arms of a Louis XV chair
The curved arm rail, the exposed wood on either side and the small surface all require precision and a very controlled sequence.
How to cover the arm of a Louis 15 style chair
An armchair seat
On an armchair, the seat fabric passes around the arms and the back posts, with clean cuts and an even tension from front to back.
How to Reupholster a Voltaire Armchair: Materials, Projects & Tutorials
A club chair
Deep seat, rounded arms, generous volumes: a complete change of cover, from dismantling the removable parts to sewing the new seat cushion.
Club Chair Covering Project: Step by Step
Backs
How to cover a chair back
Backs bring their own challenges, especially when the fabric must be joined cleanly, or when the shape needs specific cuts and tensions to sit without pulling or puckering. To close an outside back invisibly, see the hidden hand stitch in the sewing techniques.
How to cover the back of a Voltaire Chair
How to cover a back with a fabric junction?
How to upholster the back of a bergere chair
How to cover a picture back chair
Stools
How to cover a stool
Deceptively instructive: most stools are simple, but they cover a wide range of techniques depending on their shape. Excellent for practising corners, pleats and tension without the complexity of a full chair. The mock cushion cover creates the illusion of a separate cushion on top, from a single piece of fabric.
- Mock cushion stool cover
- How to cover a rounded stool
- How to cover a squared stool with a wooden structure
All stools in the stool tutorials.
Details
Corners and pleats: the details that define the finish
Wherever flat fabric wraps around a curve or a corner, you need a pleat, and its execution decides whether the result looks intentional or improvised. The shape of the seat defines the pleat. To choose, see the complete guide to corners and pleats.
A mitered corner
A clean mitered corner looks deliberate; a poorly folded one looks exactly like fabric forced into a shape it was not guided into.
How to cover a Mitered Corner
V pleat on a drop-in seat
The most common technique for drop-in seats: the corner is folded underneath, stays flat so the seat drops back into the frame, and leaves room for the dustcover. Forgiving for beginners.
V pleat on a drop in seat
Simple pleat on a square corner
A foundational technique, clean and efficient, for many square-cornered seats finished with braid or decorative nails.
How to do a simple pleat on a square corner
Tulip pleat with decorative nails
A more refined finish where the pleat becomes part of the decoration, finished with a nail or a row of nails.
How to create a V pleat (tulip pleat) ending with decorative nails
Double pleat with braid or piping
A more complex fold for seats finished with braid or piping, so the trim sits cleanly without bulk.
Double pleat with braid or piping
Invisible stitching on a square corner
To close the fabric at a square corner with no visible fixing: a clean, hand-stitched finish, the hallmark of professional upholstery.
Invisible stitching on a square angle (seat)
Control is everything
Covering is a sequence, not a race
Every staple placed too early locks in a tension that pulls something else out of position. Professionals work slowly at this stage, not because they lack confidence, but because the result is built one controlled gesture at a time. Temporary tacking, placing fixings loosely before committing, is the habit that separates clean results from a constant fight with the fabric.
Premium: send me a photo or a short video of your covering on WhatsApp, and I answer you personally.
Covering: your questions
How do you cover a chair with fabric?
Work in a set order: seat first, then arms, inside back, and outside back last, so each panel hides the fixings of the one before. On each panel, fix the centre of every side first, then work outward, alternating sides and keeping the grain straight.
Why does my fabric keep pulling or wrinkling?
Almost always because of the stapling order or a lost grain. Fixing one full side before the opposite one, or pulling harder in one direction, twists the fabric. Remove the last staples, realign the grain and rebalance the tension from the centre.
Do I need calico under the final fabric?
In traditional upholstery, yes: the calico holds the padding in shape and makes the final covering smoother and longer-lasting. On a simple foam seat, a layer of wadding is often enough.
Which pleat should I use on a corner?
It depends on the shape of the seat: a V pleat folded underneath on most drop-in seats, a simple pleat or a mitered corner on square corners, and a double pleat when the seat will be finished with braid or piping. Whatever the pleat, turn it so dust can’t settle in it and it shows as little as possible. See the guide to corners and pleats.
What comes next
The fabric is on. The last details make the piece
Step 5
Finishing
Braid, double welting, decorative nails and bottom cloth: the details that hide the fixings and give the piece its final character.
Go to finishing →
Step 6
Sewing
Cushion covers, piping, loose covers and hand stitching: everything you need when the covering calls for sewn pieces.
Go to sewing →
Coming from an earlier stage? Go back to padding, or see all the steps in Guide 2.
The Hammer Club
Every technique, in full
Step-by-step photo tutorials, many with video, on real pieces from my atelier, to follow at your own pace.
Written by Céline Vanier, running her own upholstery atelier by Lake Annecy for more than 15 years.
