2.PA D THE SEAT
2a. Trace your seat onto the foam (Figure D). Mark
another outline ½" beyond the edge of the seat.
With the foam on a flat surface, cut along the outer
lines. I use an electric turkey slicer that cuts very
clean lines in foam, but if it’s 1" thick or less, sharp
scissors work. Cut perpendicularly so the edge of
your foam is squared, not beveled. If 1" of foam isn’t
enough, repeat to make a second layer. D
2b. Take the seat pan, foam, and spray adhesive to
a well-ventilated area. Use spray adhesive to coat
the surfaces of the seat pan and the foam. Once
it’s tacky, flip the seat onto the foam, which should
extend ½" beyond the seat (Figure E). Put an oversized piece of batting on a flat surface. With your
seat foam-side down, center it on top of the batting.
Gently lift the batting up to the bottom of the seat,
and trim the batting to cover the bottom seat edge, E
approximately 2" oversized all around.
3.CO VER THE SEAT WITH FABRIC
3a. Fold the fabric in half lengthwise and mark the
midpoints of the edges with chalk, or notch them
with scissors. Do the same folding the fabric across
its width. On the underside of the seat pan, measure
and mark the center of the sides, front, and back
(Figure F). Place the fabric on the table right-side
down, and center the oversized batting and upside-down seat on top of it. Line up the center marks in
the fabric with the center marks on the seat. This is
critical if your fabric has stripes or linear patterns.
F
3b. Gently pull the batting and fabric up around the
front edge of the seat pan. Shoot 1 staple or hammer
1 tack to secure the center point of the fabric about
½" to 1" inside the seat edge (Figure G). Keeping
everything aligned, stretch the fabric across the seat
and secure with 1 staple to the center of the back. Pull
firmly enough to soften the cut edges of the foam,
to create a slight dome, and to ensure there’s no
slack in the seat, but don’t overstretch the fabric and
cause ripples or divots along the edge. Repeat this at G
the centers of the sides.
