Most chairs that come through the shop are built in straight lines. A seat is a rectangle, a back is a rectangle, and a stripe runs the length of it and behaves. This one was a circle. A small slipper chair for a dressing table or a bedroom corner, with a round seat, a back no wider than a pillow, and a skirt gathered to the floor. The owner described it as a mid-century round chair, and the round part is what makes it tricky.
If you searched for chair reupholstery Lititz PA and landed here, you may have a chair like it, a small piece in a faded print that fits a spot nothing else fits. Our furniture upholstery service rebuilds a lot of these. A small chair is not a small job, because every seam on a round chair has to meet itself.
Chair Reupholstery Lititz PA: What Came Through the Door
It arrived on the blue blanket in a print that had been cheerful once: a cream ground in a diamond lattice, a bouquet of yellow and olive flowers in every diamond, all of it faded toward the color of weak tea. No holes, no split seams. It had simply worn that print longer than anyone wanted to admit.
The shape under the print is why it came to us instead of the curb. A tall, slim back with five buttons, three across the top and two below. A seat that is a true circle, crowned and welted around its rim. Two low scrolled arms, there to rest a hand, not an elbow. Below the seat, a flat band and a deep gathered skirt hiding the legs entirely.
Chairs like this get used every day, for shoes, for the clothes that never reach the closet. The fabric goes first and the frame is usually fine. This one was.
Inside the Rebuild: Springs, Webbing, Five Buttons and a Skirt
The Strip Down
The skirt came off first, then the seat, then the back, and every staple came out until the frame stood bare. Under the skirt were four dark tapered legs nobody had seen since the chair was first covered, in good shape, because a skirt is also a dust cover. The seat frame is a wooden ring built up in sections, the back a tall narrow frame with a gentle arch across the top rail. Tight joints, nothing loose.
Coil Springs, Retied
The photograph below is a round seat with the sitting part gone. A ring of coil springs leaning into one another, because the twine that once held each one upright had been cut away. Coil springs are good news. When the twine goes, the springs do not need replacing. Each one is set upright again and lashed to the frame and to its neighbors until the whole ring compresses as one even surface, with the same crown it had when new. Over the springs go burlap, high density foam cut to the circle, and a wrap of polyester batting.
The Back on Webbing
The tall back had no springs. It was built on jute webbing under a thin layer of burlap, both still in place when the cover came off, and on a back this narrow that is the right construction. Webbing gives a little, holds a button pull without buckling, and keeps a thin back from feeling like a board. It was rebuilt the way it was made, with fresh burlap and new foam over the webbing.
Cutting in the Round
Here is what separates this job from a square chair. The new fabric is light blue and white, striped vertically, each stripe a column of small dots like beads on a string. On a flat back a stripe runs top to bottom. On a round seat there is no top or bottom. The seat was cut so the stripes run front to back across the circle, and the boxing around the rim so they stand upright all the way around, which means the pattern meets itself at the back seam, on a dot. The welt around the seat, the skirt seam and the edge of the back were all piped in a solid blue, a clean line instead of a fight with the dots.
Five Buttons
Tufting a back this narrow leaves nowhere to hide an error. Five buttons, each pulled through foam and burlap and tied off at its marked station on the frame, the fabric between them worked so every fold runs the same direction at the same depth. A dotted column passing through a button has to come out the other side still straight, so the stripes tell on you at a glance.
The Skirt
The old skirt was gathered from a flat band. The new one gathers straight off the piped seam under the seat rim. Every fold of a gather swallows part of the pattern, so the gathers were spaced evenly to keep the columns of dots readable across the folds. In the rear view below the stripes run true down the outside back, across the piping and on through the gathers.
Shop note: a skirted chair hides its legs and its springs. The legs never need refinishing, which is the gift. The trap is that nobody notices a sagging seat until the hem starts to puddle on the floor. When it does, the chair is asking for a retie, not a new skirt.
"A round chair has no corner to hide a mistake in. Every seam has to meet itself, and when it does, the chair looks like it was always meant to."Alex Levchuk, Alex Upholstery Shop
| Spec | Detail |
|---|---|
| PIECE | Mid-century round slipper chair, five button back, low scrolled arms, skirt to the floor |
| CONDITION IN | Faded cream, yellow and olive floral lattice print, intact but tired, frame and legs sound |
| SCOPE | Full strip, coil springs retied, back rebuilt on webbing, new foam, cover and skirt |
| FOUNDATION | Coil springs retied in the round seat ring, jute webbing on the back, new burlap over both |
| PADDING | High density foam cut to the circle and the back, polyester batting wrap |
| COVER | Light blue and white dotted stripe cut in the round, solid blue piping, five buttons at the original stations |
| SKIRT | Gathered from the piped seam under the seat rim, stripes aligned fold by fold |
| SEWING | Walking foot Consew machines, bonded polyester thread |
Options for Chair Reupholstery in Lititz PA and Lancaster County
Lititz is about half an hour south of us, straight down 501. Lititz, Pennsylvania is a Moravian town laid out in the 1750s, full of older houses with small bedrooms that reward small furniture, and the same goes for Manheim, Ephrata and the older streets of Lancaster. Most of the chair reupholstery Lititz PA homeowners bring us looks like this one: small, well made, worn only in the fabric. We are based in Myerstown and regularly serve Lititz and the rest of Lancaster County, and nearly every job starts with photos rather than a drive.
On a slipper chair rebuild the decisions are yours:
- Cover: small prints and dotted stripes like this one, plain textured wovens, performance fabrics for a chair that will see makeup and shoes, or a period print
- Rebuild depth: full strip with the springs retied and new foam, as here, a padding refresh under a new cover, or cover only where the seat still sits level
- Tufting: keep the five button layout, change the count, or go to a smooth back
- Skirt: gathered like this one, tailored with kick pleats, a straight drop, or none at all so the tapered legs show
- Seat feel: firmer or softer than the original
- Matching pieces: a companion ottoman, a second chair, or a vanity bench in the same fabric
A light fabric in a bedroom will see more than you think, and most of it comes off if you act before a spill sets. Our tips for care and cleaning of your upholstery fabric cover exactly this kind of piece: vacuum, blot rather than rub, and know the cleaning code before anything wet touches it.
We do not quote from a menu. A chair in a photo and a chair with its cover off are two different pieces of information, so every job is quoted individually after we inspect it, in the shop or from your photos. If you would rather talk first, call or text 717-383-6917 and reach the person who will do the work.
Frequently Asked Questions
Usually, yes. A slipper chair earns its keep by fitting a spot, and a new chair that fits the same spot and sits as well is harder to find than people expect. If the frame is tight and the coil springs can be retied, the chair has decades left in it. We tell you honestly if a frame is cracked or a joint is loose.
Coil springs are tied upright to one another and to the frame with twine. The twine stretches or breaks over the years and the springs lean and sag, even though the steel is fine. Retying sets every spring upright again and lashes the set so it compresses as one even surface. A spring that has rusted or lost its shape gets swapped. The rest are kept.
Yes, and it is the part we plan first. The seat top is cut so the pattern runs straight across the circle, the boxing around the rim so it stands upright all the way around, and the one place the ends meet goes at the back. A stripe takes more fabric on a round chair than on a square one, so we tell you the yardage before you fall in love with a sample.
You can. A gathered skirt can become a tailored skirt with kick pleats, a straight drop, or no skirt at all so the legs show. Removing a skirt is a real design change, because the legs underneath were never meant to be seen and may want refinishing. We will tell you what they look like once the chair is stripped.
A full strip and rebuild on a chair this size usually runs a few weeks once the fabric is in hand, and fabric lead time is often the longest part. Start by sending a few photos and the rough measurements. We are about thirty minutes north of Lititz in Myerstown, and you get a realistic timeline with your quote.
More Work from the Shop
Other small chairs that came in tired and left ready for another few decades.
Still Have the Chair That Fits a Spot Nothing Else Fits?
Send a few photos and the rough measurements and you will hear back from Alex, who will strip it, tie the springs and sew it in the round. Start with a free online estimate. Chair reupholstery Lititz PA homeowners can count on, built in Myerstown and serving all of Central Pennsylvania.
