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A capped seat is a great beginner project for those who are just starting to get the hang of upholstery. After you’ve mastered the straight pullover style for dining chairs and small projects, this style will give you some new challenges, and who doesn’t love a new upholstery challenge? Along with an upholstery stapler, a sewing machine is required for this style, making it just a little more complicated than a straight pullover style.
Capped vs Pullover
A capped seat is a style that has a border sewn onto a top plate, often with piping or topstitching to finish the look. The straight pull-over and staple type is much more simple, because you don’t need to sew anything. When you pull fabric over and staple it, the fabric is pulled very tight, causing the foam edge to round out nicely. On a capped seat, the foam keeps its shape.
When Would You Use This Style?
A capped seat isn’t just for dining chairs. This style is great for ottomans and benches, and any project where you want to keep a boxy shape to your project. It can be a more formal look for dining seats, and on ottomans and benches, can add more detail to a piece of furniture. We all know that details matter.
Today, I’m going to show you how to create a capped seat on an ottoman, but the process is mostly the same for dining seats. I will differentiate the two procedures.
In this video, I am using the following tools:
- Upholstery stapler
- Pliers
- Staple Puller
- Upholstery Scissors
- Regulator
- Webbing Stretcher
- Handheld Stapler, plier style
I am using the following upholstery supplies:
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I highly recommend this 30 minute, detailed video tutorial to learn the complete process to upholster a capped ottoman with a border!
Let’s Begin!
Start by stripping off the old fabric, or, if you are making a seat from scratch, cut a piece of plywood to the desired size. On my project, the ottoman is small but has a lot of height. It will require a capped top and a border.
Make a template using either the old fabric (you’ll have to remove the stitches to get just the top panel) or the plywood seat as your guide. If using the plywood, cut 1/2″ larger to accommodate the seam allowance. Also, if your fabric has a pattern, now is the time to make sure it is centered.
Cut out the top panel, the border (more info below) and piping (1 1/2″ wide).
The Border
The border on dining seats will be one continuous piece, with the join at the back. The border on a larger piece will have to have multiple joins, with the joins at the corners. This is because an ottoman is viewed from all directions, and one join will look ill-considered no matter where it is. Joins at the four corners appears intentional and correct. There are exceptions to this rule, such as on this mid century footrest where the join is on each side, but generally, a border on a square ottoman like mine will look best with a join at each corner. This is especially true when the edge will have piping.
Procedure for Joining at Corners
Measure each side of your ottoman, and add a 1/2” seam allowance. This will add a total of 1” to each panel. Keep in mind the stretch of your fabric, as this may determine whether you change the allowance. The height will be determined by the foam height, plus the plywood height (if it has a plywood base) plus the allowances for seams and stapling. Sew these panels together in order – front, side, back, side.
Sew the piping to the border by folding your cut piping fabric over the tissue welting. The piping should be joined in the most inconspicuous spot, which is usually on the side near a corner, but not right at the corner. Once you have your piping sewn to the border, you can use your hand stapler to temporarily tack it onto the top plate for proper placement. This will keep everything together while you sew it.
Procedure for Joining at Back – Dining Chairs
Sew the piping to the top panel by wrapping your cut piping pieces around the tissue welting and make a neat sewn join at the back. Starting at the back of the seat, sew the border onto the piping seam, overlapping the fabric at the back. Take care to make this a tidy fold, and in the same spot on each chair.
Upholstery Method
If you are replacing the foam on your piece, you will cut the foam 1/2” larger than the plywood all the way around. It is a good idea to replace your foam if it is getting too soft to hold a square edge. If the foam is too soft, your upholstery job will looked puckered and loose, and we all know taut fabric is key to good upholstery.
Make sure your selvage is facing down toward the border all the way around. Tack the four corners at roughly the same height. You will adjust these later. Starting at the center point on each panel, measure and place a staple. Do this on all 4 sides. Working from the front center, pull the fabric to the side slightly, and staple in place. Then staple in the opposite direction. Repeat for all 4 sides. You can now adjust your corners. If you measured correctly, you should not have extra fabric to mess with; it should have fit tight. If it’s loose, it’s best to fix it by re-sewing the seams for a better fit. You could also hand stitch the seams to fit tight at the corners.
Dining Seats: At the back of the dining seats, you will overlap the fabric neatly to finish it off. This gives you some wiggle room to tighten the fabric as necessary.
You can choose to add piping along the bottom edge of your dining seats for a finished look, or on a higher piece of furniture such as on my ottoman, a border may be added.
Adding a Border
Measure for the height of border required. Measure and cut the four sides and the piping, just like the first border, with a 1/2” seam allowance. Following the same steps as above, sew the pieces together and then sew the piping along the top edge. If measured correctly, it will be a tight fit to slide the border up and into place. Measure and staple your border on, and then use cardboard tack strip to create a finished, clean edge. Add bonded polyester padding, pull the fabric down and staple it along the bottom. You can now finish the bottom with another row of piping, or leave it off.
Don’t forget to purchase the highly detailed video tutorial to learn how to upholster a capped ottoman with a border!