She picked out a fabric she liked - this one is an outdoor fabric but any upholstery weight fabric would work. I think the outdoor fabric will be an e excellent choice in the classroom.
At first, we thought a yard might be enough to cover the seat and back but once I took a good look at the shape and construction, it was clear that a covering for the back was going to be a challenge.
I started by taking the chair completely apart. I used my electric stapler and a hammer to recover the seat. I simply cut the fabric large enough to fold over to the underside with a small under fold. Then, I pulled it snug and stapled it down. Any staples that weren't flush were hammered until they were. For the corners, I pulled the fabric in small sections to create small pleats giving the corners a smooth transition.
The arm rests covers were stapled on but I decided to use hot glue. I used the same process and slowly worked my way around the arm rest securing the tiny folds and pleats. Once the glue was cool, I reattached the covers to the arm with the screws provided. This should keep the fabric securely in place.
The back was the biggest challenge. I removed the pink cover and first thought I could simply make a new cover or sew the new one on top of the existing cover. That wasn't going to work because I didn't have enough to fabric but more importantly, because of the shape of the back, whatever it was covered with needed to be stretchy and our new fabric was not stretchy. The chair laws completely functional with the new seat and arm covers but looked a little odd with the solid pink back.
I finally settled on a wide "sash" that ran vertically up the back to tie the original pink cover with the new patterned fabric. (Even with this, I had to piece the fabric in the back.). Ultimately, I created a hem on both sides and fastened it together at the bottom using some Velcro that is not seen. The "sash could be easily removed to rinse it off.
This project took me about 3-4 hours total but some of that time was spent solving the issue with the back and adjusting the sash for fit. Tools required: sewing machine, scissors, stapler, hammer and tools to take chair apart.
