Occassionally I will receive a request from a client who has a piece of furniture which has fabric in good condition, but the padding on the arms or other parts of the chair has worn down is uncomfortable. The client asks if I can just replace the padding on some part or another, usually wanting to replace the padding on the arms. Unless you are very sentimentally attached to the fabric on your furniture, that usually is not practical, and here is why. In order to get to the padding to replace it, the fabric on the arms has to be removed. However, the top, sides, and bottom of the fabric has to be taken loose. BUT, all those edges of the arm fabric is attached underneath other parts of the chair. A lot has to be take loose in order to take loose the fabric on the arms. Below here is a description of what has to be taken loose (and later reattached) just to take of the arm fabric in order to change the padding in the arms.

Please note, this explanation doesn't apply to just replacing foam in cushions can usually be easily accomplished in many cases. But now, back to the repadding explanation.

1. Removing the Old Fabric: When we recover a chair with new fabric, we can use power tools to quickly remove the old cover without worrying about damaging it. However, when reusing the original fabric, we must carefully remove each staple by hand to avoid ripping the fabric. This meticulous process takes significantly more time which adds to the labor costs.
2. Foam Thickness: The old padding on the arms of your is probably thin and broken down, and we can only replace it with similarly thin padding. If we were to use new fabric on your chair, we could opt for thicker padding or foam, making the arms more comfortable.
3. Lining Fabric Requirement: Since the original upholstery fabric was trimmed after it was originally attached when covered, there isn’t enough excess fabric to pull and stretch it over the new foam or padding. Therefore, we need to first cover the arm padding with a lining fabric, which is used to pull the padding down tight and hold it in place. This lining fabric is cut extra large to allow us to pull and staple it snugly in place. This additional step requires extra material and labor.
4. Reattaching the Original Fabric: After securing the lining fabric, we must carefully lay the original fabric over it, ensuring it fits correctly. We then pin the fabric in place and lightly pull and staple it to the arm frame. This process is more delicate and time-consuming and costs more compared to using new fabric, which can be easily pulled and stapled without the need for lining.
5. Here is the process
   1. We first remove the dust cloth on the bottom of the chair.
   2. Then we take loose the bottom and sides of the outside back
   3. Take loose the back of the sides of the inside back, so that the back of the inside arms can be removed.
   4. Then the outside arms are removed, as well as any padding and support linings used under the outside arms.
   5. The fabric on the inside arms is carefully removed at the top, front, back, and bottom.
   6. The old padding and support linings are removed.
   7. Install new support linings
   8. Install new foam on arms, which must be kept thin so that the old cover will still fit over it. However, since we use a high-quality foam, it should last much longer and feel better than the original padding.
   9. Cover the arm padding and foam with lining, pulling it tight enough to compress the padding so the old arm fabric will fit over it.
   10. Reinstall the original arm covering, being careful to first pin in place to make sure the fabric reaches all the edges.
   11. Re-attach the old cover for the outside arms, being very careful to align the edges so that the fabric will reach all the edges. (This may also include adding support linings and padding under the fabric if the old cover had these.)
   12. Reattach the inside back lower sides over the arm fabric.
   13. Reattach the lower outside back. (This might include support linings and padding under the back fabric.