Source
r/upholstery•
logdog

Can you replace foam but keep the leather?

Hey guys, very new to upholstery but somewhat familiar with crafting!

TLDR: leather is in great condition, can I just replace the foam and re staple the leather?

Was on the hunt for one of these Plycraft eamesie boys and found a decent one. Not free on the side of the curb like these other lucky guys but it’s in great shape.

Anyway the bottom and back cushion foam is pretty blown out but the leather is in fantastic shape. Can I replace the foam in it and re staple the leather down? I watched a couple YT videos, looks like it should be possible.

I already jumped the gun and bought some quality 3” and 1” foam from a local upholstery supplier, wasn’t cheap - but it’s high density medium firm I believe. Anyway, appreciate the advice! If I should go forward with it I’ll post the journey.

Posted Jan 20, 2022, 5:52 AM UTC

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RCIntl•

I totally agree. Tailor here. I've worked with a lot of leather and even if the body of the chair is in decent shape, you may have issues where it was purposely "degraded" ... ie: cut, sewn, stapled, nailed. Holes were purposely put in it with the intention of it NOT being taken apart. Taking it apart is also going to add some stress and potentially some additional degradation at those points. Like the earlier posters said, pictures would help. But unless you are skilled at upholstery, good at splicing pieces together (which you might have to do if you want to use the original piece) or want to chance one of the OLD "holes/cuts" gets bigger or tears after putting it back together ... I think you should get new leather. One bright spot on that ... if it's in as good a shape as you said, and you're careful taking it apart, you have ready made patterns for the new pieces!!!

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RocknthehawkPro•

I've had dozens of these chairs, more often than not the leather is great and the foam is pretty flat when sat in. Some of them are done with the welt sewn to the cover, and some have a loose piece of welt stapled on after upholstery.

You can definitely replace just the foam and be good to go. You'll want some dacron to help with the loft, don't bring it past the edge of the wood or it'll never fit nicely. Be mindful to not pull too tight, or you'll bend the wood shell and it won't fit right when you screw it back on.

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Leaving_a_Comment•

As others have said, pictures would help determine if this can be done but leather has nearly the worst “heal” factor of any fabric. It’s skin so once you start taking staples out and cutting thread it’s not going to close back up, it’s there forever. Depending on how it’s put together you miiight be able to do it if you are extremely careful but there is always the chance it simply won’t go back together.

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