Soft Rocking Chair Bottom

When my husband bought this antique rocker I feared that the bottom would bust out and before long it did. For months we stuffed pillows in it for a bottom. The time had come to fix it. It is not hard to upholster something like this if you have the right materials. It is supremely satisfying to use scraps I salvaged from other projects.

I used

scrap wood

a scrap of upholstry fabric

foam I salvaged from a mattress I took apart

a jigsaw

a staple gun

a utility knife

scissors

hardware

a screw driver and or drill (not pictured)

The old bottom was harder to cut than I expected. I finally realized that it was much easier to cut if I flipped the reed back. The underside was for some reason much easier to cut with the utility knife.

I traced the underside of the scrapwood but then realized that I needed to make it slightly larger so it wouldn't fall through and so it would fit inside the reed trim I decided to leave in. I drew around my original outline to allow for this space.

I used a jigsaw to cut it and then tested to see if I got it right.

I traced the scrapwood shape onto the foam and cut the foam. I didn't even have to unroll it.

I laid my wood and foam on the fabric and made sure there was plenty of room for stapling it. I probably cut it too big but better too much than too little.

Like stretching a canvas, I pull the middles first. We want it tight but not too tight. I continue to staple out from the middle of each side until I reach the corner. It is helpful to flip it over and look to see how lumpy the edges are looking. This is how I folded the corners.

I had alot of extra and I don't want that hanging down so I trimmed off what was excess.

I first drilled holes in the wood on the chair and then added the hardware. This was hard wood so I stripped a few screws in the process.

I marked the holes first and then drilled holes to help me out. Finally I screwed in the last four screws and there you have it.