Fix It Friday - Chair Pad Repair

Do you have one of those chair pads from IKEA? The flat ones that you tie to your dining room chairs. The flat piece of sponge that makes you a bit more comfortable when you sit down for your meal.... We bought four a few years ago and then they started to open up at the seams revealing the yellow sponge. At first it was a tiny hole at the corners of the pads and then it grew bigger until it ripped from one end to the other.  It was very unsightly but then we thought (well, I thought) that since we would be sitting on them no one would notice anyway....  After a while they started to get rather annoying and my husband said we had to buy new ones if I wasn't going to fix them. I think that was an ultimatum!

I find chair pads very difficult to fix.

• Do I take off the original cover and replace it?
• Do I add extra padding?
• Do I just cover it with new fabric?
• Should I add a zip?

I had many questions and the zipper part of the repair was giving me a headache as I really do loathe zippers. I think hate is an extreme word to use in this instance but when it comes to zippers, getting it to look nice has always been very difficult for me. But practice makes perfect, right?

What are the components?
When it comes to chair pads, there are no shortcuts. As I was going to make washable chair pad covers (to cover the torn one) I had to use a zipper. I drew out the shape, added an allowance, cut 2 pieces out (right sides together). My tip is to think about what the components are and how it will function. I had 3 parts - two panels and a zipper.

Sewing a zipper can be simple
With the two panels cut out, one of the first things I thought I would need to do is to sew the zipper on first. I had always sewn in the zipper first when I sewed pouches, but then I "discovered" that the easiest way to sew a zipper was to sew the two panels of fabric together FIRST.

Step 1 - Sew the side where you want the zipper to be first. Sew right sides together
Step 2 - Iron open - make sure you iron everything flat!
Step 3 - Open up zipper and sew it to the wrong sides of the seam. Make sure you alignment is correct. Use tailor pins if you have to!
Step 4 - Using a seam ripper, rip open the seam created in step 1. Only do this to the area located within the zipper area.

So this is what your zipper should look like. I think this method is much better than the traditional method of lining up the zipper to 2 separate pieces of fabric.

I was extremely happy with the result!
Four chair pads saved from the bin and they look brand new!