You've spent four hours wrestling with the seat and the inside arms. Your fingers are literally bleeding from pulling burlap and staples. Now, you’re staring at the final boss: the outside back. It’s a huge, flat expanse of fabric that looks easy but is actually where most DIY projects go to die. If you mess up how to upholster the back of a wingback chair, the whole piece looks like a cheap garage sale find instead of a high-end heirloom.
Most people think you just stretch the fabric and staple it down. Honestly? That's the fastest way to get wrinkles that show up six months later. You need to understand tension, the "blind tack," and why metal tack strips are both your best friend and your worst nightmare.
The gear you actually need (and the stuff you don't)
Don't buy those "upholstery kits" on Amazon with the flimsy yellow handles. They're garbage. You need a real pneumatic staple gun if you value your wrists, but a high-quality manual Arrow T50 can work if you’ve got grip strength like a rock climber.
You’ll need a roll of cardboard tack strip—it’s basically just thick, reinforced paper. You also need metal ply-grip or "flexible tack strip" for those curvy bits along the top of the wings. If you try to use staples on the outside edges without a hiding mechanism, you’ll see every single silver head. It looks tacky. Literally.
I always keep a magnetic tack hammer nearby, even if I'm using staples. Sometimes a staple doesn't go all the way into the oak frame, and you need to persuade it with a bit of steel.
Prepping the "Backbone"
Before the fabric even touches the chair, look at the stuffing. Is the old burlap sagging? Replace it. If you're working on a vintage piece—think Queen Anne style or a 1950s wingback—there might be horsehair or coconut fiber in there. If it's not crumbling, leave it. It's better than modern foam.
But if you see green dust? That’s 1970s foam disintegrating. Rip it out.
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Layer on some fresh polyester batting. You want it to overhang the edges by an inch. This acts as a buffer so the wooden frame doesn't rub a hole through your expensive velvet or linen. It also gives the back that slight "loft" that makes it look professional.
The Blind Tack: Your secret weapon
This is where the magic happens.
To upholster the back of a wingback chair correctly, you start at the top. But you don't staple the top of the fabric to the top of the chair. No. You flip the fabric upside down so the "pretty" side is facing the chair's seat.
Align the top edge of your fabric with the top rail of the chair. Place your cardboard tack strip over the raw edge of the fabric. Staple through the strip and the fabric into the wood.
Now, pull the fabric down.
See that? A perfectly straight, crisp edge with no visible staples. It’s a professional finish that separates the pros from the people who just watched one 3-minute YouTube video and hoped for the best.
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Dealing with the curves of the wings
The wings are the hardest part. Period.
Because a wingback chair curves in multiple directions, fabric wants to bunch up. You have to "whisper" to the fabric. If you pull too hard on the left, the right side will develop a diagonal stress wrinkle. It’s all about even distribution.
This is where metal ply-grip (flexible tack strip) comes in. You nail this metal strip along the edge of the wing. It has these little "teeth" that look like tiny shark jaws. You tuck the fabric into the teeth and then use a rubber mallet to bash the metal strip shut.
It’s satisfying. But be careful. If you tuck too much fabric, the metal won't close flush. If you tuck too little, the fabric will pop out the first time someone sits down hard. It’s a delicate balance of "just enough."
Common mistakes with metal strips:
- Cutting the strip too short. You can't really "bridge" a gap between two pieces of ply-grip without it showing.
- Forgetting to fold the fabric edge. You should always have a folded "hem" going into the metal teeth to prevent fraying.
- Using a metal hammer. You will mar the fabric. Use rubber or a rawhide mallet.
The Bottom Rail and the "Tuck"
Once the top is blind-tacked and the sides are secured into the ply-grip, you’re left with the bottom. This is usually the easiest part, but people get lazy here.
You need to pull the fabric tight—not "tearing the fibers" tight, but "drum skin" tight—under the bottom rail of the chair. Flip the chair over. Staple the fabric to the underside of the frame.
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If your chair has legs that are part of the frame, you'll need to make "relief cuts." This is the scariest part of the whole process. You have to snip your fabric diagonally toward the corner of the leg. If you snip too far, you’ve ruined the whole back panel. If you don't snip far enough, the fabric won't lay flat around the leg.
Measure three times. Snip once.
Tension is everything
Think of the fabric like skin. It needs to move, but it shouldn't sag. Professional upholsterers like Kim Buckminster (a legend in the trade) often talk about the "flow" of the grain. If your fabric has a pattern, like a stripe or a damask, and it’s even one degree off-center, the whole chair will look crooked.
I always use a piece of chalk to mark the exact center of the chair frame and the exact center of the fabric. Match those lines. If you don't, you’ll be halfway through the side wings before you realize your stripes are leaning left.
The final touch: The Dust Cover
You aren't done yet. Once the back is on, you need a black cambric dust cover for the bottom. This keeps spiders out (seriously) and hides all the raw edges of the fabric you just stapled down. It makes the piece look finished.
Trim any excess fabric with sharp shears. If you leave clumps of fabric under the staples, the chair will wobble or the fabric will eventually pull through the staples. Clean lines are the hallmark of a job well done.
Practical next steps for your project
Before you pull the first staple out of that old chair, do these three things:
- Check the frame stability. If the back of the chair wiggles, no amount of pretty fabric will fix it. Use wood glue and clamps to tighten the joints before you start upholstering.
- Buy 20% more fabric than you think you need. You will mess up a relief cut. You will realize the pattern doesn't align. Having that extra yard is the difference between a finished chair and a "project" that sits in the garage for two years.
- Take photos of the teardown. As you take the old fabric off, photograph how the factory did it. They've already solved the puzzle of the curves; you just need to follow their map.
Start by securing your cardboard tack strip at the top rail for that blind-tack finish. Once that top edge is set, the rest of the tension falls into place much more naturally. Work from the top down, then center to the sides, and always keep your staple lines straight on the frame.