How to Recover the Cushions of a Stork Craft Glider Rocker & Ottoman

Remove the cushions from the glider rocker and ottoman. Cut off the buttons if your model has them. Use a seam ripper to carefully separate the individual pieces of the old upholstery. Separate any sewn darts with the seam ripper as well. Mark the pieces so you know which ones came from which cushions. These pieces of old fabric have now become your sewing pattern.

Iron the old fabric pieces and pin them to your new fabric. Consider any printed pattern or nap of the new fabric when pinning the pattern pieces. Cut out the new fabric. Mark the dart lines with tailor’s chalk. Mark the new fabric pieces according to what pattern pieces they came from with tailor’s chalk on the wrong side. Unpin the pattern from the new fabric.

Pin the darts together at the chalk lines. Assemble the new fabric pieces according to the markings and pin them together with right sides facing. Keep the darts aligned.

Sew the pieces together using the same seam allowance as the old upholstery. Sew around all corners, but leave an unsewn space at the back edge of each cushion cover large enough to insert the foam cushion. Turn the covers right side out. Push out the corners with the eraser end of a pencil or other blunt object.

Insert the foam cushions into the corresponding new fabric covers. Adjust as much as necessary to ensure they lay flat.

Pin the open gaps at the back edge of each cushion closed with the raw edges turned toward the inside. Stitch them closed by hand, running your needle back and forth through the folded edges on each side of the gap. Pull up the thread at the end to close the hole invisibly.

Cover any buttons with the new fabric using a button covering kit. Each button kit has slightly different instructions, but generally you have to cut the fabric to size, wrap it around the button front piece, then clip an insert into the back to hold the fabric in place. Sew the new buttons in place on the glider and ottoman cushions where the old ones were.

Install your newly recovered cushions onto the wooden frames of the Stork Craft glider and ottoman and you are done.