About five years ago we decided we wanted to use our apartment’s patio more often, but the patio was small. Therefore we had to find something that wasn’t just comfy, but also space-efficient. We purchased two zero gravity chairs, and we absolutely loved them. We used them almost every day, but then we moved to our house and bought nicer patio furniture. The zero gravity chairs started getting used less and less. They sat out on our patio, which receives direct sunlight, and over the next few years, the canvas fell apart.
The frame and mechanics still work great, but the fabric is ruined. Therefore, I decided to replace the canvas instead of throwing the chairs out.
MATERIALS
| MATERIALS NEEDED |
| Replacement Fabric with Bungee Cord Kit* |
| Sewing Scissors |
| Seam Ripper |
| Pins |
| Thread – Color of Canvas & Nylon Thread |
| Sewing Needle |
*Be sure to measure the fabric on your chair to get the right size. My fabric was 18” across, but the replacement options only seem to come in 17” or 19”+. I purchased the 17” one and it worked great.
TIME COMMITMENT
| ACTIVE TIME: 1.5 – 2 hours |
| Sewing on the canvas top sleeve takes 45 min – 1 hour |
| Restringing the cords takes 45 min – 1 hour |
| TOTAL TIME: 1.5 – 2 hours |
STEP BY STEP
STEP 1 – REMOVE THE OLD CANVAS FROM THE TOP METAL BAR
The biggest problem with swapping out the canvas on a zero gravity chair is getting the old fabric off and the new fabric on the top metal bar. This is because the top half of the zero gravity chair’s frame is a single piece of metal tubing connected to the bottom half of the frame with rivets. The canvas is then looped around the top bar and sewn to itself. That means there’s no easy way to slip the sleeve off, as the rivets block it from sliding off.
There are two different solutions to tackle this problem.
SOLUTION ONE – BREAK THE RIVETS
Destroy the rivets and replace them with nuts and bolts.
To do this you would use a drill to break the rivets open. Then you would separate the top half of the frame from the lower half and slip the old canvas off the top frame. You would then slip the new canvas on the top frame. Then reattach the top half of the frame to the bottom half using properly sized nuts and bolts that slide through the old rivet’s hole.
SOLUTION TWO – SEW THE CANVAS
Cut open the old canvas sleeve with sewing scissors. Then rip out the seam of the new canvas sleeve and sew it over the metal bar to attach it.
This is the option I decided to go with as some of the rivets on my chair were hidden in the plastic arms. So, the rest of this article will be using this solution.
To start, cut the old canvas sleeve using sewing scissors. Leave the remaining fabric and old elastic cords attached to the chair as a reference for connecting the new elastic cords (more on that in the later steps).
STEP 2 – PREP THE NEW CANVAS FOR ATTACHMENT
Prep the new canvas for attachment. Use a seam ripper to undo the seam along the top sleeve. Use caution when using the seam ripper to cut only the thread and not the fabric.
STEP 3 – PREP CANVAS FOR SEWING
After opening up the top sleeve, place the replacement canvas over the bar and pin it in place. I could see where the old seam had been, so I lined the canvas up in the same location.
Now thread the sewing needle and tie a knot at the far end. For extra strength, I threaded my needle with two threads at the same time, a regular navy blue thread, and a nylon thread.
STEP 4 – SEW THE NEW CANVAS
Use a basic stitch/running stitch to sew the canvas onto the bar. This is where the needle passes over and under the two pieces of canvas. This leaves spaces between each stitch on both sides of the fabric, creating a dashed thread line. The original seam had two lines of stitching in it. So I sewed mine the same.
To seal off the thread at the end, insert the needle back through one of the stitch loops. Then before pulling the thread tight, loop the thread and pass the needle back through that loop. Now pull tight and the thread will create a knot. Just to make sure the knot will stay, I like to repeat this action a second time. Cut off the thread with the sewing scissors and remove the pins.
STEP 5 – THREAD THE UPPER LEFT CORD
The zero gravity chair repair kit comes with new elastic cords as well as the canvas. The long cords are for the bottom half of the chair and the short cords are for the top half.
Before removing the cords, line up the new canvas with the old one to see how well the grommets line up. In my case, the top grommet on the new canvas was much higher than on the old canvas, so I chose not to use it in the threading process. See the picture below.
Now it’s time to start threading the elastic cords. Remove the old cord on just the upper left side of the chair. Keep the cord on the right side intact to use as a reference for how to thread the elastic cord correctly.
Then start at the bottom left and thread the elastic cord through the canvas grommets and the chair frame following the same pattern as the old elastic cord on the right side. When finished, the fabric will pull over to the left and look uneven, but it will even out after completing the other side.
The replacement cord was a little longer than the original cord for my chairs, so when I got to the top grommet, I looped the elastic cord back down for a couple of rungs until the cord ran out.
STEP 6 – THREAD THE UPPER RIGHT CORD
Next, remove the elastic cord on the upper right side of the zero gravity chair. After removing the elastic cord, start at the bottom right and thread the elastic cord up through the canvas grommets and the chair frame, now using the left side you just completed as a reference.
Now that both sides of the upper part of the chair are done, the canvas should stretch out evenly. If the canvas does not, adjust the tension in the elastic cords until the canvas is even.
STEP 7 – THREAD THE BOTTOM LEFT CORD
After the top half has been restrung, move to the bottom half. Remember, the longer elastic cords are for the bottom.
Before removing the old elastic cords, line up the new canvas with the old one to see how well the grommets line up. In my case, there was an extra grommet on the new canvas so I chose not to use it in the threading process. See the picture below to see the extra grommet.
Following the same procedure as above, remove the elastic cord from the bottom left side, but keep the old right side elastic cord there for reference.
Starting at the bottom left, thread the new elastic cord through the canvas grommets and the chair frame, once again using the right side’s pattern as a reference.
If it looks like there won’t be enough elastic cord to make it to the top, then starting from the bottom, pull the elastic cord a bit tighter to create a little slack. Continue working the slack up the chair by pulling the elastic cord grommet by grommet. Eventually, you’ll be able to get enough extra cord to complete the threading process. Once again, the fabric will be pulled over to the left and look uneven, but it will even out once the other side has been threaded.
STEP 8 – THREAD THE BOTTOM RIGHT CORD
Now it’s time to thread the final elastic cord. Remove the old elastic cord from the bottom right of the chair, and thread the new elastic cord through the grommets on the canvas and metal supports on the frame of the zero gravity chair. Start at the bottom, and use the left side you just completed to reference how it should be strung. Continue threading the cord until you’ve reached the top, ensuring the right side matches the left.
STEP 9 – FINAL ADJUSTMENTS
Now that the new canvas is fully attached and threaded, double-check that everything is sitting well. If the canvas looks like it’s pulled a bit more to one side or the other, tweak the elastic cords by pulling on them to create some slack in the areas you need to for it to sit more centered. Once it all looks good, enjoy your fixed chair!
For more repair posts, check out the following:
HOW TO FIX A RUSTING DISHWASHER RACK
HOW TO SWAP OUT A TOILET FILL VALVE
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