Diy vinyl seat repair

Hello Everyone!

I am new to the forum and new to upholstery and have a few questions. One of my dining room chairs ripped and I need to fix it. I refuse to pay someone to fix it as the quotes I got were crazy and I would be better off buying new furniture. I want to make sure the vinyl won't rip again so I was thinking about buying heavy duty marine vinyl. I found some at Joann fabric, but it's really expensive. I found a perfect match at Marine Vinyl Fabric .com . It looks great and matches my other chairs perfectly (and fits my budget). What should I be looking for in material to make sure it's high quality? I don't want to do this project again in 1 year. I have watched a few youtube videos, but I'm nervous about making a smooth finished product. Are there any tips to smooth out the material to get any minor creases out of the vinyl? Also What type of padding do people recommend for a dining room chair? Soft or hard? Any other tips people can provide would be great. I like to make sure I know what I am getting into before starting a project.

Thanks!
David

Vinyl is a plastic, thicker is generally better and other than that you can push and pull on it until you find one you like. There are repair kits out there and I have used them, but they don't last very long unless professionally done. Smoothing the material is all about pulling it tight before attaching, usually with a powered stapler. Good luck

Thanks drcollie! What foam would you recommend? Can I use a foam mattress topper? I have a spare one from sleep on latex .com but I'm not sure if it would be too soft. Thoughts?

Thanks!
David

I would use a high density 28 to 32 oz resilient foam as a start point. Depends on the chair design. Sorry, no resources where to order that. Good luck