A pine rocker with an upholstered seat and back is the best of two worlds. You can view the beautifully shaped wood of the seat frame and then settle in the comfort of padding just where your bones connect to the seat. Amish rocking chairs and Shaker and Mission styles feature separately upholstered seat and rear panels, as do many antique and antique rockers styled after the imagination of their makers. Rescue yours from exile into the basement or attic with new upholstery that will allow it to take pride of place in your family room or bedroom.

Remove the cushions using a screwdriver — the seat cushion will likely come away easily. However, if the rear cushion is stapled directly to the seat frame, then pull up the piping or welt cording trim to show the staples holding the old fabric to the frame. Gently squeeze a flat-head screwdriver under the staples holding the upholstery instead of pop out them; you might require a set of needle-nose pliers if the staples are rusty or stubborn.

Take the upholstery off carefully and label each piece so it is possible to use it as a pattern for the new cloth. Notice the sequence in which you removed the fabric layers. If the seat padding remains useful, smooth it out and then take off any soiled or stained batting so you can re-cover the foam using new dacron polyester batting.

Continue to remove everything from the seat back, as you will have to replace all layers to get a two-sided back. Mark every piece you remove and place it all aside while you first tackle the seat upholstery.

Cut new batting and new upholstery, using the previous pieces as templates and leaving about 2 extra inches all the way around each piece. Stretch the batting over the foam to the pillow, pull it taut and smooth, and staple it to the rear of the seat.

Lay the seat face-down on the wrong side of the upholstery material, centering the padded seat on the pattern carefully. Staple the front upholstery into the rear of the chair seat. Then turn the seat over, smooth the fabric over the padding and staple it under the rear of the seat. Do the same from side to side and also on every corner, pleating the corners as you pull them taut to staple underneath. Trim the excess fabric around 1/2 inch from the staples.

Cut a piece of stiff cambric 3/4 inch larger than the seat seat all the way around, fold it under 1/2 inch, wrong-sides with each other, and press. Staple the cambric into the seat to cover the upholstery edges and staples. Expand the seat into the rocker.

Trace the seat back frame opening in chalk on the wrong side of the rear upholstery. Cut across the chalk mark, 2 inches wider than the mark. Staple the fabric tautly into the internal lip of the rear frame, utilizing a technique known as sub-stapling. Angle the staple gun since you place in a few staples to position the fabric. The staples will go in halfway, which makes them simple to remove if you need to correct the fabric. Check the fabric from the rear, to see if it’s centered. Then go around the frame, removing a small part of sub-staples at a time and stapling the fabric securely to the seat. Trim the excess material.

Cut two pieces of a single piece of foam the same size as the rear frame opening. Put one batting piece on the stapled fabric. Lay two strips of webbing vertically over the batting and staple the webbing into the seat frame to hold the batting in place.

Cut one piece of burlap and the final bit of upholstery fabric 2 inches larger all the way around than the original back upholstery. Place the burlap over the webbed batting on the seat, staple it to the seat frame, and trim the excess burlap.

Glue the second piece of batting into the front of the foam using spray adhesive. Spray the back of the foam using spray glue and stick the polyurethane into the burlap. Allow the glue.

Stretch the final bit of upholstery fabric over the cushioned seat back, center the pattern and sub-staple it into the internal lip of the rear frame. Place one staple in the midpoints of all four sides. Smooth the fabric into the corners, and make any adjustments to placement before stapling the new upholstery material to the seat back, removing the sub-staples as you go. Trim the fabric close to the staples.

Apply decorative piping, welt cording or trim around the border of the seat back upholstery to hide the staples and the raw fabric border. Use fabric glue to get a strong bond and adhere to the manufacturer’s instructions for drying times. When the trim has dried, place the rocker erect and respect your new upholstery.