I can't believe it. I have the same exact chair in the same fabric!(Actually two with an ottoman) I am not sure why you think removing the skirt will update it. Have you asked a professional if this can be done?
Mine are from Ethan Allen. (Gillespie Parfait is the name of the plaid)

Sure, take it off and maybe make a new seat cover for the seat int he tan of the plaid but solid. Trim out the edge in solid and have a totally new looking chair. If you can't sew, a cushion cover would cost little but make a big impact. I took all of mine off a few years ago and I love the look.

ellendi - I, too, actually have two chairs like this, but no ottoman. I thought removing the skirt would update it because almost everything I see now in upholstered furniture doesn't have a skirt. I've had these chairs for 20 years! They are from a company called Key City. I had them reupholstered in the plaid fabric almost 10 years ago and wish now, I'd chosen a more neutral color. I emailed a professional upholsterer with some pictures, but haven't had a reply yet. Do you have pictures of your chairs?

yayagal -- When you say you took all of yours off a few years ago and love the look, do you mean the skirts on your furniture? Did you do it yourself and how did you finish the edge?

I think that it would be a great update for the chair! Would you do it yourself or have it professionally removed?

It depends on what other pieces are in the room. You need a mix/balance of skirts and legs. Also, if you are wanting a more neutral color - have you considered having someone make a slip cover for the chair? It might be possible to add decorative legs also, if you decide to remove the skirt.

tina

beth4 - I'm kicking myself because when I had these chairs reupholstered, I considered leaving off the skirt, but then talked myself out of it. The legs will need a little touch-up, but I don't think that should be a problem.

ttodd - I'm still waiting to hear back from the professional I consulted, but I'm also not ruling out doing it myself.

tina - You can see a bit of the sofa in the first picture. It has a skirt, so I think it would be nice to expose the legs of the chairs. Because of the semi-attached pillow back on the chairs, I don't think they are candidates for slipcovers, but I may be wrong.

Can you put new legs on? Get a nice big throw pillow with some really pretty fringe to break up the plaid and call it a day!
Or, buy some luxurious bullion fringe and attach it to the top of the skirt, adding some interest.

Yes, I say remove the skirt.....but also slip cover the chair. Pink & green plaid is maybe an old look also....but the style of the chair is FANTASTIC! Here's a before & after another person did.....

Barb, I have my chairs over ten years too. This fabric wears like iron. And I too wish it was more subtle. But, I have grown attached to them! I am curious about your window treatments. I was never able to find fabric for my living room windows to coordinate with it.
(Sorry I can't load pictures, my daughter has my camera.)

Barb, I think it's a great idea. Can you share close ups of the photo with the skirt up? It looks as though there's a tacking strip that's stapled on. If so it should be a somewhat easy DIY project. A bit of elbow grease and possibly some, hmmmm how do I say this....using your fingernail to rub over the areas where the staples may have spread apart the weave so they are back to where they should be. I hope that makes sense.
Legs are sexy and would really look great showing on those cute chairs.

paintergirl - The legs appear to be part of the frame, so there's no removing them, but I had the same thought, too.

nicole - Fabulous transformation!

ellendi - Funny you should ask about my window treatments. I've been wanting to update those, too. I have cornices at the windows, but I think it's the fabric you're curious about. I'll try to take a picture later to show you what I have. It picks up the wine color in the plaid.

justgotabme - You have good eyes. There is a tacking strip and I know exactly what you're referring to about removing the holes left by the staples.

I'm a little nervous about removing the skirt on my own. I'm trying to convince myself that I can remove a section and if it doesn't look right, I can always just put it back on. We'll see. I'm still hoping to hear from the upholsterer soon and get his opinion.

Oh good. I'm glad that made sense.
Maybe I'll take a good look at the underside of our loveseat this evening if the guys get to moving it upstairs tonight and see if it's a good candidate to have it's skirt removed. If I do so I'll take pix of the process and share them with you.

OK, justgotabme, you go first! :)

Former upholsterer here - That skirt is stapled and tacked through the fabric on the chair. You may well rip the chair fabric when trying to remove it. You will certainly have holes in it. You may be able to steam the holes out.

That said, if you think the weave of the fabric will take the punishment, go for it. I prefer the skirtless look myself.

Okay Barb. Ha ha ha.

Thanks Mary, that's good to know. The fabric on our loveseat shows no wear and we have four cats that love to use it as they scratch station. I like the steam idea much better than using my nails. They take a beating as it is.

Another vote for skirtless. And I start trying to remove the staples in the least visable part of the chair first--the back. The fabric seems busy enough I don't think you'll be able to see the staple holes--esp if you steam them out as suggested above. If worst comes to worst you could always attach a decorative band around the bottom edge and legs can be touched up with Restore-A-Finish.

Since you have a skirt on the sofa and the legs on the chair look to be in good condition, then yes, take the skirt off! It will refresh the room. I like it already :)

Love the chair, but would love it even more skirtless! I say go for it!

I also much prefer the look without the skirt. You can also check to see how the legs are attached. If they are screwed on, it would be easy to update them with a different shape. Just Google 'wooden chair legs' and you should find lots of options (like the one below.) If they aren't easily unscrewed, then I would refinish them.

Nicole I LOVE that black and white chair! Someone had really good vision, not to mention alot of talent, to see its potential and make that transformation.

Chicagoans, Barb wrote this: "paintergirl - The legs appear to be part of the frame, so there's no removing them, but I had the same thought, too." I do love those legs though.
Barb, the guys didn't get around to moving the furniture last evening so I didn't do anything either. I just tipped it over myself, not hard, and it might be doable if I bought new legs since there's a caster where the front legs would be. Just not sure I want to know that I know the legs are only 2.25". Not sexy. If I changed them to taller legs then the seat would be higher than standard height. Not sure I want to go there. I may just sell the thing.

I worked up the courage to remove some staples from the back of the chair to see what I would be dealing with if I remove the skirt, but I quit after about 10 staples. It appears that after the skirt is removed I'll be left with a ridge in the fabric on the chair where the skirt and welting were attached. It may steam out and then again, it may not.

Also, on one side and only on this one side, the fabric is not wrapped around to the underside of the chair and is a little frayed (see pic). All the other sides are fine.

And the last problem is what to do with the raw edges of the fabric that go around the chair leg (see pic).

I've come to the conclusion that this is a job for a professional, IF it can even be done at all.

Thanks everyone for all the encouragement, tho. I really appreciate it.

Barb

I had a feeling this would not be an easy fix. Hopefully you can get the look you want.

If you remove the welting from the skirt, then you can
attach the welting to the bottom of the chair.
You first
need to trim the frayed material close around the leg.
The welt gets attached with a staple gun -- staple it
from the bottom.

They also sell nice gimp in multi-colors in the fabric stores.
You can hot glue on the gimp.
I removed my skirt on my LR chair, the last we upholstered
it, I and love the look.

cliff and joann - I know you've done many reupholstering projects, so maybe you can help me figure out a few things. I thought about reusing the welting from the skirt to 'finish off' the bottom of the chair, as you suggested, but can't figure out what I would do around the legs. Would I wrap the welting around the outside of the leg to cover the raw edge there? If I do that, what I can't picture is how I would deal with the seam allowance part of the welting in that area where I wouldn't be able to staple it and hide it under the chair. Am I making any sense?

One thought I had last night as I was looking thru some books on upholstering I picked up at our library was to use some decorative studs only on the area where the fabric wraps around the legs. Would that look out of place?

I'm late here....but another who says take a look at the room as a whole. A room can get awfully "leggy" without a few blocky pieces...I know my living room looks a bit like a sea of legs with 4 tables on tall legs, 3 chairs and a sofa....all on tall legs.
But if you decide to remove the skirt I'll bet a pro can use the fabric from the skirt to make the edge look finished.
Linda C

I like it with the skirt off too, just gives a more up to date and clean lined look. It will also be enough of a change that you can put off reupholstering for a while longer as well....though I must say, best to have a pro do it. Good luck!

bac...First trim the extra fabric around the legs -- so that when you attach the welt the leg fabric will be in line with the welt. Or should I say, behind the welt.

If you're a righty -- Start in front of a rear leg, working from right to left. It's easier to work with the chair
upside down.

Pull the welt tight as your applying the staples.

When you get to the leg -- trim the excess fabric on the welt right up to the
stitching (the stitching on the welt) and pull it around
the leg with the welt stiching behind the welt...and then on the other side of the leg resume stapling. (you may need a little hot glue behind the welt (just around the legs)to keep it snug and level. Sometimes a little hot glue is necessary and sometimes it's not.

Here is the chair like yours that we upholstered and removed
the skirt. I did the welt exactly the way I'm telling you to apply the welt.

cliff and joann -- so my question did make sense. Thank you SO MUCH for the answer! I just need to work up the courage to really start removing the skirt this time, not just peeking! BTW, I absolutely love your chair. It has the English arm I love and I adore the tufted back!

Ok, I'm glad it's clear.

yes, what you said --"If I do that, what I can't picture is how I would deal with the seam allowance part of the welting in that area where I wouldn't be able to staple it and hide it under the chair. Am I making any sense? "

Just trim the seam allowence where the legs are...wrap around the leg and then continue stapeling. You can go back
later and apply hot glue behind the welt by the legs -- if it's necessary...

BTW ... that's the way it's done professionally.

Barb, our chair was purchased in 1972, it was covered in
brown valour with a seperate attached cushion (like yours, only it was tufted)
when we re-upholstered it this last time, I wanted it to be
different, so we left off the skirt and made the back solid
(and tufted)instead of an attached cushion look...

Just dive into that chair head first, and don't be afraid,
it's only the welt, You can do it!

Post the finished look, for us to admire. :)

one more thing...Like I said, if your a righty, start in the right side just in front of the back leg, hold the welt with your left hand and pull 'tightly' as you are stapeling. This is why, when you get to the part where
you wrap around the leg, if it's tight enough you may not need the hot glue on the welt behind the leg.

This is a chair I picked up at good will, It was a dining
room chair I think. I built up the seat to be bigger,by adding wood to the front -- however, the legs and front of the chair is the same as your chair. (the fabric was wrapped underneith in the front and stapled underneith, and face stapled around the legs.)

I just made a thick contrasting welt and applied it the same way that I'm telling you to apply yours.

Notice that the welt is straight across the leg and bottom
of the chair.

That is your goal -- to have one smooth line
of welt.

i just had my sofa reupholstered. i instructed to remove existing skirt and to have legs only. unfortunately, it came back reupholstered with a skirt!! i don't want to be a pain but i HATE the skirt and am disappointed. could you tell me if there's a way i can remove the skirt and have exposed legs (the legs on the sofa are in good shape and the style i want anyway!). :)

bC717, HOW DID YOUR CHAIR WORK OUT? I am going thru the same thing in 2016, and appreciate all the input, especially cliff and joann. I will tackle my chair tomorrow, SO GLAD I FOUND THIS ARTICLE. Thanks everyone!!