Hi,
I recently picked up this chair and I'm hoping to reupholster it in a fabric myself. I am completely new to this, but the cushion itself seems fairly straightforward. The back, however, seems a little more tricky. Making it more complicated, as you can see on my chair (first 3 pictures) the back was upholstered incorrectly by the last owner. It should look like the last 3 pictures.
Does anyone have advice on how to do the back? Is it just a single piece of foam? How is it attached to the chair? And the buttons on both sides? Any advice would be greatly appreciated! 
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I don't know how it was originally done, but if I had to invent a way to do it, this is how I would do it.
I think you use metal tack strip, which you roll into the edge of the fabric and then hammer into the frame over the front face of the fabric. And I think the back is thin plywood or thick cardboard with fabric laminated onto it.
Steps: cut front fabric twice as wide as the back. Fold it so the side edges meet in the center on the back side. Staple fabric to the top rail. Wrap fabric around the rails. Attach the bottom of the fabric to the bottom riail with tack strip, pounding the tack strip in from the front. Work foam or some sort of padding behind the facing fabric from the rear through the vertical gap where the edges of the fabric meet. Cut the backer board as wide as the space, minus two thicknesses of fabric, and as tall as the space plus about 1/2 the height of a rail Attach fabric to backer board with spray adhesive, and wrap the edges too. Slide the back board down in front of the bottom rail until it clears the top rail, then slide it up in front of the top rail into place.. Drill holes in the backer board for the buttons. Attach buttons with a tufting needle passed through the holes.
(There really is no difficulty attaching buttons to both sides at once. Use a lifting needle. Push it through, leaving it in the middle. Remove the string from the eye. Thread the button on the string. Thread the needle eye again. Pull needle back through. Thread another button on. Pull string tight and tie, clipping the ends shirt so they hide behind the button.)
Thanks for your reply! Those are some great and useful ideas. I think once I start taking the current upholstery off the back I might be able to see where the original tack holes were, if any, which might give me a clue as well. Meanwhile, if anyone happens to own this chair please let me know!
Take some photos of the chair undressed. There is a chair skeletons thread floating around here started by cdsilva. And post them here. It is an interesting conundrum how to upholster this chair. Usually upholstery is pretty straightforward, if perhaps a lot of work. Not in this case.
I have restored a Risom U 430 chair which looks to have a similar, if not the same back cushion. I assume it at least attaches the same. The secret is there are snaps on the inside of the upper and lower horizontal back supports. Your best chance of having the chair faithfully restored is to find another with original upholstery, and take them both to an experienced upholsterer. Chairs are always better in pairs, right?
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