With basic sewing skills, you can master these common upholstery techniques.
Do your chairs have worn seats? Perhaps you just want them to complement your decor. Follow these steps to learn how to reupholster a chair.
Beginner upholstery projects ranging from the beginner to advanced beginner. Inspiration and instructions to update that thrifty find or your own treasure!
With basic sewing skills, you can master these common upholstery techniques.
With basic sewing skills, you can master these common upholstery techniques.
Have you ever taken a piece of furniture to a professional upholsterer to see how much it would cost? It's freakin' expensive!! For the price they charge, you can get a whole new piece of
Do you have outdated or ugly dining chairs that could stand to be recovered? Let me show you how you can easily reupholster your dining chair seats in a couple of hours with this tutorial! This is a project anyone can do!
Woah, if you are on instagram, you know we’ve been busy busy these last few weeks doing upholstery, painting projects, stripping {not the kind you are thinking} ahem stripping paint, and traveling to SLC for
Since Quilt Class is finished (for the moment), I have had a second to breathe and do a few things I don't normally do. My mum had this old arm chair she was throwing away and asked if I'd like to try Upholstering it. I have never, i repeat NEVER Re Upholstered anything before.. Not even a little stool..?? But i thought if it was going to get thrown away, I may as well give it a go... I went to a local discount fabric warehouse and found a roll of this fabric. Like i said, having NO IDEA how to recover or how much to buy... I bought 12 meters.. (what was left on the roll). I figure, if I'm lucky I might have some left over to make a couple cushions. The next part... I sat for a few hours one day watching You Tube video's on Reupholstering chairs.. I couldn't find one great video that teaches you everything.. But i did watch a few different ones to pick up a few tips and tricks here and there... You can see a good one that i watched HERE As I started taking off each fabric piece layer by layer... I took heaps of photos so i could figure out how on earth I was going to put this chair back together! I was amazing at how little 'sewing' was actually needed. The whole thing is just stapled together. I recon this chair had about 1000 staples. It took me around 8 hours to get the staples out. With each layer you uncovered, you found another 100+ staples. Guess what we did one night instead of going on a date??? Tools needed?? Electric staple gun. Definitely Electric! Box of 1000 staples Hammer and screw driver to help remove old staples. Cardboard and metal strips I saw from this You Tube video. (I needed 2 x metal and 4 x Cardboard) When i went to a local re upholstery shop to see if they would sell me the cardboard and metal strips i needed the man was full of confidence.. and as i was leaving, he happily said.. Bye,.... Ill see you next week after you have stuffed it up! So, with my I'll show you attitude.. I started and the first part to cover was the bottom seat part. I pulled the it off, unpicked the previous fabric, and I just reused the black piece. The order of my chair to put back together was.... Front/bottom piece, Side curved arms, Back middle section, Under side arms, back piece, base cover and front panelling...and cushions. TIP:- With the side curved arms and the middle back piece, your fabric needs to go around the frame of the chair. This was probably the hardest part... You need to make a clip in your piece so you can tuck it in under and around the sides. You will understand what i mean as you take your fabric off... I used the old fabric as my pattern piece to cut my New piece. When cutting your fabric... Cut a generous 2-3 inches all around your pattern piece. My fabric torn and old, so it stretches, warps, and shrinks...So just give yourself some extra. For the front, sides and back, In order to get a nice neat fold... You staple the fabric to hold in position, lay the cardboard strip on and staple it firmly. Then fold the fabric back down and secure it at the bottom and sides.. I'm now working on my back piece I'm nearly done!!! I Can't wait til its finished... Its been so fun!! I'm already stalking the streets for pick up days and second hand stores for my next project!
With basic sewing skills, you can master these common upholstery techniques.
With basic sewing skills, you can master these common upholstery techniques.
Learn how to reupholster a chair with these basic techniques that give your furniture a fresh look.
Make this DIY Button-Tufted Storage Ottoman from scratch using these easy instructions. Button-tufting is pretty simple but looks so professional
Need an update for your sofas or chairs? One of my favorite ways to redecorate without breaking the bank is to add DIY slipcovers to my furniture. Whether you are going for an all-new look or trying to cover and protect the existing thing you have, a slipcover can be one of the most fabulous
With basic sewing skills, you can master these common upholstery techniques.
With basic sewing skills, you can master these common upholstery techniques.
Welcome to my tutorial blog post on how I reupholstered this second hand French Provincial arm chair. I took lots of photos at some points, and less at other points during the process, but hopefully this tutorial will inspire you to give it a try and not be intimidated to attempt reupholstering. I have never tried it before, and when I scored this chair at an antique/vintage shop, I didn't love the fabric, although there was nothing wrong with it. After giving it some thought I didn't see why I couldn't just go over the existing fabric with the new fabric. So that was my plan, and the only thing I will tell you is that you must buy or rent a pneumatic stapler that gets powered from being attached by a curly stretchy cord to a small compressor. This nailer/stapler will shoot the staples into the hardest of wood with barely a squeeze of the trigger. The staples are tiny and I used a 3/8" size staple for this project. A regular stapler will not work. For fabric, I ordered 7 yards of a toile (note: this was plenty of fabric for both pieces) which I figured was going to be very easy to use, pattern wise. Stripes and checks would likely be harder as you have to kind of pay attention to matching the pattern when you put it on the adjoining sections of the chair. This chair would be kind of easy to do because its parts were all like little islands that would have their own pieces of fabrics stapled onto the independent sections. So here we go~lets get this thing upholstered! Here is the chair, and is shown after I took the seat cushion off of the chair. This is a photo of the compressor and the nail gun. It plugs into any household outlet. You will see Colby in a lot of these photos as he was relentlessly watching and sniffing around as I did the project. When I bought the chair, it had never been finished with the cording or trim that would normally have been attached to hide the staples. This was what really inspired me to think about just stapling more fabric on top of the existing fabric. See the tiny staples? They are all along the border of the fabric. I will leave them there and just lay some fabric over it and do the same thing. But I decided to start on a less conspicuous area in case it was harder than I predicted. If you have a chair that you want to do this to that does have the cording or trim covering the staples, then pull it off and remove it using pliers or just pull it off. Then you will be able to start at the same point that I did on this tutorial. I cut a piece of the toile and laid it over the side panel of the chair. Then I put in a staple at the middle of the top and bottom, and left and right borders to center and anchor the fabric. Then I just started firing staples in a row a few to the left, a few to the right, a few up and a few down... Give yourself a few extra inches of fabric all the way around so you won't be short. This was my first panel that I stapled and one side was very close to the edge, and it was too close to comfort. I cut the rest of the pieces a bit larger after that. Here you can see the staple gun nose hitting the fabric. I can feel the wood border of the chair frame and by running my finger over the fabric, I can feel where to fire in a staple. After putting in the staples, which are side by side, you will trim off the excess fabric as close as you can to the staples themselves. I started off using scissors to trim, but switched to a straight edge razor to get a close trim job. And just like that, the first panel was done, and it only took about ten minutes! See how the fabric is trimmed very close? Its a bit ragged looking but this will all be covered with a decorative flat braid called gimp, which will be applied with glue. The fabric is nice and smooth and held in place by one million staples on the edges. Now that I am feeling confident, I cut a piece of fabric for the center back. I wanted the toile pattern to be featured on the back, so I cut it out accordingly. Solid fabrics would be the most simple to do of course. I fired in a staple at the North South East and West points on the border and then worked out from there. Here you can see there are more staples along the sides than there are at the top and the bottom. I did the sides a bit more, next did the top border and then finished the bottom border along the chair frame. After all is stapled along the edge of the frame, you trim off the excess with your razor or scissors. I laid the chair on its back on top of an ottoman so I could work on it with ease. I had a few tools on the table, which I didn't need to use often. A needle nose plier helped pull out any staple that didn't go in all the way, or bounced back leaving a sharp end exposed. I also had a tiny tack hammer to pound in any staples that didn't go in as far as they should have. I did the small area on top of the arm, which was super fast. Then I did the inside panel. See how the fabric is just laid over the arm? I am deciding where to trim it so get the pattern where I want it. Then I started stapling the borders. I recommend putting a staple in at the top and bottom borders to anchor the pattern, and then again on the left and right sides if it applies. After that you can quickly just start stapling the rest of the border until finished, with your staples side by side. For this area in the "armpit of the chair" where the joint meets and you don't see a wood frame, feel in the area with your fingers to see where the wood frame is hidden in the recess. Then push your fabric into the crevice, but turn an inch or so back on the fabric (look at next photo) and shoot a staple in there. Easy peasy! Anything that seems to make sense is probably sensible, so I followed my gut on reupholstering this chair whenever anything wasn't clear as a bell. Some areas that wouldn't have gimp trim will need you to give it a finished edge, and you can do this by simply folding the edge of the fabric underneath before you staple it in place. Then continue stapling... Then trim off the excess. See the pink fabric underneath? Its going to be ok, because that will be hidden with the decorative gimp trim. Sometimes I used scissors, sometimes the razor, to trim the fabric. Woohoo! Look how fast this thing was getting done! It really was moving along quickly. I finished all the little panels and now I had to deal with how to upholster the decking area. The decking is the area that is hidden under the seat cushion, but then there was the part that was upholstered and attached to the frame. I made a three section piece of fabric to fit this area, and I would say that this was the most difficult part of the project, as it involved the sewing machine and doing some fitting. I will try to explain it as best I can to you. I know how to make slipcovers and so the technique here uses some of that know-how. Lay the fabric ( I kept mine on the bolt so it wouldn't wrinkle) across the front part of the chair, and in doing so, I knew I could cut a piece straight across that would fit from where the arms join the deck to the front of the chair where the fabric gets attached to the frame. Each chair will be different and you will have to devise your own home made pattern to how to cover your decking area. After cutting a length of fabric, I turned it face down and got my pin cushion and created darts at the right and left hand edges/corners of the chair. A dart is just making a triangle to take up the extra fabric so you can turn the corner with ease. This is a dart. I pinned from the corners to the edge of the fabric and it got wider as it moved away from the corner. Colby was in the mix all along the way, so if you see Mr. Pumpkin Head chewy toy in my shots, that is why. This was the right hand dart I made to fit the fabric to the edge of the chair. Here are both darts pinned. Just pin up the excess fabric and then repin it if you feel it doesn't seem to fit correctly. This is something I learned to do in junior high school sewing class making simple clothing, like A-line skirts. Don't get scared at this part, just try it, and retry it and then check it by flipping it over and putting back over the front of the chair. I flipped it right side over to see how it would look. I was seeing if my darts had taken up enough of the fabric to fit snuggly but not too tightly. Remember we will be stapling the front area and if the darts aren't taking up enough fabric you will have extra fabric to staple, which you want to try to avoid because it can look bunched up. Ok, my fabric fits pretty good, after I did this check, so now I take it off and bring it to my sewing machine and stitch a line right where I put all my pins on the dart. This is the stitched up dart. Now cut off the triangle of fabric that was created when you stitched the line. Leave yourself about 3/8" or 1/2" of fabric so you can iron it out flat. Cut the fabric and then make a small cut to the point in between the seam so you can iron it flat. I stitched both darts, trimmed them and ironed them and then put the piece back on the chair to see if it fit nicely. Nice enough! You can see there is excess fabric on all sides of this piece. That is good. All we were trying to do was to get this piece fitted over the front area of the chair. See how it drapes over the "knees" of the chair? Very good. And see how ragged the top edge of the fabric is now that the darts were added? I will trim this off in a straight line, and this doesn't have to be perfect. Just trim it up kind of straight. I left it in place, and trimmed it out straight. The sides are still just loose with lots of extra fabric hanging off the sides. Ignore these for now. See the white fabric on the existing decking area that shows the manufacturers label? Well we are now going to cut a piece of fabric for that area. You can use a piece of lining or other fabric if you want to save your good fabric, but I am just going to use the same toile fabric as I had plenty of it. I cut a large enough rectangle and pinned it to the decking front piece with darts. Put your fabric right sides together and then pin in place. This piece of fabric you are sewing onto the front edge fabric has to cover the white area you see, plus have enough to tuck into the crevices. I flipped back the second piece of fabric that is now pinned in place to the front fabric. I will only sew the one pinned edge (which is the edge we trimmed straight with our scissors). I stitched it at the machine then ironed the seam flat, then brought it back to the chair and laid it in place. The fabric has plenty to get tucked into crevices on the left and right. In the back I will trim it straight across to attach the third piece of our 3 piece decking pattern. Two down, one to go!! We are almost finished with this part! The last piece of the three piece pattern will need to be cut to come out through the chair back and get stapled onto the bottom back side of the chair frame. This chair has a space on the bottom area. Assess your chair and then look at where the existing upholstery is stapled, or just folded or stitched. It is kind of like a blue print for what you have to do to your own chair. Not all chairs are going to be the same, and remember, this is the FIRST time I have done this. But fearlessly I plunge ahead, as I can sniff the finish line!! I measure roughly and cut a rectangle of fabric for my third and last piece of the decking area. Above you can see the seam line where it was stitched and then ironed open in a flat position. You want to iron all seams because it will lay flatter and look more professional. You can also see the left and the right raw edges of the second piece of our pattern, just laying on the chair. It is all still getting fitted, nothing has been stapled yet. We are making the pattern and fitting it before we staple in place. After the third piece is attached, I laid it all out and fit it at the "knees" (the front corners where the legs are, by placing the darts over each knee. Then I took a flat wood spoon (or spatula) and I shoved the fabric through the very small opening so it would fall out over the backside of the bottom of the chair. That is the area where the third piece of fabric will be covering the upholstery. Now the back end of the decking fabric is seen over the bottom area of the chair. I fold under the raw edge, about an inch or two to prepare it to be stapled onto the bottom of the back frame. Now move to the front of the decking and start stapling there, saving the rear back part for last. The left and right sides of the crevices (the interior upholstery cracks where sides meet the seat) parts of the fabric are still sitting on top of the decking. That is ok. Lets just start stapling the front along the frame and get the corners stapled around the knees. Then we will deal with crevices after that. Staple from the center out a few staples in each direction. Then move to the right corner and smooth it out and add a staple and do the left side as well. There will be a little excess fabric at the corners and you will make a nice little fold, one on each side of the knee and staple in place. Watch how to do this part. As you come around the front corner, turn the fabric back on itself to create a finished edge, as there are no staples adding along the area where the base of the arm frame meets the front corner. All you have to do is EXAMINE your chair for staples, and add them where you see the old upholsterer added them. COPY what you see! I always imagine what the next couple of steps will be, before I add staples, so that way I don't have to pull any out to start over. The fabric above is just folded and laying close as it can to the arm frame. Now I will add my staples to the bottom of the frame, and this folded fabric edge will be held in place by tension. The left corner is all stapled in tightly, and you can see there is a little tuck of fabric on each side of the corner/knee area, which is where I took up the excess fabric. (Note that there are no staples on the left folded piece of fabric, and the fabric is held in place nicely without them.) See the little pleats around the knee that is created by folding extra fabric and stapling it in place? You will see this a lot in upholstered pieces. After stapling the bottom, I trimmed off the excess. Now I am going to fold under the edges of the crevice fabric pieces and then take my flat wooden spoon and shove it deep into the crevices! Look how good the chair looks already! At the very back that third piece of the decking pattern has been pushed out and is dangling off the back. You can see the gap between the frame. But the next step is to fold under the edge of each crevice fabric and shove in deeply then anchor with a few staples. Look how smoothly the front of the chair is looking! Don't worry about the raggy threads we can clean it up later when we apply the gimp. Colby was really starting to put his foot down...he wanted me to pay attention to him, right when I was trying to finish the decking inside edges. So I didn't take a pic of it cuz I had to shove the fabric in with the flat spoon and staple it before he could stop me. Just insert the fabric in the crevice as tightly and smoothly as you can, and try to have the raw edge turned under when you shove the nail gun deep into the recess of the crevice. At this point I had to take a break, because someone wasn't happy. He really wasn't happy. Enough was enough. Haha. Anyway, the chair is just about finished. I did the back side and stapled that third and last piece of the decking pattern onto the back frame and trimmed it. For the cushion, I cut out a slipcover style pattern, as most cushions are not upholstered, as much as they have slipcovers with zippers. I stitched that up at the end of the day and then I made a ruffled slipcover for the matching ottoman. The reason I made the slipcover was two fold. Number one, the ottoman had a cushion attached to the base and I couldn't figure out how to staple it on without taking the entire thing apart, and removing the existing pink fabric. With a slipcover I could just fit it over the shaped ottoman and if I added a ruffle it would still expose the curvy legs. The second part is that I can launder it if needed, and that is where Colby usually sits when I am on this chair. I made small pleats along the edge of the ottoman slipcover to give it feminine dressmaker details. I will add to this tutorial when I add the gimp, but that won't be for a week or two... I have to say that reupholstering was way more easy doing it this way, and I think if you aren't a total perfectionist, you would be thrilled with the results. By the way, this took me one full day, but I did it in two, because of my puppy Colby. I love how it came out, and if you have a chair in good shape, then maybe this method will work for you too. Oh, and for those interested, the name and brand of the fabric is Covington, Bosphorous, in Flax. Read PART TWO Here.
Materials: - Old piece of furniture - butter knife (totally professional tool I know - but it works!) - flat-head screw driver - pliers - staple gun - hammer - sewing machine - regular and zipper foot - seam ripper - upholstery fabric - plastic piping - iron I'm not a pro at this by any means (in fact this was my first attempt), but here's what worked: The basic rule of thumb is that you work one section at a time, take off the old fabric in whole pieces, then use those pieces as a pattern for your new pieces. Pay attention to how things come off - because you'll put the new pieces back on the same way. 1) Remove Staples: Starting from the bottom of the furniture, remove the staples using your butter knife, flat-head screw driver, and pliers (safety goggles are a good idea). Remove bottom covering (keep aside until later), and release the rest of the fabric from the bottom of the furniture frame. 2) Remove Fabric Section: In this case I began by loosening the side sections and removed the back piece of fabric from the chair frame (put aside with metal stretchers), and then removed the lower-front section of fabric, saving any pieces of piping that also had to come off. If any piece is sewn directly onto the furniture, you may need a seam ripper to release it. 3) Iron Out Old Fabric Section & Trace: Once I had the fabric piece removed I ironed it flat, and then traced it out exactly onto my new fabric. Cut out new fabric piece. (If you're using patterned fabric - make sure you have your piece in line with the direction of the fabric pattern before cutting it out) 4) Attach New Fabric Piece: Place new fabric piece on furniture frame in place of the old one and sew/ staple to frame in the same manner as the old one. 5) Repeat with other sections:After replacing the lower-front piece, I worked on the sides next. In this case the side pieces consisted of 1 whole jacket composed of several pieces sewn together. I removed the entire jacket and used my seam-ripper to detatch the pieces from one another. Then I ironed each piece out, traced it out onto my new fabric, sewed them back together in the same way, replaced the jacket onto the side of the chair and stapled into position on the frame. ************************************************** Piping: To make piping: 1) Remove plastic piping from old fabric sleeve (if piping cannot be re-used, cut a new piece of piping to the same size). 2) Cut a piece of new fabric long and wide enough to make a new sleeve for the piece of piping. Fold in half lengthwise and iron to crease. Sew sleeve just narrow enough to fit piping snuggly. 3) Insert piping. 4) Sandwich between right sides of fabric pieces with piping on the inside - raw edge to the outside and pin in place. 5) Sew pieces together using a zipper-foot on your sewing machine. ********************************************************* After I completed the sides, I repeated the process with the upper-front section, and then the back piece. ************************************************************* Using Fabric Stretchers: Again the rule here is put it back on the way it was, so take careful note when you pull it off. Position fabric stretchers on back side of fabric pointy side down, and poke through material. Fold fabric over, position on frame firmly (right side up) and hammer in, stretching fabric across the back. *********************************************************** 6) Replace Bottom Covering: Staple bottom covering onto furniture frame the way it was - tucking in any loose ends. 7) Enjoy your "new" furniture! If you liked this post - check out this one too for more details and better pictures on the reupholstering process: HOW TO RE-UPHOLSTER A SOFA You might also be interested in: How to Re-Upholster Furniture with Deep Folded Tufts
Over the last year or so, I have learned a lot about upholstery. I thought that a few things that I have learned may help some of you DIYers out there, so here you go!All
I don't exactly have $$ to buy the couch of my dreams, but lucky for me, my husband and I were able to reupholster this beauty. We found a living room set that included a large sofa, love seat, chair and a half, and an ottoman for $50. Engineer hubby and I totally transformed the sofa AND an ottoman for $200 (ottoman will be coming soon). We are going to go through the steps of stripping the fabric off of the couch and reupholstering the couch. I promise you this is the same exact couch. This proves that almost anything can become something new. Use your imagination when finding the right couch. The diamond in the rough is usually really rough at first. So, look past dingy, pastel colored, floral fabrics and look at the general shape and structure of the piece to find the right candidate for reupholstering. Here are some things to consider when looking for the right couch: Step back and look at the couch to determine how many "sections" you will be reupholstering. The "visible" sections for my couch were arms, back of back rest, front of back rest, sides (under arms), front bottom, pillows, and cushions. There were two "hidden" sections which included under the couch and under the seat cushions. Typical upholstery fabric is sold on a large bolt that is about 54" wide. Knowing this may help you estimate how much fabric you will need per section. Cost to reupholster. A sofa can take anywhere between 12-20 yards of fabric depending on its size and shape. Keep that in mind when choosing fabric; things can get pricey. We used 16 yards on our couch. Is the structure sound? Can I reuse the tack strips or any upholstery hardware? Will the feet need to be replaced or renovated? Are the foam cushions worn out or do they have plenty of body left? Is this couch more comfortable than a $200 couch I could buy new? Will any odors remain once the fabric and batting have been removed? Our couch was easy to reupholster because the seat cushions and the pillows were detached. I imagine it would be harder to reupholster a couch that had cushions and pillows sewn onto the body of the couch, but I'm sure it can be done with a little determination. Couch Heavy Duty Upholstery Fabric Inexpensive fabric to use in "unseen" places, i.e. muslin Staples Cereal Box Cardboard (we will explain later) Batting Spray Glue Zippers, thread, or anything else needed to sew cushion covers Any replacement items for worn out material, i.e. foam or feet Pliers Staple Gun Hammer Sewing Machine Fabric Scissors Measuring Tape Any other job specific tools We went to Home Fabric in Orem, Utah to find our fabric. Here's the criteria we used to find the right fabric... No continuous pattern. Patterns, such as stripes, can be difficult to line up during reupholstering and may require more material to make patterns align. Fabric with a sturdy weave. This may go without saying, but make sure to get a durable fabric that is meant for furniture if you want your legacy to last. How much? Remember the sections I talked about? Measure the length of each section and add a few inches extra on each end so you have enough fabric to work with. It would be bad to not have enough, so measure a little generously. We didn't have to worry about the width since 54" wide fabric fit each section on our couch perfectly. As I mentioned above, we used 16 yards on our large sofa. Price point. We are on a budget and the fabric had to fit within that budget, so we didn't waste time looking at fabric above a certain price point. Our fabric was about $9 a yard. Unfortunately I didn't take a picture of the fabric on the sofa before is was ripped off. Hubby was anxious to get going and started ripping off fabric, batting, and foam, so to give you an idea of what it looked like with it's original fabric, here is the love seat. Here is the sofa all stripped down with the seat cushions and pillows set aside. Engineer hubby ripped off the fabric, the batting from the whole couch which he thought was holding in all the odors. He also removed the foam from the arms. When we realized that foam is really expensive, we salvaged the original foam and "Lysol-ed" it liberally ;) All that remained of the couch at the end of Step 4 was the wood structure, cardboard on the arms, springs, the blue mesh material covering the springs, foam (foam not pictured), and metal tack strips. In our case, the next step was to put the foam back on the arms. Foam only covered the front, sides, and tops of the arms. Sadly, I don't have a picture of this so just use your imagination. I did however attach a photo of a roll of foam you can purchase at your local Joanns. It's called High Density Urethane Foam 1"x24"x30". Remember, any staple dimples or irregular shapes in the foam may show through when you cover it with new batting and fabric, so use spray glue on the back and try to staple it nice and evenly on the edges. New batting stapled into place. You will notice some dimples caused by the staples, but these were not too sever and were easily smoothed out once the fabric was stretched over it. We used about 3 packages of 8oz batting that had been pre-cut for a queen size quilt. (10oz would have been better but it wasn't in stock). You can buy it at Walmart. Roughly cut it into pieces that cover each section of the couch. Sections meaning, front of arms, around each arm, front of couch, and back of couch. Just go for it, it doesn't have to be perfect. Under side of couch Notice the feet have been removed. Also notice all the yucky stuff that came out of the couch when it was stripped. Among the "treasure" was 75 cents, "the lost sock", cocoa puffs, the top hat from a Monopoly game, and much more. We first attached muslin over the seat cushion springs/base (see finished product below). Locate areas on the frame of the couch where you can staple the muslin. Cut muslin to fit. Be generous and give yourself plenty of fabric to work with. Use the cardboard trick, described two paragraphs below, along the front edge of the couch in order to hide staples and give a uniform edge. Fold the muslin over the stapled cardboard strip and tuck under the arm and back. Pull the muslin tight and staple to the frame. You will be working under the couch at this point in oder to staple the muslin to the frame. Drape a large piece of fabric over the arm of the couch and staple in the joint. Notice how we have a lot of extra fabric hanging off the front and back of the arm. That fabric will be folded into a fan later on. Use the cardboard trick to attach the fabric to the front of the couch. The cardboard makes it so you don't see any staples and you will see how. Place the fabric "right side" to the muslin and a couple inches away from the edge of the couch. Cut a few strips of cardboard (cereal boxes work great) about 1/2" wide and as long as the couch goes. Staple through the cardboard and the edge of the fabric into the wood frame. Flip the fabric over and you have a nice, clean, finished look for the front part of your couch. Staple the fabric to the bottom. Wrap and staple the fabric around the sides of the couch about 5 inches. Notice the front bottom piece. It is tightly secured with staples, no raw edges showing. The back fabric piece is just draped over the back for fun at this point; the next step is to work on the arms again. Arms. This is the trickiest part. Start from the outside of the arm and work your way up, around, and down creating small folds. Staple as you go; you can always pull the staples out and readjust. When you get close to the end, fold the fabric under to give it a clean finish and staple in place. Don't staple on the front of the couch, just pull the fabric tight and staple it in place on the sides of the couch. The fold at the bottom of the arm should cover the fold you made earlier on the front bottom piece. Trim away bulky fabric as needed. Notice where we stapled. All these staples will be covered by the side fabric piece. Move to the back of the arm and follow the same process creating a fan with the extra fabric. We applied a little bit of super glue behind the small fan folds to keep them in place. So far so good four months and three kids later! Here is an overview of what you will be doing to attach the side piece. Notice the order. First, use the cardboard trick to attach fabric under the arm curve. Second, staple fabric around the back of the couch and staple in place. Third, use a tack strip to secure fabric in place on opposite side. Here is a picture of a tack strip. This little strip of metal allows us to create a finished edge much like the cardboard trick. **Here is a closer view of how to attach the tack strip. Along the edge, push tack strip through the back of the fabric. Fold it over so that the back of the tack strip is against the back of the fabric. Hammer the fabric and tack strip into place along the side. Wrap and staple bottom edge of fabric onto the couch. This is what the side should look like finished. Attach fabric to the "front" of the back rest. Use cardboard trick to staple fabric in place along the top of the back frame. Flip fabric over to the front of the couch, pull it tight, tuck in bottom, and staple to frame. Make sure the "right side" of your fabric is showing once you flip it over. Fold under raw edges on the sides and staple to frame from behind the couch. Add back piece. Use the cardboard trick along to top of the back. Flip fabric over. Begin working on the bottom. Wrap bottom fabric under couch and staple. The staples under the couch will be covered by muslin later. Then work on the sides of the back piece using tack strips. All staples should be hidden. Here is a closer view of the back rest so you can see more clearly what we did and where we used the cardboard trick. Notice that the "front" back piece actually wraps over the top and down the back of the couch a few inches. Then the "back" back piece is stapled on top of the "front" back piece. Attach the muslin to the "unseen" underside of the couch. No need to make it look pretty. Just cut a piece to fit the bottom and just staple it on. Start on one side and work your way around. Then attach the feet. Here are the feet Engineer Hubby designed and made since we didn't like the original feet. We really liked the blonde look, but you could always stain them. We added the center block for extra support. Wrap cushions in new batting as pictured. Use spray glue to secure the batting to the foam cushion. Make a cushion cover. I used THIS tutorial. Make Pillow Covers. I made simple envelope pillow covers so I didn't have to sew on a zipper. I used THIS tutorial. I didn't want the corners of my pillows to poke out, so I just sewed them down into the form. All done! I promise this look isn't too hard to achieve. Just have patience and always over estimate on your fabric so you have enough. Stephanie & Engineer Hubby
I just reupholstered my thrift store chair again. (It's going in the room I've been working on, and it needed a fresh new 'do.) I've done several upholstery tutorials on the blog, and there are several FAQ's I get with every tutorial. They're the same questions I had when I first started playing around with upholstery, so today I thought I would share a few tricks I've learned along the way and answer one of your most frequently asked questions. First, let's check out the latest chair makeover. Remember this guy? The chair with the hot bod stuck in the old-man-recliner-fabric? This will officially be the third time I've reupholstered this chair (see here and here) and hopefully the last. I chose a green and white Waverly fabric from Joann's, and I cannot wait to show you how amazing it looks in the room it's going in. I think it's quite the improvement! And when my math skills failed me and I ran out of material for the back panel, I decided to chop up an embroidered pillow cover and use it for the back. It sits against a wall, so it will probably never be seen anyways, but I kinda love the way it turned out. So, let's talk upholstery tips. One of the most frequently asked questions I get is 'How do I make corners?'. It took me a little trial and error to really figure out how to make a great corner. Since a botched corner can totally make or break your DIY upholstery job, it's a handy skill to have. Here's how I do my corners. I have no idea if this is the right way, but it works and it's easy. The first thing I do once I have my fabric cut to size and positioned on the chair correctly is to staple the fabric around the top of the leg and trim the fabric underneath the staple afterwards. Next, I cut off the corner, leaving about 1-2 inches. Then, push the fabric inward and create a pocket. Once the fabric is tucked all the way inside and you have what looks like a seam, hotglue it closed. (Obviously, if you sew, you would sew this cover. But as we all know, I love glue.) Then, hotglue your trim or piping around the leg. This covers up the staples and any other little imperfections. I used two strips of trim. 'Cause I'm crazy like that. And there ya have it.... a neat little corner on your freshly upholstered chair! So tell me...What other upholstery questions do you have? Feel free to leave them in the comment section below and I'll try to include them in my next upholstery post. Don't forget to pin this lil' feller so you can find it later! :) That's all for today! 'Til next time! Follow my blog with Subscribe to LiveLoveDIY with email! Enter your email address: -->
Don't be scared of having a go at recovering that old armchair. If you take it slow and steady it's not as scary as you think!
I just reupholstered my thrift store chair again. (It's going in the room I've been working on, and it needed a fresh new 'do.) I've done several upholstery tutorials on the blog, and there are several FAQ's I get with every tutorial. They're the same questions I had when I first started playing around with upholstery, so today I thought I would share a few tricks I've learned along the way and answer one of your most frequently asked questions. First, let's check out the latest chair makeover. Remember this guy? The chair with the hot bod stuck in the old-man-recliner-fabric? This will officially be the third time I've reupholstered this chair (see here and here) and hopefully the last. I chose a green and white Waverly fabric from Joann's, and I cannot wait to show you how amazing it looks in the room it's going in. I think it's quite the improvement! And when my math skills failed me and I ran out of material for the back panel, I decided to chop up an embroidered pillow cover and use it for the back. It sits against a wall, so it will probably never be seen anyways, but I kinda love the way it turned out. So, let's talk upholstery tips. One of the most frequently asked questions I get is 'How do I make corners?'. It took me a little trial and error to really figure out how to make a great corner. Since a botched corner can totally make or break your DIY upholstery job, it's a handy skill to have. Here's how I do my corners. I have no idea if this is the right way, but it works and it's easy. The first thing I do once I have my fabric cut to size and positioned on the chair correctly is to staple the fabric around the top of the leg and trim the fabric underneath the staple afterwards. Next, I cut off the corner, leaving about 1-2 inches. Then, push the fabric inward and create a pocket. Once the fabric is tucked all the way inside and you have what looks like a seam, hotglue it closed. (Obviously, if you sew, you would sew this cover. But as we all know, I love glue.) Then, hotglue your trim or piping around the leg. This covers up the staples and any other little imperfections. I used two strips of trim. 'Cause I'm crazy like that. And there ya have it.... a neat little corner on your freshly upholstered chair! So tell me...What other upholstery questions do you have? Feel free to leave them in the comment section below and I'll try to include them in my next upholstery post. Don't forget to pin this lil' feller so you can find it later! :) That's all for today! 'Til next time! Follow my blog with Subscribe to LiveLoveDIY with email! Enter your email address: -->
I promised a few upholstery tips and tricks and when I promise something, I deliver {except that most of the time it takes a few more days than I originally planned}. Ok, let’s be honest,
With basic sewing skills, you can master these common upholstery techniques.
With basic sewing skills, you can master these common upholstery techniques.
With basic sewing skills, you can master these common upholstery techniques.
Learn how to reupholster a chair with these basic techniques that give your furniture a fresh look.
With basic sewing skills, you can master these common upholstery techniques.
Figuring out how much fabric you need for a project is key to a polished finished product, since you can't always buy more mid-process. Upholsterers share their tips, advice, and formulas for calculating how much fabric you'll use on everything from a simple curtain to a pieced quilt.
Don't be scared of having a go at recovering that old armchair. If you take it slow and steady it's not as scary as you think!
Recently while thrift store shopping, I came across the cutest little chair for five dollars. After a little DIY upholstery work, it turned out even cuter. Here's how the chair looked when I first brought it home. It was a dark, scratched up wood and the seat cover was covered in a strawberry print. Pretty much awesome. Strawberries or not, I thought it had the sweetest little shape and I loved the detail on the wooden frame. I decided to paint the frame a light blue and recover the cushion. I used a $6 tablecloth for the seat cushion fabric. It was a heavy duty canvas cloth and was a much cheaper option than paying $40/yd for normal upholstery fabric. (See my tips on choosing a print here.) Here's how this cute little chair turned out. I trimmed the seat cushion with silver nailheads to add a little extra glam! Where do you think I should use this cute little chair? I'm thinking maybe the bedroom office/sitting room. Now, let's go through reupholstering a seat cushion step by step. It's so easy and truly anyone can do it. Here are the supplies you'll need. First, flip the chair upside down and use a screwdriver to unscrew the seat cushion from the frame. Then haul the frame outside. Now it's time to paint. Here are my 6 easy steps to painting the perfect chair. 1. Lightly sand (use 150 grit sandpaper). 2. Use Spray Primer to coat the entire chair. (This will keep the wood stain from seeping through your paint, and will make the paint stick to the chair. I love using spray primer on chairs because it's so quick!) 3. Lightly sand when dry (use 150 or 220 grit sandpaper). 4. Paint 2 coats of your chosen paint (sanding between coats). 5. When dry, do final light sanding to get the smoothest finish. (220 grit). 6. Coat with your choice of either wax or varnish. (I used Blair Spray Varnish because it's quicker than brush on and it's durable enough for a chair. See more about how to choose a clear coat here.) For my paint color, I bought a sample of Behr Light French Gray. It's the perfect color of gray-blue and I've also used it here and here. Now that your chair frame is painted, it's time to reupholster the cushion. First, lay your cushion upside down on the underside of the fabric. Cut around the cushion, leaving roughly 4'' or more on each side. I like to make my cushions super-plush, so I chose to pull the stuffing out of an old pillow and put it between the cushion and the fabric. Next, fold your fabric over each side, pulling as tight as possible, and staple around the edges. For an in depth step by step on making corners, please see this post. Do this all the way around the cushion. After the cushion is upholstered, it's time to add the nail head trim. Simply hammer the nailheads in one by one in a straight line around the edge of the chair. And that's it! You have a brand new upholstered chair for a fraction of the cost! To see my top 10 favorite chairs I've redone, please visit this post. Don't forget to pin this post so you'll have this info when you need it! Follow my blog with Follow my blog on or or Subscribe to LiveLoveDIY with email! Enter your email address: -->
With basic sewing skills, you can master these common upholstery techniques.
Ever wanted to learn how to DIY a French Tufted Mattress? Here’s how to make it happen in five (relatively) easy steps.
In my upholstering experience I have tackled a number of arm-chairs, several stools, a couple of headboards, and now most recently, a sofa. I haven't taken on a sofa in the past partly because the need just didn't arise, but also because the size of the project was a little daunting. Now that I've done it, I can say that it really isn't any more complicated than an arm-chair, but it is more work and more time, simply because it's bigger. Re-upholstering a sofa yourself has 2 great advantages: first, you can save yourself a ton of money, and second, you can customize your sofa exactly how you want it. It's also an environmentally friendly practice preventing many otherwise good pieces of furniture from ending up in a landfill - but the advantages really end there. It is a ton of tedious, exhausting work. Re-upholstering a sofa is really only going to be worth it if you really love the lines, shape and form of the sofa. Giving an old sofa new skin is going to make it look like new - but it's not going to change the shape or form of it, so if you're not totally in love with the shape of your sofa, don't bother. If you love the shape, but hate the skin - go for it! In my case, I was looking for a fairly simple, stream-lined sofa for my new living room. Square, but not chunky, mostly modern, but with just a dash of classic charm because that`s how I roll. Something in-between this Aiden sofa from Crate & Barrell that runs for around $2849.27: And the Margot, for $1423.99: One of the great advantages to living in this day in age is that everything in fashion and style has pretty much already been done (Gasp! Yes I said that). What we mostly see now is a regeneration of old ideas sometimes with a slightly new twist. This is great for re-using old furniture, because whatever style you are looking for you can look to pieces from the past and find just what you're looking for in the present. I was headed back to the 1960s. The decade of tumult and change, free-love, flower-power, and stream-lined, minimalist architecture and interior design. And so the hunt began. I scoured local thrift-shops looking for a 1960`s sofa. I didn`t care what it looked like on the outside, I was going to change that. What I was looking for was that beautifully simple, minimalist form. I finally found one and snatched it up right away for a whopping $35: It was well worn, but solid and heavy - usually an indication that you've got a good quality piece of furniture on your hands. My husband thought I was crazy when I brought it home, but I told him he just needed to relax and trust - I had a vision (that filled him with re-assurance). This is how I made it happen: TOOLS & MATERIALS: - Flat butter knife - Flat-head screw driver - Pliers - Hammer - Staple gun - Staples - Approx 6-8 yards of upholstery fabric (more for a sofa bigger than mine) - Sewing machine with heavy duty needle - Upholstery piping (if it is currently present on the sofa) - Upholstery thread - Screwdriver - Permanent marker Optional: (if needed) - Cotton batting - Fabric covered button kit & buttons - Waxed button cord - Large upholstery needle (for buttons) - Cushion zippers (if old ones can not be re-used) METHOD: (bare with me, this is a bit of a long process . . .) 1) Remove the bottom covering: Flip the sofa upside-down so you can access the bottom and take off the legs and accompanying hardware. If you are re-using the legs, put them and the hardware aside. Using in combination your butter knife, flat-head screwdriver and pliers, pull out all of the staples attaching the bottom covering to the bottom of the sofa. Remove the bottom covering and place it aside. Now is a good time to take a peak at the internal guts of your sofa and make sure everything is in good working order. In an older piece of furniture like mine, it is typical to find a mesh-work of burlap straps like this. These can fray and disintegrate over time, and may need to be patched, replaced or re-secured. It's also good to check for loose, bent, or rusted springs that may need attention. You'll also want to check on the condition of the wood frame and see how it's holding up. In my case, some of the original burlap straps had disintegrated, but I wasn't the first person to re-upholster this piece, and the last guy did a good job of repairing the damage which was still holding strong, so it didn't need much attention from me. 2) Release the fabric from around the bottom of the sofa: Pick out all the staples from the bottom of the sofa frame, releasing the existing upholstery fabric from around the bottom of the sofa: In the case of my particular sofa, I also had this pleated flange around the bottom of the sofa which had to be removed. This was purely a decorative piece that I didn't plan to add to my final product, so I just discarded it once I had it free from the rest of the sofa. If I did want a pleated flange on the final product, I would keep this piece and place it aside until all the rest of the sofa was finished. Staples hidden on the under-side of the flange. 3) Remove the back: Flip the sofa over onto it's front, placing the back face-up. Most likely, the back fabric will be held in place by 2 metal stretchers on either side of the back of the sofa, and a stapled card-board strip along the top. Slip your butter knife under the seam on one of the sides and gently lift up to release the stretcher. You will want to save and re-use these stretchers, so be careful not to bend them too much as you remove them. Once you have them removed, label them with a permanent marker and place them aside. Here is a video showing the process: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UXceGNAAVIo&feature=youtu.be Repeat the process on the other side of the back of the sofa. Peel back the back piece of fabric over the top of the sofa, revealing the cardboard strip stapled along the top: Pull out the staples, releasing the back piece of fabric. If you can, try to keep the cardboard strip intact and in good shape so you can re-use it later on. Label it and put it aside (if it does rip apart on you, you can make a new one out of thin, cereal-box cardboard). Label the back piece of fabric with your permanent marker and put it aside. 4) Open & remove outside of sofa arm: Turn the sofa up-right, and release the fabric from the outside of the sofa arm. In my case it was just like the back, and was held in place by a metal stretcher on the front side, and a stapled cardboard strip along the top. Release and remove the metal stretcher on the side the same way you did in the back. Then remove all of the staples from the cardboard strip along the top. Label the metal stretcher and cardboard strip and place aside. Label the removed piece of fabric and place aside. Repeat on the other side of the sofa. 5) Loosen front pieces: At this point I decided it was necessary to loosen the front pieces before I could continue on with the sides. I began by snipping the button threads in order to release the buttons, and then placed the removed materials to the side for later re-use. Buttons in front Buttons in back Next, I had to go into the back of the sofa and discover where the front pieces of fabric were secured, then release them by removing the staples holding the fabric in place: You may want to keep a vaccumm handy to clean out the interior of your sofa - yuck! 6) Remove bottom front piece: Remove the bottom front section of fabric from the sofa and use a seam-ripper to split the seams and separate the different pieces: 6) Create new fabric pieces: Iron the separated pieces flat, and place them right-side up on your new fabric, which should also be right-side up. Cut out the new pieces using the old pieces as a pattern (*Tip* sometimes the old pieces of fabric will have several snips in places used to help maneuver the fabric through the structure of the sofa. I will cut the most obvious ones to begin with, but hold off on the smaller, less significant ones until I am maneuvering the fabric into position on the sofa and then only cut them if I find it necessary) Sew the new pieces together exactly the same way the old ones were. In my case, I began by sewing the front corner pockets on the bottom piece of fabric: Find the corner. Pin the edges together right-side to right-side. Sew pinned edge. Turn the corner inside out. Next, pin and then sew the bottom piece of fabric to the seat fabric right-side to right-side: Before I could place the new fabric piece on this part of the sofa, I first had to deal with a padding issue that needed to be addressed. Because the original sofa had a bottom pleated flange the padding on the front of the sofa didn't extend all the way to the bottom of the frame. I didn't want to keep the flange, so I used layers of cotton batting to add more padding to the bottom of the frame until it was equal to the top: 7) Position new fabric piece onto sofa: With the padding issue addressed, I could move on and loosely position the new front piece onto the bottom of the sofa: First, I fit the corner pockets until they were snug: Then I began to tuck in the edges: Tuck the fabric in to the side of the sofa. Then I came around to the other side of the sofa arm, found the tucked edge of the fabric, pulled it though and secured it to the sofa frame with staples: Find the fabric on the other side and pull it through. Secure the fabric to the frame of the sofa with staples. Once the side of the fabric was secured, I continued along the back edge of the sofa: Tuck the fabric into the back. Find the fabric on the back side, and pull it through. Secure the fabric to the sofa frame with staples. When the back edge was secured, I moved on to tuck and secure the other side. Once the back and sides of the new fabric piece was secured to the sofa frame, I could flip the sofa over onto it's back and secure the front edge of the fabric: Staring on the side, I pulled the fabric tight and secured the edge with staples. Once the sides were done, I got started on the bottom, pulling it tight and stapling it in place all along the bottom edge. 8) Remove the remaining arm pieces: With the new bottom piece secured in place, I flipped the sofa right-side up again, and began to remove the remaining arm pieces on each side of the sofa. Label and place each piece of fabric to the side as you remove it: On a older sofa like this that uses organic cotton padding, peel the fabric away carefully so as not to disturb the padding. Once I opened the arm fully, I felt like the arm of the sofa could use a little more padding, so I decided to wrap it in cotton batting before putting the new fabric on: Place a large piece of cotton batting loosely over the arm of the sofa. Trim away the excess. Tuck the batting edges into the sofa. Trim and tuck until the cotton batting fits the arm. 9) Sew new arm covering and secure on sofa: With the extra padding placed on my sofa arm, I could get back to the business of creating a new fabric covering for it. Take the old piece and use a seam-ripper to separate any seams: Lay the old piece of fabric out flat (it's a good idea to iron it first), right-side up on top of your new fabric (which should also be right-side up), and cut the new piece of fabric using the old piece as a pattern: Sew the seams together on the new piece of the fabric the same way they existed on the old piece of fabric (in this case it was just the corner that needed to be sewn together). Lay out the corner. Pin the edges together right-side to right-side and sew. Turn the corner inside out. One you have your new fabric piece sewn you can position it onto the arm of the sofa: First, fit it loosely on the arm. Tuck the edge into the sofa and fit the corner. Find the tucked fabric edge on the other side of the arm, pull it through, and secure it to the wood frame with staples. With the new fabric on the inside of the arm secured, I found it easier to tip the sofa back onto it's back to work on the front part of the sofa arm. Fold, pull, and secure the under-side of the fabric to the front of the sofa frame, covering the stapled edge of the bottom piece. Fold the fabric over and pull it tight around the front of the arm. Secure the fabric to the frame with staples along the edge, being sure to pull it tight all the way along the front edge of the arm. Flip the sofa back to being right-side up again, and use the same process you just used on the front edge of the arm to secure the top edge of the fabric to the top edge of the arm on the frame. Fold in the corner and secure with staples. With the inside piece of the arm now secured, we can finish off the arm by replacing the outside piece. Find the old outside piece which you labeled and put aside earlier. Lay it out flat on your new fabric (both right-side up) and cut the new piece using the old piece as a pattern: Next, I like to press the edges in by and inch or so to give me a nice straight line to work with: Hold your new piece of fabric on the sofa arm and figure out just where it needs to be when finished: Ironed edges to the top and front. Holding the top edge in place, flip the fabric up over the top of the arm and tack it in place with just a couple of staples along the top edge. Hold top edge of fabric in place. Flip fabric over the top of the arm, and tack the underside of the fabric in place with a few staples along the top edge. Fold the fabric back over to check the position and make sure you have the piece where you want it (needs to cover all the staples from the piece on the top of the arm). If it's not quite right, pull out the tack staples and try again until you get it just right. Should look something like this: If the position is right, flip the fabric back over the top of the arm, and re-use the cardboard strip you pulled off earlier from this section of the sofa, and secure it with staples along the upper edge, using your ironed crease as a guide: Now that the top edge is finished, you can move on to the front edge. Find the metal stretcher you removed from this section of the sofa earlier, and re-insert it into the front edge of the fabric, placing the edge of the stretcher along the ironed crease in the fabric. Poke the spikes of the stretcher through the back side of the fabric so that they come through to the right-side of the fabric: Turn the edge over so that the spikes of the stretcher are now facing inward toward the sofa: You may want to trim the top corner slightly and fold it in underneath the stretcher. Pull the edge of the fabric with the stretcher to the front edge of the sofa frame and bang the spikes of the stretcher into the frame of the sofa with a hammer, securing the front edge of the piece: Pull the other side of the fabric around to the back of the sofa and secure it in place with staples: Flip the sofa onto it's back exposing the bottom, and pull the bottom edge of the fabric tightly around the bottom edge of the sofa and secure in place with staples: Repeat the process on the other side of the sofa for the other arm. 10) Remove the front of the sofa: Now that the bottom, and both arms of the sofa have been replaced and secured, you can get to work on the front. Peel away the fabric off of the front of the sofa being careful not to disturb the padding underneath too much, and set it to the side: Similar to the arms, once I had the fabric removed, I decided that the front could use just a little more padding, so using the same method as the arms, I wrapped it in cotton batting before proceeding: Loosely fit the cotton batting around the front and back of the sofa. Trim away the excess. Tuck in the edges of the batting wherever you can, as deeply as possible. Trim and fold the batting to fit. Tack the batting in place using only a few staples. Leave the bottom open. 11) Sew new front piece and secure on sofa: Use a seam-ripper to separate any seams and detach the pieces that make up the front piece of the sofa (including any piping used). Iron out the pieces, and lay them right-side up on top of the fabric which should also be right-side up. Use the old pieces as a pattern to cut the new pieces: Pin the new pieces together right-side to right-side, and sew them together the same way as the old piece. *A note here about piping:* In my other tutorial on upholstery I showed a different way to sew piping that is effective with plastic piping, but not so much with more flexible piping materials such as this cotton piping I ended up using on this project. For this type of piping I like to cut a strip of fabric the length I will need (I usually like to make it just a tad longer that what I need, because I'd rather be long than short) that is about 2" wide. Fold the material in half, over the piping, holding it in place with pins like so: Then sew down the length right next to the piping using a zipper-foot: Once the piping is sewn, I like to pin it around the edge of the piece of material that it is to border starting in the middle and working towards the ends. Once it's pinned, I will sew it in place using a zipper-foot before adding the joining piece of fabric: *Tip* Making a few small snips in the edge of the piping beneath the seam will help you to get around corners with greater ease. With the piping stitched to the main piece, I can then pin on the joining piece and sew the whole works together with my zipper-foot, getting as close to the piping as possible: Pin the joining piece of fabric to the main piece of fabric with the piping already attached right-side to right-side, and then sew it all together using a zipper-foot. Loosely fit the newly sewn front piece onto the front of the sofa, making sure the corners fit snugly: Tuck the side and bottom edges of the fabric deeply into the cracks of the sofa until it all fits nicely. Find the tucked edges of the fabric from the back of the sofa, pull them through, and secure them to the sofa frame with staples: Move to the back of the sofa. Pull the top edge of the fabric over the top edge of the sofa and secure to the sofa frame with staples. Fold in the corners and secure to the frame with staples. Pull the side edges around to the back of the sofa and secure to the frame with staples: 12) Replace buttons on front of sofa: This is optional as not all sofa's will have buttons on the front, or you may not want them. First of all you'll need to buy a fabric-covered button kit in the size you wish to use and enough fabric covered buttons for what you will need (available at any fabric store). Follow the instructions on the back of the kit to cover your buttons in the same fabric as your sofa: Once your buttons are finished, thread a very large and strong upholstery needle with a fairly long length of waxed button cord (ideally - but I used high tension fishing line which worked just as well). Poke your needle through the back of the sofa where the buttons were previously placed, keeping your needle as straight as possible (this might take a little muscle): Make sure the needle comes through the front in the right spot (if not try again). Pull the needle all the way through the sofa and thread it through the back of your fabric-covered button: Push the needle back through the front of the sofa to the back: Pull the needle all the way through the sofa. Pull both sides of the cord tightly and tie the cord around a secure object as tightly as possible (I just re-used these rolled up pieces of fabric that had been used before on the sofa). Pull the remaining end of the cord as tightly as possible and secure it to the sofa frame with a couple staples: Repeat the process for all of the buttons that you will need. 13) Create a new back piece and position on sofa: The back is going to go on exactly the same way as the outer side pieces, it's just a little bigger (use the pictures from the side for a visual reference). Find the back piece which you labeled and set aside earlier. Iron it flat and lay it out on top of your new fabric with both fabrics facing right-side up. Using the old piece as a pattern, cut the new piece. Iron in the top and side edges of the cut piece of fabric by about an inch or so, creating a crease. Check the piece to see if it fits the back of the sofa the way you want it (if not make the necessary adjustments). Holding the top edge in place, flip the rest of the fabric over the top edge of the couch and tack the underside of the top edge of the fabric to the sofa frame with a couple of staples along the edge. Fold the fabric back down to make sure it is positioned correctly. If it is, flip the fabric back over the top edge of the sofa and place the cardboard strip you previously removed from this section of the sofa back along the top edge of the fabric on the underside and secure it in place with staples using the ironed crease as a guide: Flip the fabric back down and on one side of the back, re-insert the metal stretcher you previously removed from this section of the sofa on the underside of the fabric with the spikes sticking through to the right-side, placing the edge of the metal stretcher along the ironed crease: Turn the edge over so that the stretcher spikes are facing inward toward the sofa (trim and fold in the top corner). Pull the fabric edge with the stretcher to the edge of the sofa where you want it, and pound the spikes into the sofa frame with a hammer: Repeat the process on the other side of the back of the sofa. Pull the bottom edge of the fabric over the bottom edge of the back of the sofa and secure to the frame with staples: 15) Replace the bottom covering & install the legs: Flip the sofa upside down, and replace the bottom covering you removed when you first started. Secure the bottom covering to the bottom of the sofa frame with staples (if the bottom covering is not in good enough condition to re-use, create a new one). Replace leg hardware on each of the corners of the bottom of the sofa frame and screw in the legs. Flip sofa right-side up. 16) Cushions: To create new cushion covers, remove one of the old cushion covers from the cushion and use a seam-ripper to separate all the seams and detach the pieces from one another. Iron the pieces out flat and lay them right-side up on top of your new fabric (which should also be right-side up). Use the old pieces as a pattern to cut the new pieces. Sew the new pieces together the same way as the old ones were, placing the new fabric pieces right-side to right-side. When finished, turn the cushion cover inside out, and replace the cushion. Check the fit, and make any necessary adjustments. Repeat the process to recover all your cushions (*Tip*: if all the cushions are the same, you don't need to rip apart every cushion cover. Just re-use the old pieces you've already ripped apart as a pattern to cut the appropriate number of pieces for all of the cushions). In my case, I went to remove the cushion from the old cover, and was completely shocked at what I found. The foam cushion was so old that it had literally disintegrated into a crumbly mess. Clearly, I wouldn't be able to re-use these cushions, so I ordered 3 pieces of new furniture foam the same size as the cushions, wrapped the new foam pieces in cotton batting, and created 3 new custom cushion covers by tracing the foam pieces (top, bottom, & sides) onto my new fabric, leaving a 1/2" seam allowance. Then I sewed these pieces together with a zipper in the back and voila! I had new cushions and new covers! 16) Place the cushions back on the sofa and CELEBRATE FINALLY BEING FINISHED!!!!! TOTAL COST: - 2nd hand couch: $35 - 6 meters of upholstery fabric: $60 - Upholstery thread: $6 - Fabric covered buttons: $6 - 4 Sofa legs (2nd hand): $1 - 3 new foam cushions: $60 - 3 meters cotton batting: $60 - Staples: $6 + $234.00 Every part of my body ached after finishing this project, and I felt like I couldn't use my hands for 2 days - but I got exactly what I wanted and saved anywhere from $1189.99-$2615.27! Worth it? Oh heck YES!!!! Liked this post? Check out: "How to Re-Upholster Furniture with Wood Parts" You might also be interested in: How To Re-Upholster Furniture with Deep, Folded Tufts
How to make over a piece of fabric upholstered furniture with chalk paint as an alternative to reupholstery.
Materials: - Old piece of furniture - butter knife (totally professional tool I know - but it works!) - flat-head screw driver - pliers - staple gun - hammer - sewing machine - regular and zipper foot - seam ripper - upholstery fabric - plastic piping - iron I'm not a pro at this by any means (in fact this was my first attempt), but here's what worked: The basic rule of thumb is that you work one section at a time, take off the old fabric in whole pieces, then use those pieces as a pattern for your new pieces. Pay attention to how things come off - because you'll put the new pieces back on the same way. 1) Remove Staples: Starting from the bottom of the furniture, remove the staples using your butter knife, flat-head screw driver, and pliers (safety goggles are a good idea). Remove bottom covering (keep aside until later), and release the rest of the fabric from the bottom of the furniture frame. 2) Remove Fabric Section: In this case I began by loosening the side sections and removed the back piece of fabric from the chair frame (put aside with metal stretchers), and then removed the lower-front section of fabric, saving any pieces of piping that also had to come off. If any piece is sewn directly onto the furniture, you may need a seam ripper to release it. 3) Iron Out Old Fabric Section & Trace: Once I had the fabric piece removed I ironed it flat, and then traced it out exactly onto my new fabric. Cut out new fabric piece. (If you're using patterned fabric - make sure you have your piece in line with the direction of the fabric pattern before cutting it out) 4) Attach New Fabric Piece: Place new fabric piece on furniture frame in place of the old one and sew/ staple to frame in the same manner as the old one. 5) Repeat with other sections:After replacing the lower-front piece, I worked on the sides next. In this case the side pieces consisted of 1 whole jacket composed of several pieces sewn together. I removed the entire jacket and used my seam-ripper to detatch the pieces from one another. Then I ironed each piece out, traced it out onto my new fabric, sewed them back together in the same way, replaced the jacket onto the side of the chair and stapled into position on the frame. ************************************************** Piping: To make piping: 1) Remove plastic piping from old fabric sleeve (if piping cannot be re-used, cut a new piece of piping to the same size). 2) Cut a piece of new fabric long and wide enough to make a new sleeve for the piece of piping. Fold in half lengthwise and iron to crease. Sew sleeve just narrow enough to fit piping snuggly. 3) Insert piping. 4) Sandwich between right sides of fabric pieces with piping on the inside - raw edge to the outside and pin in place. 5) Sew pieces together using a zipper-foot on your sewing machine. ********************************************************* After I completed the sides, I repeated the process with the upper-front section, and then the back piece. ************************************************************* Using Fabric Stretchers: Again the rule here is put it back on the way it was, so take careful note when you pull it off. Position fabric stretchers on back side of fabric pointy side down, and poke through material. Fold fabric over, position on frame firmly (right side up) and hammer in, stretching fabric across the back. *********************************************************** 6) Replace Bottom Covering: Staple bottom covering onto furniture frame the way it was - tucking in any loose ends. 7) Enjoy your "new" furniture! If you liked this post - check out this one too for more details and better pictures on the reupholstering process: HOW TO RE-UPHOLSTER A SOFA You might also be interested in: How to Re-Upholster Furniture with Deep Folded Tufts
Materials: - Old piece of furniture - butter knife (totally professional tool I know - but it works!) - flat-head screw driver - pliers - staple gun - hammer - sewing machine - regular and zipper foot - seam ripper - upholstery fabric - plastic piping - iron I'm not a pro at this by any means (in fact this was my first attempt), but here's what worked: The basic rule of thumb is that you work one section at a time, take off the old fabric in whole pieces, then use those pieces as a pattern for your new pieces. Pay attention to how things come off - because you'll put the new pieces back on the same way. 1) Remove Staples: Starting from the bottom of the furniture, remove the staples using your butter knife, flat-head screw driver, and pliers (safety goggles are a good idea). Remove bottom covering (keep aside until later), and release the rest of the fabric from the bottom of the furniture frame. 2) Remove Fabric Section: In this case I began by loosening the side sections and removed the back piece of fabric from the chair frame (put aside with metal stretchers), and then removed the lower-front section of fabric, saving any pieces of piping that also had to come off. If any piece is sewn directly onto the furniture, you may need a seam ripper to release it. 3) Iron Out Old Fabric Section & Trace: Once I had the fabric piece removed I ironed it flat, and then traced it out exactly onto my new fabric. Cut out new fabric piece. (If you're using patterned fabric - make sure you have your piece in line with the direction of the fabric pattern before cutting it out) 4) Attach New Fabric Piece: Place new fabric piece on furniture frame in place of the old one and sew/ staple to frame in the same manner as the old one. 5) Repeat with other sections:After replacing the lower-front piece, I worked on the sides next. In this case the side pieces consisted of 1 whole jacket composed of several pieces sewn together. I removed the entire jacket and used my seam-ripper to detatch the pieces from one another. Then I ironed each piece out, traced it out onto my new fabric, sewed them back together in the same way, replaced the jacket onto the side of the chair and stapled into position on the frame. ************************************************** Piping: To make piping: 1) Remove plastic piping from old fabric sleeve (if piping cannot be re-used, cut a new piece of piping to the same size). 2) Cut a piece of new fabric long and wide enough to make a new sleeve for the piece of piping. Fold in half lengthwise and iron to crease. Sew sleeve just narrow enough to fit piping snuggly. 3) Insert piping. 4) Sandwich between right sides of fabric pieces with piping on the inside - raw edge to the outside and pin in place. 5) Sew pieces together using a zipper-foot on your sewing machine. ********************************************************* After I completed the sides, I repeated the process with the upper-front section, and then the back piece. ************************************************************* Using Fabric Stretchers: Again the rule here is put it back on the way it was, so take careful note when you pull it off. Position fabric stretchers on back side of fabric pointy side down, and poke through material. Fold fabric over, position on frame firmly (right side up) and hammer in, stretching fabric across the back. *********************************************************** 6) Replace Bottom Covering: Staple bottom covering onto furniture frame the way it was - tucking in any loose ends. 7) Enjoy your "new" furniture! If you liked this post - check out this one too for more details and better pictures on the reupholstering process: HOW TO RE-UPHOLSTER A SOFA You might also be interested in: How to Re-Upholster Furniture with Deep Folded Tufts
We have all the instructions you need on how to reupholster a chair. Save big bucks over paying to have it done with these tutorials!
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With basic sewing skills, you can master these common upholstery techniques.
With basic sewing skills, you can master these common upholstery techniques.
