Instead, I decided to re-fill the cushions with some Poly-fil. Most couches like mine have a “hidden” zipper at the bottom of each cushion. I simply ordered a 5 lb. box of Poly-fil from Amazon for about $20 and set to work. It took me approximately 20 minutes to stuff and squish each cushion back

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

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

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Learn how I reupholstered my old couch to give it new life in this step by step photo tutorial that only cost me $200!

Katso näistä linkeistä aikaisemmat postaukset: // Here are links to earlier posts: Introducing… my reupholstered retro sofa Reupholstering a sofa Part 1: Before reupholstering Ensimmäisessä osassa kerroin oman mielipiteeni siitä, mitä kannattaa ottaa huomioon jos aikoo verhoilla sohvan itse. Tässä osassa keskitytään enemmän itse verholuprojektiin. Lähdetään liikkeelle nitojasta. En missään tapauksessa lähtisi näin isoon projektiin pelkällä käsikäyttöisellä nitojalla, jonka voi ostaa muutamalla eurolla. Sillä pystyy kyllä tekemään pieniä projekteja, esimerkiksi tuolin istuimen verhoilun, mutta näin laajaan projektiin se on ihan liian työläs. Käsin painettava nitoja kipeyttää vahvemmankin käden aika nopeasti työkyvyttömäksi. Siksi näin isoon projektiin tarvitaan ehdottomasti paineilmakompressori ja siihen sopiva niittipyssy ja niitit. Itse lainasin paineilmakompressorin isältäni, mutta haaveilen kyllä ostavani joskus ikioman meille. Sitä voi käyttää niin moniin projekteihin! Ehkä sitten kun on enemmän harrastetilaa... Nitojan lisäksi kannattaa pitää lähellä myös niitinpoiston aikana käytetty lattapäinen ruuvimeisseli ja hyvät pihdit, sekä terävät sakset. // In the first part I explained what I think is important to consider before reupholstering something yourself. This part is more about the reupholstering itself. Let's start with the stapler. Never use a cheap hand stapler for a big project like this. It is fine for smaller projects like a chair seat cover, but in a project as big as this you'll only get really sore arms. I would recommend using a pneumatic stapler that uses compressed air. It's fast, easy and light to use. You'll also need a flathead screw driver, good pliers and sharp scissors. Verhoilukankaasta leikataan oikean kokoinen pala verhoiltavaan osaan nähden. Voit käyttää apuna sohvasta purettuja kankaan paloja, jotka on nimetty selkeästi. Itse käytin lisäksi kankaan alla levyvanua tuomaan lisäpehmeyttä. Jos käytät levyvanua, leikkaa se ensin suunnilleen oikean kokoiseksi ja aseta verhoiltavan osan päälle. Ammu yksi niitti yhden reunan keskelle ja sopivan jämäkästi pingottaen vastakkaisen puolen reunalle. Toista toisille sivuille. Ammu lisää niittejä noin 5-10 cm välein vaihdellen puolta, jotta kireys pysyy tasaisena. Kun kaikki reunat on niitattu, leikkaa ylijäävä vanu pois ja aseta verhoilukangas kohdilleen vanun päälle. Toista sama verhoilukankaan kanssa: niitti keskelle ja pingotus sopivan jämäkästi vastakkaiselta puolelta. Siistin reunan aikaansaamiseksi taita kankaan reuna kerran ennen nitomista. Niittaa ensin kaikki reunat noin 10cm välein ja lisää väleihin niittejä, kunnes niitä on noin 1- 0,5cm välein. Tarkastele kankaan pingotusta koko ajan. Kankaan pitäisi olla niin kireä, ettei siihen jää kädellä painaessa ryppyjä tai painaumia, mutta ei myöskään superkireä. // First you cut a right size piece from the upholstery fabric. You can use the original upholstery fabric pieces as a guide. I used batting under the fabric for extra softness. First put one stable to the center of one side. Tighten the batting from the other side and staple. Do the same for the other two sides. Attach the batting with a few staples 5-10cm or so apart, keeping the batting tight as you go. Cut the extra batting away. Staple the fabric like the batting. To get a clean edge, fold the fabric edge under before stapling. Add staples 5-10cm or so apart, keeping the fabric tight. Then fill the gaps, until there are staples 1-0,5 cm apart. Kulmista leikataan ensin ylimääräinen kangas pois ja niitataan kiinni. Kannattaa olla supervarovainen leikkausvaiheessa! Jos leikkaat liikaa, ei sitä pysty korjaamaan. Itsellä kävi melkein vahinko kun leikkasin yhdestä kulmasta vähän liikaa, mutta onneksi sain kyseisen kulman silti juuri ja juuri viimeisteltyä, niin ettei koko osan verhoilu mennyt pilalle. // Cut the extra fabric from the corners before stapling. Be super careful not to cut too much! If you cut too much, it's impossible to fix. This almost happened to me, yikes! Fortunately there was just enough fabric to fix my error. Viimeistellyn ilmeen kulmiin saa, kun avonaisen reunan ompelee käsin verhoiluneulan avulla kiinni piilo-ompeleella. Piilo-ommel tehdään pienillä pistoilla puolelta toiselle niin, että kun lanka kiristetään, pistot katoavat näkyvistä. Loistava keino saada viimeistelty ilme verhoiluun. // Use an invisible ladder stitch to finish the corners to get a more professional look. Sohvan kaikki isot osat verhoiltiin suunnilleen tällä samalla periaatteella. Käsinojissa olikin sitten enemmän haastetta. Käsinojat verhoilin aivan eri tavalla kuin alunperäisessä verhoilussa. Aluksi toivoin, että olisin voinut poistaa käsinojan ulkonevan palan kokonaan, mutta se olikin naulattu ja liimattu kiinni. Nyt olen tyytyväinen ettei niitä voinut irrottaa, sillä tykkään käsinoijien muodosta tosi paljon. Idea käsinojien verhoiluun lähti, kun löysin kuvan tästä sohvasta netistä: // I used this same principle to reupholster the other big pieces of the sofa. The armrests were a different story. I reupholstered the arms differently than they were originally. I got the idea when I saw this picture in the Internet: Ennen uudelleenverhoilua irroitin vanhan vaahtomuovin käsinojista, sillä siinä oli käsinojien verhoilunapeista syvät painaumat. Oli helpompaa irroittaa vanha vaahtomuovi ja käyttää uutta tilalla. Vaahtomuovin kiinnitin niittien avulla käsinojiin ja leikkasin puukolla ylimääräiset reunat pois. Päälle tuli vielä kerros levyvanua ennen verhoilukangasta. Vaahtomuovin voi liimata kiinni vaahtomuoville tarkoitetulla spray-liimalla, mutta en itse kokenut sitä tarpeelliseksi. // Before reupholstering the arms I removed the old foam from the arms. It had deep holes from the tufting buttons that were on the sofa arms before. I stapled the foam in place and used a knife to trim the extra away. You can also use glue, but I didn't find it necessary. I also added a layer of batting over the foam before the fabric. Käsinojissa ei ole ommeltu yhtään kangaspalaa ennen nitomista, vaan kaikki on kiinnitetty niiteillä paikalleen. Näyttää vaikealta, mutta on oikeastaan paljon helpompaa kuin osien ompeleminen yhteen ennen paikalleen kiinnittämistä. Pitää vain huomioida tarkkaan kankaan suunta ja että kangas pingottuu sopivasti. // You can see that nothing was sewed together, everything was attached with staples. It looks difficult but it's actually much easier than sewing the pieces together before stapling. You just need to pay attention on the direction and tension of the fabric. Kapeaa pahvista leikattua nauhaa voi käyttää apuna nitomiseen, kun kankaan reuna pitää kiinnittää, mutta niittejä ei saa näkyä. Kaarevan reunan kanssa kankaan suunnan kanssa piti olla tarkkana. // A narrow piece of upholstery cardboard helps to get a clean edge without the staples showing. I had to be careful with the direction of the fabric with the curved edge. Käsinojien auki jäävät etu- ja takaosa viimeistellään verhoilluilla paneeleilla, jotka voi tehdä itse. Niihin tarvitaan lattapäisiä pieniä nauloja, jotka painetaan pahvista leikatun muodon reunoihin, noin 1cm päästä reunasta ja noin 2-3cm välein. Naulankantojen päälle liimataan pala vanulevyä ja kangas, jossa on 1cm vara. Kankaan reuna taitetaan toiselle puolelle ja liimataan kuumaliimalla kiinni. Valmiit paneelit naputellaan varovasti kumivasaralla paikoilleen. // Upholstered panels are used to cover the exposed edges. You can make them yourself. You need flat head nails that are pushed through a right size cardboard shape every 2-3cm, about 1cm from the edge. Batting and fabric are glued over the nail head side. The edges of the fabric are folded and hot glued on the other side. The finished panels are carefully hammered in place with a rubber mallet. Kun kaikki valmiiksi verhoillut osat on kiinnitetty uudestaan kiinni toisiinsa, sohvan runko on valmis! Vielä siis jäljellä tyynyjen päällisten ompelu. Siitä tulee vielä yksi erillinen postaus. // When all the upholstered pieces are attached together, the sofa frame is finished! Next up: sewing the covers for the sofa pillows. I will make it into a separate post.

Inexpensive, DIY ideas for updating your old sofa when you can't afford to replace it. From easy 5-minute fixes to complete sofa makeovers.

Have you been wanting to know how to reupholster a couch but you didn't want to deal with the hassle of removing the old fabric? In this blog post, I’ll show you how! Keep reading for all the details! Is your old couch starting to show its age? Maybe the fabric is worn or stained,

With basic sewing skills, you can master these common upholstery techniques.

Learn how I reupholstered my old couch to give it new life in this step by step photo tutorial that only cost me $200!

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This tutorial will show you how to reupholster a sofa or couch. Including tips and tricks to save money on materials and reupholster a tufted sofa.

This tutorial will show you how to reupholster a sofa or couch. Including tips and tricks to save money on materials and reupholster a tufted sofa.

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

Make your slouchy sofa new again.

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

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