- 1). Preparation is the key to covering a couch successfully with new material. The most important step in reupholstering any piece of furniture is measuring. Do not purchase your fabric, and certainly do not cut it out, until you have measured, re-measured and then measured again. This is best done after you remove the existing fabric, but is also quite possible before removal. Just add a ½-inch seam allowance when measuring fabric before removing it. Use a fabric measuring tape that bends easily around curves. Make a small sketch of the basic shape of each piece, labeling it by location and including the measurements. Remove the old fabric from the couch very carefully, using a seam ripper to ease the stitches apart. Safety pin a label to each piece, describing the area the fabric was taken from. Surprisingly, the pieces are not easy to recognize once they are removed, making it possible to mix them up. If the fabric is layered, write down which layers came off first and which ones were closer to the frame. Keep each piece in good condition because you will use these as a pattern.
- 2). Determine how much fabric you require to complete your project. Purchase a few pieces of graph paper and draw your preliminary sketches to scale on the graph paper. Don't worry if you are not a graphic designer. The point is to determine the basic size for both width and length of each piece. Most upholstery fabrics are 60 inches wide, but some are only 54 inches wide. If you have not yet decided on the exact material to use, work up scale drawings for both these widths so you know how much to purchase when you get to a fabric store. You need to match the fabric design at the seams, so allow an additional yard for small prints and 2 yards for larger prints. If your couch has piping, buttons or other trim, add these to your shopping list and purchase them at the same time as the material, making sure all selections match or complement the fabric. In addition, you need heavy-duty thread and upholstery needles.
- 3). Organize the old pieces of upholstery that you removed from the sofa. Lay the old pieces out on your new fabric, according to your earlier drawing, being careful to lay them in the same direction. For instance, if the inside of your new fabric faces up, the inside of the old pieces should face up, too. Once they are aligned correctly, pin and cut. Allow ½ inch for each seam.
- 4). Use your sewing machine to combine the machine-stitched pieces first. Do the hand-stitching last. Follow the same steps in replacing the fabric that you did when taking it off. Tack fabric to the couch's frame after completing all stitching. Pull the fabric snug, but not so tight as to create ripples when tacking it down. Piping and buttons go on last.
previous post