DIY Upholstery of Sofa & Love Seat
I have finally finished recovering my family room sofa & love seat. I had been researching and thinking about doing my own upholstery for a couple of years. After reading (books & online) and watching several videos, I decided to go for it.
My plan was to get started and see how it progressed. If it was too overwhelming, I was going to take it to a professional.
As it turned out, I was able to do it by myself. A professional upholsterer would have done a much better job, but it came out fine for me.
It took almost 4 months (working only 3 days a week) to complete both pieces. I kept a journal and it took about 120 hours total.
Thanks to information and inspiration from several GW members who do their own upholstery, I was able to get courageous and give this a try. I did an office chair first, before attempting these bigger pieces.
I hope this post will encourage others out there who have been thinking about trying their hand at upholstery.
My sofa & love seat are almost 19 years old. They are what might be described as high back pub style. I was very tired of looking at the bold plaid pattern. The kitchen and FR are open to each other.
After we had replaced the old counter top to granite, I felt the pattern in the granite was competing with the plaid.
The tools used were :
Singer Featherweight 221 (circa 1950's) with size 18 needle & upholstery thread
Maestri #7 Pro Electric stapler
Fine wire staples, 22 gauge, 3/8" #7
Staple remover (looks like a screw driver with a special pronged tip)
Needle nose pliers
Scissors
Camera for taking LOTS of pics during the removal of old fabric.
I had to purchase other things at a local Foam & Fabric Upholstery supply store like welting cord, metal tack strips, 1/2" cardboard strips, Dacron batting, nylon zipper & spray adhesive.
I only replaced 2 foam cushion inserts (on the love seat). I reused the original sofa cushion inserts and just replaced the Dacron around those.
After carefully removing the old fabric (while taking pictures & notes), I used those pieces as my pattern for cutting out the new fabric. The new fabric is a Herringbone pattern. I had to make sure the stripes were always running in the same direction. I chose the stripes to run vertically,
If I were to ever continue upholstery as a hobby, I would certainly buy a compressor and an air gun stapler. I think a smaller, lighter, air gun with a longer nose would have been helpful. I have been satisfied with the Maestri stapler and it has been able to do a decent job.
I'd like to give a special thank you to GW members who I have learned from. I have been reading your posts over the past 2 years and that has been informative as well as encouraging! There are many more of you, but these are some I had taken note of :
nicole_, circuspeanut, blubird, lindac, nanny2a, cliff_and_joann, mary_c, trancegemini, emagineer, my3dogs, mary_ruth, kaijutokusatsu, macybaby, ratherbesewing, CLBlakey.
Now that the plaid is gone, I feel a sense of calm. I'm looking forward to making the accent pillows and getting an area rug, too.
Before
After
Before
After
Comments (36)
chickadee2_gw
hosenemesis
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