How to reupholster a sofa?

If your old sofa or cheap chair is beginning to look rather shabby, it may be time to get it reupholstered. Furthermore, perhaps you have found your ideal style of sofa at a great price only to find that the upholstery doesn't match your curtains. Fortunately, most couch upholstery fabric can be changed easily. This article describes how to reupholster a sofa in a few simple steps.

Measure up

Take the measurements of the sofa from every conceivable angle. Calculate roughly how much material you will need to cover the whole sofa. Choose new fabric that will both suit the rest of the room's interior décor and is tough enough to stand up to the usual wear and tear.

Remove the existing material

Remove all the existing material that is covering the sofa. If you are reupholstering old furniture, take the opportunity to check the padding, the springs and the basic frame. If the springs appear loose, you can easily tighten them with a screwdriver. If the existing padding looks good then reuse it, if not you can simply recover it with some synthetic padding.

Trace an outline of the cushions

Stretch the new fabric out on the floor and lay the old cushions on top.Take a coloured pencil and trace around each cushion. Be sure to leave an extra inch on all sides of the outline. Now, cut the material with fabric scissors according to your markings. Refer to the measurements that you made of the sofa frame, and cut the material accordingly.

Attach the new fabric

Determine how the old fabric was attached to the sofa and use the same method for attaching the new material. The chances are that the old fabric will have been secured by staples. Therefore, you can use staples for the new fabric as well. Be sure to obtain a high-quality staple gun for the job. Then, simply add as many staple joints as you possibly can. Ensure that you stretch the fabric as you attach it in every conceivable place. Do this to the point where no wrinkles are visible. Nonetheless, make sure that it is not tight to the point that the material tears. Repeat this over the entire surface of the sofa until it is completely covered. Note: if the sofa has upholstery nails, it is still better to use staples for the job. This is because they are extremely difficult to put into place.

Make the cushion covers

Sew together all the pieces of cloth that you cut out for the cushions so that they fit the cushions snugly. It is best to use a sewing machine for this. Ideally, each cushion cover should be fitted with a zipper for easy removal, so they can be regularly cleaned.