the long awaited couch reupholstery (part 2)

continued from part one.

on my evenings and weekends from work, i managed to complete the rest of the project.

new fabric: i laid out my fabric on my living room floor and placed all the old upholstery pieces on top. i pinned them into place, and cut around them, creating a duplicate piece out of my new fabric. i labeled the new pieces with the labels from the originals. some of the old fabric was so worn that it needed to be thrown away. but, some has been salvaged by a friend, who wants to use it to make pillows for her couch and to reupholster a couple seats on wooden chairs. i approve of this fabric in small doses such as these. i don't think it will be so hideous in these amounts.

piping: i'd never made piping before this project. so, i called my aunt to find out why it was important that piping be made with bias cut fabric. really, what i wanted her to say was that it wasn't important at all, and that i wouldn't have to cut 20 feet of 2-inch bias strips (pain-in-the-butt!). but, she informed me that it was important for durability (longevity), and for flexibility (going around corners). so, i used bias-cut strips, and the previously salvaged piping cord, and made enough piping for my cushions and the arm-facings.

padding: i hadn't planned to re-pad the couch. but, when i removed the original fabric, the padding looked so old and thin - it needed some love. i happened to have a bag of quilt batting in the closet, so i added a layer of that to the arms and to the back of the couch.


cushion covers: these were, by far, the most challenging portion of the project. my cushions are box-shaped, so they are easier than some couch cushions - but sewing around corners and through several layers of thick fabric (top/bottom, side & piping) is challenging, even with the necessary zipper foot attachment. in addition, box cushion covers have zippers, and i think this was only the second (and third) time i'd ever installed a zipper. i really just used the original cushion cover as a guide. they turned out a bit uneven, with a few puckers - but you can't really tell once they're filled with foam and in place on the couch.


reconstruction: piece by piece, the couch was finally reupholstered. i used a craft-sized staple gun, and followed the order pictured by my library book. it was nice to have and extra set of hands for this part of the project. chris was able to pull the fabric tight into place for stapling. i was pretty sure there would be staples showing when it was done, because i hadn't thought of a better way. but, at the last minute i raided our stash of thumb tacks and used them as makeshift upholstery tacks. we carefully hammered them in, and we broke a couple in the process, but we had spares. someday, i'll replace them with real upholstery tacks, but for now - these look much better than visible staples.

and that's it!

in summary, here are my tips for your amateur reupholstery project
1. check your local library for upholstery books and find one that has a similar project to what you're planning
2. take digital pictures along the way to help you reconstruct your furniture
3. buy a bit more fabric than you think you'll need
4. reuse as many materials as you can (piping cord, foam , etc - it's already the perfect size/shape for your piece of furniture)
5. have an extra set of hands to help with the actual upholstery stuff - pulling fabric to the right tension for stapling. the extra set of eyes is also helpful to let you know if it looks too tight or too loose.
6. have spare sewing machine needles, and make sure they are heavy-duty ones for upholstery fabrics. i broke 2 or 3 needles during this project and had to run out to buy more.

the long awaited couch reupholstery (part 1)

i had big plans to reupholster my couch when i started this blog during my last bout of unemployment. however, i didn't accurately estimate the time it would take me to complete the project, and all i really did during my unemployment was the preliminary stuff: fabric shopping and deconstructing the old couch. these preliminary tasks happened in a couple days toward the end of my unemployment, and i didn't take the time to document them properly here, until now. so, here's part one of my couch reupholstery adventure.

the original couch: when chris and i moved into this apartment, the previous tenants had left a little couch. it certainly wasn't pretty, and it wasn't super-comfortable; but it was free and it was something else to sit on. the upholstery pattern was hideous, and it was worn, ripped, and frayed in so many spots, that even if it wasn't so hideous, something would have to be done about it. my mom and i created a slip cover for the couch, to cover its ugly and fraying upholstery. but, i eventually grew tired of constantly rearranging and fixing the displaced slip cover. so, i decided to attempt amateur reupholstery.

preparation: i googled a lot about upholstering a couch, and i didn't find much - just one useful blog from someone who had previously undertaken the amateur upholstery adventure. i also picked up a book from my local public library. this was a very helpful resource. i had little-to-no reupholstery experience. the only thing i'd ever done before was reupholster a weight bench with some pleather as a birthday gift for chris. but, that was really just a rectangular cushion, not too tough!

fabric shopping: halifax has a very limited selection of fabric stores. in turn, these fabric stores have a very limited selection of fabrics. i managed to find a denim-ish upholstery fabric at Atlantic Fabrics. it was pretty much the only thing i even remotely liked at the fabric store - the only thing that didn't feel so plastic or synthetic. it was nicely priced at $9.95 per metre. i had calculated i would need 4 metres (after measuring each pieces as per the book's instructions), but i bought 5 metres, just to be safe. the store was having a sale, so i spent just over $50 on the fabric and two spools of thread.

de-upholstery: it probably took me a good 4-6 hours to really pull off all the old upholstery fabric. i could have done it faster if i was more destructive, but i was trying to save each piece to use as a template for my new fabric. i starting removing staples, taking the outside back piece of fabric off first, and then removing whatever whole piece i could get to next. each piece i removed, i marked with a piece of paper pinned onto it, so i could remember where it belonged later. i also took digital pictures to help me with the reupholstery process. i'm very glad i did this - since the couch sat naked/unupholstered in my office for over a month before i began really reupholstering it.

i didn't purchase any special tools. i used some small needle-nose pliers and a slot-head screwdriver that i had on hand. in hindsight, a pair of light work-gloves would have been handy too. i definitely scraped and poked my hands with staples and pliers while pulling out the staples and pulling off the fabric. this was a VERY dusty job, and i kept the cordless vacuum handy at all times. inside the couch, among the dust bunnies, i also found a quarter, a pen, and a crochet hook - nothing too exciting unfortunately.

i took apart all the piping on the couch, and saved the cord to re-use to make piping with my fabric. i took apart one of the cushion covers to use for as a template (x2) for the new cushion covers. i left one cushion cover together to use as a construction example.

and that's where it stopped, for over a month. the couch and all my fabric sat in the office until i found some evening and weekend time during the month of july. i completed part two completely in my spare time from work.