Jen's Character Arc : Upholstery 101

As many of you know, a few months ago I purchased this old sofa on craigslist. The idea was that I was going to reupholster it then resell it for a profit.

That was when I was contemplating hiring an editor for my recent work in progress, (my novel). Everything is on hold for a bit while I am waiting on responses to submissions, so that means no professional edits for now.

After my sister and I finished the sofa, a friend of mine dropped by and told me, rather forcibly, that I needed to keep this sofa. It does fit in perfectly with my living room decor…. and who was I kidding, it was going to be imposable to part with the thing.

See, I had to keep it.

Many people have expressed interest in learning how to reupholster. It really isn't hard, at least the way I do it. I am self taught so this is just my way. I am sure if you asked a professional you would probably do a few things differently.

So, for those of you who would like to get your feet wet, here is what I recommend.

#1 Start with something free. If you don't have a lot of money invested into the project and it doesn't turn out it won't freak you out, though of course it is going to turn out awesome. I recommend doing that chair you contemplated throwing away, or bench, ottoman or sofa.

#2 Whether it's a chair or something large like a sofa, for your first time pick a simple piece. Avoid tufting, (only at first, I LOVE tufting), or something with a lot of trim work, pleating or piping .

#3 If you don't like to sew, or don't know how, find a nice friend or hire someone to cover the cushions. I have done both, but if I am good on budget I hiring it out. I can sew but I don't like messing with it.

#4 Buy fabric when you find it on sale. Fabric is EXPENSIVE. If you are not careful, it could cost you the same to recover a sofa as it does to buy a new one. Or, if you are careful it can cost you under $100.

#5 As far as fabric goes, your first time, pic a solid fabric that is sturdy and doesn't fray easily.

#6 for your first time go ahead and use a hand powered stapler, but if you want to continue, invest in an electric or air staple gun.

Now that you are ready, how do you get started?

#1 The removal. This is the part that I do not like. I don't care how nice the sofa was, when you take off the fabric it is going to be gross, dusting, yucky.

You can use a flat screwdriver and needle-nose-pliers to remove the staples or you can buy specialty tools for this at your local reupholster store. Wear gloves or you will cut up your hands. I have man hands so I no longer care.

Remove the legs and the underlining.
The back piece is next. Take a Sharpie and write the number 1 on the outer back. Then I label the top and bottom.
Next is the outer sides. Then I write two. On these pieces I label left and right, top and bottom.
I move on to the inner sides and back, then finally the bottom front. I continue to label the number in which I removed it.

So, why do I number the fabric? Well, I number it because when I reupholster, I do it in the opposite order of how I removed it. So lets say I numbered from 1-8, when I recover it I would start with number 8 first then go back to one.

Be very mindful as you remove the fabric, of how it was originally assembled. Every piece is different and so it will save you a lot of heart ache if you try to put it together the same way.

#2 The cut. I then use the nastily fabric that I have just removed as a template to cut the new fabric.

#3. The fun part. When stapling the new fabric on, make sure you pull the fabric extra tight because over time, like all fabric, it will relax.

Lastly, give yourself a break. You will see flaws, there will be flaws at first. BUT, most likely only you will see them.

Here are some pictures of my latest project. SO FUN!!!