by Colette Georgii

Created on: July 23, 2008

Reupholstering a Couch

I have reupholstered a few couches. My first reupholster project was a beat up looking couch bed, one that pulls out into a full bed with a mattress inside. When opened however, the inside was in excellent shape and looked new. I bought the couch bed from a neighbor for $24. It has afforded many years of excellent use.

It had been chewed up by pets and was very worn, so what I did first was take off all the old upholstering material. It was either tacked in place with staples or tacks. So first I removed all the staples and tacks. Then I began removing the worn-out fabric from the arms, the cushions, and the back. (I just have a natural knack for sewing things and recreating things, so I didn't need instructions for this project. I probably inherited this ability from my uncle who was an upholsterer - I did inherit his sewing machine - an old singer treadle. I never watched him do his upholstering because he lived in Massachusetts and I lived in Pennsylvania).

So here are my instructions for reupholstering a couch:

1) As mentioned above, first remove all old upholstering material. The only tools you will need for this are a screwdriver to poke out the old staples, or the end of a hammer that takes out nails if there are tacks anywhere holding down the upholstering material. Also, in this phase, take notes, as to how it was done before. This can help with putting it back together.

2) Once you have removed all the old material, you are ready to begin.

3) Take off each piece carefully and in one piece, so you can either measure the pieces or make patterns of the pieces. Most times you can just cut to measurements, pieces of fabric to fit each part. But the cushions need to be sewn, so these measurements need to be exact. Also, if you are adding ribbing, you will need to sew fabric onto the ribbing and sew the ribbing in place.

4) Once you have all the pieces removed, measure them with the straight of the grain. That means measure them according to the way the selvage will run when buying new fabric. All pieces should be cut parallel to the selvage or with the straight of the grain, not the cross grain.

Measuring your pieces will help you determine approximately how much fabric you will need. It is always good to buy a little extra for extra throw pillows to match your couch or just to make sure there is enough.

You can also measure your couch before removing the fabric. Use a tape measure and measure all parts, and always with the straight

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