Sew Special: Couch Reupholstery

After several years of slipcovers (remember this?) I finally decided to reupholster this curvy sofa. This is my second time completely reupholstering a piece of furniture. It was quite a bit easier than the last time. The most time consuming part for me was taking off all the old material. I removed all the staples and upholstery nails carefully so that I could mark the location of pleats and tufts on the frame. Also, I used all the original fabric pieces as patterns for the new fabric.

Here are some process pictures:

Taking it apart. I removed the under covering and then all the staples holding the fabric to the underside.  Then I pulled off the front of the arm very carefully so that I could reuse it and the nails - something I messed up last time, but that worked well on this couch.

Removing the backing and under layer.  I took this picture because I was surprised that there was not more support keeping the fabric taut around the outside. I ended up replacing that muslin fabric with a heavy burlap since the fabric that I recovered it with is a lot more lightweight than the original velour.  This picture also shows the stings holding the tufting in place.

This is while I was redoing the tufting. I had already removed and replaced the decking (the part under the seat cushion). I did not want to leave the foam interior bits of the couch exposed to the dangers of kids poking at it for very long.  I redid the decking, sewed the new back piece, and started the tufting within about a 48 hour period.

This is in the process of tufting with the left side of the picture done, the middle in the process of being tucked, but not tied down yet, and the right not done at all.

Here is the right side finished.

 I carefully removed and reused all the old welting (cording) on this couch. That was helpful for the arm because it still retained its old shape.

This corner and side were the hardest part of the redo.  I just couldn't picture how to get the staples in without them showing on the welt below the arm.  I had to ask for some divine inspiration before it clicked and then phew of course turned out great.


And here it is all finished: