How To Reupholster A Sofa - Part 1

You have seen my sister in law's chair that I helped her to recover a few months ago.  Today we finally felt ready to tackle the sofa.  She ordered fabric and I made suggestions and today we started.

 

 She found this sofa at the local dumpster.

1.  Remove previous fabric and vacuum out all the various treasures that you find inside.

2.  Check the condition of the foam and cushions.  Replace what is necessary.

3.  Sand and paint the frame if needed.

4.  Cut the fabric to be the desired width (we ended up leaving plenty of extra space on either end because of the button tufts.  Without the tufts, I would just make sure you have about 6" in case of any curves).  If your fabric is vertical then make sure you leave extra fabric each place the patterns will match up.  When you order the fabric, always order extra for large pattern repeats.

5.  Center your fabric on the center of the sofa.

See Part 2 for how to reupholster the button tufts.
Part 3 is how to attach the back on an upholstered sofa
See how this sofa was used in her living room.