Many of us are the owners of old furniture that wanders with us from house to house, and, accordingly, does not become more beautiful from this. And if you also have cats or dogs, then sofas and armchairs wear out much faster thanks to their efforts.
But this does not mean that the old sofa will find a place only in the trash heap. If its model and configuration suits you, then you can spend a small amount of time and money to drag it, and not fork out for buying a new one.
There is no particular difficulty in stretching the sofa. But there are subtleties. The main thing is diligence, desire and the necessary tool.
What you need to know before starting work
- This project will take a lot of time. Allow at least one day for disassembling and removing old fabric, 1-2 days for preparing materials, measuring and cutting, and the same amount for hauling and assembling.
- Be prepared to pull out a lot of paper clips. Start with thick-soled shoes so as not to injure your foot on pieces of metal that could fly off, and you will not notice them.
- It is generally a good idea to buy extra fabric over and above what you were counting on in case you need it. It is recommended to keep a margin of at least 1 meter.
- Prepare a pen and paper to document all assembly steps - this will help you determine where to start and also make it easier to reassemble the overwhelmed sofa.
What is needed to stretch the sofa
Here is a list of what to buy to uplift your old sofa:
- Textile.
- Foam rubber of the required size.
- Furniture stapler.
- Staples to the stapler.
- Threads in the color of the fabric.
- Needles.
- Chalk for marking.
- Screwdriver.
- Pliers.
- Screwdriver.
- Glue.
- Rubber hammer.
- New legs.
We start planning
The very first thing you need to do before starting work is to plan your project thoughtfully.
Decide on the fabric, there will be a maximum of three types:
- Outdoor sofa fabric.
- Internal backing.
- Fabric for decorative items (if any).
You should choose a special dense fabric that will serve you for a long time.
Next, you need to calculate how much it will have to buy. You get an approximate amount if you add the length and width of the sofa parts and multiply the resulting figure by two. If the fabric has stripes or patterns in a certain direction, then it will take much more.
It is best to disassemble the sofa, remove the fabric from it and carve out the necessary new parts using the old ones. We recommend that you write down all measurements and schematically depict all the necessary details on a sheet of paper.
The inner liner is usually used only on the back and seat of the sofa, protecting the upholstery from the filler. But whether or not it is applied to the entire product is up to you. We recommend that you always attach it to the back wall, creating additional elasticity for the filler.
Buying consumables
You probably already have most of the tools, such as a screwdriver or screwdriver. The most expensive items on the list are fabric and foam rubber. The price of upholstery fabric starts at 500 rubles per meter, and a sheet of foam rubber 1 by 2 meters will cost no less than 350 rubles. You can buy a construction stapler for 400 rubles, and a pack of staples for it costs from 40 rubles. Before buying, compare prices in online stores and in ordinary ones, they may differ by an order of magnitude.
Dismantling the sofa
You will learn a lot about how to properly assemble a sofa by disassembling it.
Carefully record in a notebook what you are doing: how the pieces of foam rubber and fabric were placed on the sofa, how many brackets were attached to them, were there any additional adhesive strips, which part of the sofa will be attached first, are there any peculiarities of their location relative to each other. Take a photo, if necessary, of how the parts were connected, this will help you remember how to return them to their original position.
- The first step for all sofas is to remove all the retractable parts, then flip it over and remove the legs.
- Then start removing all the staples using the pliers on the bottom of the sofa so you can figure out which part you need to remove first. This stapling removal is likely to be the most time consuming part. It is advisable to protect your hands with gloves and call for help from your family so that the work moves faster.
- Identify the piece of upholstery to remove first. This is usually part of the back. Sometimes it turns out that in addition to the staples, the fabric is held on a sticky strip so as not to creep. To remove it, insert pliers into the fold of fabric where it is and gently lift. Repeat along the entire length of the strip.
Remove the rest of the sofa
This step will depend on how your sofa is set up. After you delete the first part, the sequence of further work will become clear. Remember to write down every step. This will certainly come in handy! After all the components of the sofa have been detached, lay the fabric from them on the floor and measure. Record your results. Add at least three centimeters for seams to each edge of the measurements of the parts.
After this work, you will be left with a bare sofa, completely ready for transformation.
Rebuild sofa springs and reinforce the structure
If, after disassembling the sofa, damage to the frame or springs is found, minor repairs must be made. The springs can be additionally processed, if necessary, the damaged areas can be replaced. It happens that the plywood in a part of the seat is broken or deformed, then a sheet of plywood should be purchased and replaced. At the same stage, we recommend covering the back and part of the seat with a fake cloth.
Lay down the foam
For the old upholstery, you need to cut out new foam parts and place them on the sofa. So that they do not move anywhere and do not change their position, you can use double-sided tape. The denser your foam, the longer it will last. If the previous upholstery is still good enough, you can use it by reinforcing only the seating part.
Working with armrests
The armrests are perhaps the most tedious and tricky part of the entire sofa. It is better to prepare in advance and watch training videos on their hauling. Sometimes their design is quite simple, but, often, the armrests have decorative elements and a fancy shape. If yours has patterns made of wood or plastic, look carefully to see if the fabric goes underneath or goes around the pattern around the edge. This will determine whether the decor element should be detached or not.
To facilitate the upholstery of curved parts, there is a special serrated metal L-shaped strip. It is a flexible metal strip with holes on one side for staples to attach to the sofa frame and barbs on the other side to grip fabric. You can cut it with regular scissors.
Full coverage
After the armrests are done, much of the tedious work of hauling is left behind. Then everything will go like clockwork, pulling the rest of the sofa will not be difficult. You can also use duct tape or a metal strip to secure the edges of the fabric - it's up to you. When covering the back and seat with fabric, consider adding an extra layer of foam.
To reduce the cost of work, you can cover part of the back with the simplest dense fabric, if the design of the sofa involves covering this part with pillows.
Cushions
We are talking about removable elements, which, as a rule, are present only on convertible sofa-beds. These are cushions that line the back and armrests. The easiest way to pull them up is to open the old cover and take measurements from it. After that, a new cover is cut and stitched. Even if your old pillows didn’t have a removable cover, we recommend that you sew a zipper into it to make cleaning easier.
Finishing touches
After all the details of the sofa have been tightened, and each has returned to its place, it remains to close the back part with a dense fabric (if you did not do this during the work earlier) and screw the legs.
They can be left old, or they can be updated or even made on wheels.