Skip to content Skip to sidebar Skip to footer

DIY reupholstery 101

Looking for a way to rejuvenate your sofa with reupholstery DIY? Well you’re at the right place to do it.

Realising that it’s pretty costly (especially in Australia, and USA) to get a sofa upholstered at starting prices of $800 and above for labour alone, we set out to see if reupholstery DIY can be easily done by one person.

Here’s what we found:

How to do simple reupholstery on a couch? – Introduction

The internet is full of information about this topic actually. Thousands of reupholstery DIY videos and tutorials have invaded cyberspace and checking through them is a good way to begin this journey, which seems a little bit complex sometimes if you’re not looking at the correct ones.

Thankfully, we chanced upon ALO Upholstery in their video example of how to reupholster a sofa from YouTube. From there, we broke the process down so you have a clearer idea as to exactly what happens at each stage.

Reupholstering a sofa step by step

1. Preparation
Every couch is different and of course, it’s important to understand its design and structure. Keep in mind that you’ll most likely have to take your couch apart.

Thus, you’ll need to know the pieces of your sofa, where do you need to separate them, etc. Put your sofa upside down, inspect it, take pictures and note where all the sofa joints are.

If you have an IKEA couch it’s actually a lot easier to check our IKEA Sofas Resource page. There we have IKEA assembling instruction manuals, general info and measurements which might be helpful you in de-constructing the sofa (if necessary).

As far as most sofas go, there isn’t much to disassemble if:
1) It’s not a leather sofa
2) It came with slipcovers to begin with

Take your notebook or a computer to help you take notes about your sofa!

2. Reupholstery Materials
Get all your tools and materials necessary for this challenge, everything that you have to do yourself usually involves quite a fair bit of equipment. If you’re a handyman (or woman), reupholstery DIY is probably going to be easy for you.

Here’s what you need:

  • Scissors
  • Measuring tape
  • Sewing machine
  • Stapler
  • Fabric and zippers
  • Screwdriver and Pliers
  • Notebook and pen

You can check our varied range of fabrics to reupholster your sofa clicking on Fabric Per Meter. Remember to order some fabric samples before buying them! I’m sure you’ll love them.

3. Take the couch apart
You already probably know how your sofa was constructed, so take the screwdriver and pliers and start disassembling it.

Putting it back together

Depending on your sofa’s condition as well, you may be required to take the batting out as well. Most upholsterers WILL remove the original upholstery and the batting to give it the best consistency possible – the last thing you want to see are any bumps or lumps under your new sofa’s skin.
4. Taking measures and pattern-making
Patience and accuracy are going to be your best friends in this step. You need to measure the length, width and height of all the pieces of your sofa.

We recommend you to draw some sketches of each piece to facilitate everything. Normally you’ll need to take measures of the main base, backrest, armrests and cushions. Don’t forget to write down where the zippers are located in the cushions!

You’ll need to draw a blueprint/template/pattern after measuring everything out. Sometimes you might have to just reupholster it with a big piece of fabric for the entire sofa simply because it’s a bit easier, but it does mean imagining how all the pieces should connect all in your head!

I personally can’t do this, but our head seamstress can!

Special tip: At Comfort Works we manufacture slipcovers for sofas, armchairs and dining chairs and we have created one of the biggest sofa measures databases of the world.

But if we don’t have the measures for a specific kind of sofa our customer service team are trained to draw lines of measurements for your sofa, or we’ll send you a measurement form should it be a very standard shape.

As a rough idea, check out our Sofa Measuring Guide here:How to measure a sofa.
5. Cut the fabrics and sew them
Once you have the patterns ready, it’s time to take the scissors and start cutting the fabrics. Remember to edge the fabrics and finally lay them out for the next step.

6. Staple the fabrics on your sofa
Having some pins would be useful here actually, so you can pin your fabric cut-outs onto the parts you need covered and adjust accordingly before permanent stapling them down.

Once you’re done with the frame, you’re pretty much done – the cushions are even easier as no stapling is required!

Simple Reupholstery DIY – Conclusion

6 easy steps are separating you from your new sofa. Just arm yourself with courage and patience and cheer up to spruce up your sofa.

  • Study your couch
  • Disassemble and replace worn parts
  • Take measures and draw pattern
  • Cut and sew the fabric
  • Lay out the fabrics and staple them
You can also make your sofa look like a million bucks with Comfort Works made-to-measure slipcovers!

Hope all these info helps! At the end, doing any form of reupholstery DIY or not it does require quite a bit of technical knowledge, or just someone who’s very good with their hands – and is incredibly tenacious.

Of course, you can also rejuvenate your sofa with made-to-measure replacement slipcovers. An easier way to spruce up your sofa, some might say an alternative to upholstery even.

Interested? Read more about custom sofa covers on our following blog articles:

Or if you’re just thinking of a simple sofa makeover, check out these 7 alternative ways to restore an old couch.

Happy designing!

Show CommentsClose Comments

1889 Comments

  • by Fredrick
    Posted November 28, 2024 3:20 PM 0Likes

    常翔学園中学校・常翔啓光学園中学校・ りそな銀行、近畿大阪銀行と産学連携基本協定を締結しました 大阪工業大学(2018年10月28日)2018年10月29日閲覧。
    13 January 2024. 2024年1月20日閲覧。最終更新 2024年11月20日 (水) 18:14 (日時は個人設定で未設定ならばUTC)。 もう一人の弟キッド・雪子が井関と離婚して富良野に戻ってくる。男対男 – 椿三十郎 – 箱根山 – 戦国野郎 – 太陽は呼んでいる
    – 乱れる – 恐怖の時間 – 赤ひげ – ゼロ・

    Here is my web-site :: アーバン スポーツ

  • by Angeline
    Posted November 28, 2024 3:50 PM 0Likes

    ただし、医師の許可があったとしても、治療費や交通事故の慰謝料が何割か減額される可能性もあります。交通事故の治療で病院の医師の許可なく整骨院に通うと、その治療費や慰謝料が交通事故の損害賠償金として認められない可能性が高いです。整骨院での施術は、厳密には医療行為とは認められていないからです。診断書作成の観点から見ても、医師の許可を確認しない状態での整骨院での施術では、のちの交通事故賠償請求が難しくなるのです。診断書を作成できるのは医師ですが、整骨院の先生は柔道整復師や整体師であり、医師ではないからです。

    Here is my blog post :: xuxAe+t2+rZSXPy/1uM3FpnwNUIschbv6cKQXbOuYGw=

  • by Cameron
    Posted November 28, 2024 4:15 PM 0Likes

    サイズラインナップが集約され、GT60シリーズは42v型と60v型を廃止し2機種に、VT60シリーズは2013年モデルでは最大サイズとなる65v型を追加する一方、50v型と60v型を廃止して2機種となった。 “2022年映画興収、『ONE PIECE FILM RED』で東映が1位奪取 手塚治社長が感謝「先輩方の仕事が今花開いた」【邦洋ランキングあり】”.東宝株式会社 (2022年7月28日).

    2023年6月1日閲覧。磯部正和 (2022年12月13日).
    “東宝が2022年を総括 興収630億円前後とコロナ前の水準も「10億円のハードルが以前より上がった」”.日本国とヴィエトナム共和国との間の賠償協定 を参照。 “2022年(令和4年)興収10億以上番組” (PDF).

    My web blog; 5gmJycMFXNn3h5kM51tp6qt29H6U9moibdx924GwfVnR

  • by Derick
    Posted November 28, 2024 4:21 PM 0Likes

    I was wondering if you ever considered changing the structure of your site?

    Its very well written; I love what youve got to say. But maybe
    you could a little more in the way of content
    so people could connect with it better. Youve got an awful lot of
    text for only having one or 2 images. Maybe you could space
    it out better?

    my web blog … 負けるが勝ち 名言

  • by Arnold
    Posted November 28, 2024 4:41 PM 0Likes

    “【武田薬品】光工場がFDAから警告書-無菌処理工程で手順逸脱”.

    “武田薬品に業務改善命令 誇大広告で初の行政処分”.
    “【2011.3.11東日本大震災被災体験談】~あの時を振り返って~【1日目仙石線 仙台駅~野蒜駅そして・・・】”.薬事日報 (薬事日報社).独自のあるいは全国初となる一連のサービス深度化は、”収益にほとんど寄与しないとの大手証券アナリストの指摘”(2005年1月25日付日経金融新聞)もあるが、大垣共立銀行の狙いは”斬新なサービスによる知名度向上で、新規顧客獲得へつなげる戦略を立てている”(同)。

    Visit my webpage :: 南アフリカランド 定期預金 リスク

Leave a comment

0.0/5