Making own sofa covers? Is it easy?

skintchick

rufusd!!!2 wrote: »

Hi Skintchick, I covered my sofa last year and did it how you are doing by cutting out a "pattern from old sheets and using these to cut out the fabric so I didnt get it wrong.

Is your new fabric patterened? If so remember when covering the cushions to try to get the pattern centred so it looks more professional.

Also do you know how to do the piping round the edges? If you have bought enough extra material you can use that quite easily with some white upholstery cord but you need to cut the fabric on the cross to get it to look right and go round corners etc.

I was lucky and bought my fabric off ebay and it only cost me £80. I covered the sofa and armchair for that and had enough to do a rough job on the pouffe too.

I haven't had any lessons how to do it properly, just guessed the whole thing but everyone says it looks nice. If you want any more help pm me xx

Hi - thanks for that, sounds like I'm doing it right then! I'm actually not bothering with piping as it's a faff too far with birth looming. Later on I'll use cord/braid and sew it on which I know isn;'t 'proper' but will be the best way for me to do it I think.

yesterday I drew on all the pieces and started hand-sewing/tacking the pieces, starting with the main back piece.

I won;t be able to do anything today as I am out a lot but tomorrow I hope to get it mostly sewed and will post some more pics.

am I doing it how you did it? Please do post any tips!

MrsBArtolozzi - that blog was the one that persuaded me I could do it! Her's is great but I've learned a bit from her mistakes, and that's why I'm doing pattern pieces first as she said some of her pieces didn;t fit that well cos she turned them inside out.

Now I've started I actually feel like I can do it - I just need to get on with it in case baby comes early.

jodie114

I have 2 ikea sofa's fom the klippan range that have seen better days.
I sooo want bright, funky fabric covers for them, but ikea don't sell them. Is it possible to make these? i am in no way good with a sewing machine, but have plenty of time and patience, and would love to give it a go if it is do-able. This is the sofa i have....

jackieglasgow

Take the cover off one, and take it apart at the seams, lettering the ones that meet (a to a, b to b etc.) Measure how much fabric you nees (find a fabric you like first, as they may have different widths), making sure you leave enough space for a seam allowance, and it should be easy nough, as they are pretty basic shapes. I would zigzag stitch the edges too if you don't have an overlocker, to reinforce them. Have you looked to see if anyone if offering patterns online?

angeltreats

In our old flat we had this exact sofa, and I made a cover for it I made ours out of denim, it was lovely.

What I did was measure up all the pieces, add a 1/2" seam allowance, overlock all the edges of everything (zig zag stitch would be fine), then pinned the pieces together and sewed. I think I cut one big piece for the seat/back, assembled the pieces that covered the arms first and then sewed these to the main bit. I also left a bit of overhang on the front and back and attached a bit of velcro to hold it in place underneath because I remember the original Ikea cover had a tendency to move about.

You could of course unpick an existing cover and use that to make a pattern, but I didn't do this because I hate unpicking stitches

jackieglasgow

I wouldn't bother unpicking it, I'm too lazy for that, I'd just cut it along the seams!

grannyjo

when I did an upholstry course, they suggested all the above- but also- do rough measurements for the amount of fabric and possibly more for cushions etc. Throw the material over the sofa front to back with the underside showing (inside out). Use pins to show where seams should be - cut off the excess and sew up. I think probably the best method though is unpick or cut through the seams and then cut out slightly larger pieces, pin them together inside out on the sofa - ease off and then sew. This only works if the sofa is symmetrical. It is quite easy really so good luck. we also used a stapler to fix parts on, like at the bottom- or where the sides meet the sitting area.
again good luck- JOANNA

MrsBartolozzi

IIRC the covers are only ~£40 to buy new, and they fit properly!
When I was looking to cover my sofas (not Klippan tho) the hard wearing type of fabrics needed were much more than £40 to buy + there's the fitting and making and (well I was too scared to invest in all the material in case I messed up and wasted over £100):o
Not that I'd want to belittle the kind OS-ers offering you advice (and you'd get to choose your design if you made it yourself), I make curtains, cushion covers etc myself, but personally I'd take the easy and cheaper :money:option of buying a cover.

maman

Tend to agree with MrsB but you did say you wanted something bright and jazzy that Ikea don't do. Another word of caution is that you might need to wash the fabric first to make sure it doesn't shrink when you wash the new covers.

I've got this sofa in my conservatory with the plain white calico covers. You could jazz it up with throws and cushions (that's yours not mine:D).

jodie114

lol thanks, much appreciated advice. i would much prefer to buy some covers, but they used to make bright, colourful ones, now they only do white, black and navy, and i have the black. i love the black, but after 2 washes they did the same thing black jeans do, and start loosing colour, but not evenly, all where the creases were in the washing machine.
i also have a 4 seater, so its too big to dye in my machine, and i don't think laundrettes let you do that in thiers do they?

smithyjules

have you tried ebay?just an idea!x