Best options for reviving tired upholstery

MoonJelly

I have an Ercol sofa (the kind that has separate cushions for both the back pieces and the seat pieces). We got it second hand and the original uphostery had been 'bleached' by being by a sunny window. After a couple of years the uphostery really needs a makeover. Ercol's own reupholstery services are £££ and way out of our budget. Plumbs was pretty expensive too. Especially considering the foam cushions are fine. I can't get a loose cover because all the cushions are separate, if you know what I mean.

Can I have a few ideas of how to deal with this? I don't know it is is possible to use fabric dye to dye the fabric (a pale yellow) either dark grey or navy blue. Has anyone tried this? And if you did, did the new colour rub off on people's clothes?

Or is there a way to reupholster the sofa cheaply? I can sew on a button and have made cloth pantyliners.
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maman

It's certainly worth having loose, washable covers made for the cushions as Ercol is much sought after.


If your own sewing skills aren't up to using existing cushions as a pattern why not try googling/asking around for a local person who does soft furnishings or even a decent dressmaker might be able to help.

FairyPrincessk

If you can find a label with the content of the covers that will help with advice on dying. If there is a significant amount of fading this may also come through on the dye. Lots of people have dyed sofa covers for the ikea klippan, so I'd google that and look at their methods and results. Yours will be easier is it will be in smaller pieces.

If it is the ercol sofa with one bottom cushion and three back cushions then recovering is actually fairly straight forward. In theory you have most of the skills to make sofa covers based on what you've already done. If you want a zipper that makes it much more difficult. You'll need a flat piece for top and bottom and a side piece. You'll sew up all but one seam and then you'll have to hand sew the final seam after putting the cushion in. If it were me I'd cut up an old sheet or the like and practice on one of the back cushions. You could try all of the skills before buying any fabric.

MoonJelly

FairyPrincessk wrote: »

If you can find a label with the content of the covers that will help with advice on dying. If there is a significant amount of fading this may also come through on the dye. Lots of people have dyed sofa covers for the ikea klippan, so I'd google that and look at their methods and results. Yours will be easier is it will be in smaller pieces.

If it is the ercol sofa with one bottom cushion and three back cushions then recovering is actually fairly straight forward. In theory you have most of the skills to make sofa covers based on what you've already done. If you want a zipper that makes it much more difficult. You'll need a flat piece for top and bottom and a side piece. You'll sew up all but one seam and then you'll have to hand sew the final seam after putting the cushion in. If it were me I'd cut up an old sheet or the like and practice on one of the back cushions. You could try all of the skills before buying any fabric.

My sofa has 3 independent cushions for the back and 3 independent cushions you sit on and 2 separate pieces one at each end of the sofa. 8 pieces in all and also the bottom has a piece of the upholstery to support the seats. All pieces has zippers.

However I like the idea of cutting up an old sheet to practice! I have to figure out how to use the old cover as a pattern without having to undo the stitches (after all I can't have just the foam cushions and no fabric on them :cool: -that way lies disaster).

Also thank you for the suggestion of looking up what people have done with their ikea furniture.
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FairyPrincessk

Actually the zippers on the current cushions makes this easier since you can take one off, practice and put it back on until you're ready for the final run.

If you do decide to try sewing, have a look at this:
http://campervanconverts.com/2012/03/11/how-to-sew-fabulous-seat-cushions-even-if-youre-a-complete-beginner-part-2/

And here are some thoughts:

You don't need to rip the existing covers apart to copy them, just trace around them allowing for a seam allowance. So basically you turn the existing cover inside out, lay one section down absolutely flat and straight, trace around it as exactly as possible and then look to see how far from the edge the seam is (probably 1/4, 1/2 or 3/4 of an inch). You can then actually draw a dotted line exactly where your seam needs to be--which can help if you're not great with straight lines.

You could make a paper pattern, or you could trace onto your fabric using chalk OR (and this is the way I'd do it) using a Mark B Gone pen (the pen will wash out in plain water but will stay visible with lots of handling).

Zippers can be tricky but they aren't impossible. Copying the piece with the zipper will be slightly trickier--it depends on where the zipper is. If it is between two separate pieces of the cover then you'll just need a slightly bigger seam allowance. If it is set into the middle of an existing piece then it is a little more complicated to explain. Pay special attention to what happens at corners/around curves. The seam allowance probably has small cuts in it that are perpendicular to the seam to ensure a nice curve. From the pictures I've seen the cushions don't have piping which is good- makes it a lot simpler.

HOWEVER--if the zippers are putting you off you could make the covers without the zippers. Just ignore the opening/seam allowance for the zipper and do that as another flat piece, leave one long seam completely open for stuffing in the cushion and then stitch the cushion up from the outside (google blind stitch or ladder stitch to see how this works). Of course the down side to this is that you'll have to rip out the last seam and re-sew them each time you want to wash them, but it can be done that way if you don't feel confident enough to tackle zippers yet and indeed this used to be the way it was done before zippers became so common.

My biggest tip is that when you are ready to make it out of the proper fabric make sure you pre-wash it! And iron every single seam as you're sewing them up! And...don't make things harder than they have to be--use a solid colour.

Bigjenny

I have just made a cover for my Ikea Lycksele chair bed.

I used newspaper to draw round and make a rough pattern first, then I used that to cut out a pattern from an old sheet, made it up and adjusted the fit, then unpicked it, and used the sheet pieces on my material.

I also washed the material first as it was cotton, to allow for shrinkage.

Hope this makes sense.

MoonJelly

FairyPrincessk wrote: »

Actually the zippers on the current cushions makes this easier since you can take one off, practice and put it back on until you're ready for the final run.

If you do decide to try sewing, have a look at this:
http://campervanconverts.com/2012/03/11/how-to-sew-fabulous-seat-cushions-even-if-youre-a-complete-beginner-part-2/

And here are some thoughts:

You don't need to rip the existing covers apart to copy them, just trace around them allowing for a seam allowance. So basically you turn the existing cover inside out, lay one section down absolutely flat and straight, trace around it as exactly as possible and then look to see how far from the edge the seam is (probably 1/4, 1/2 or 3/4 of an inch). You can then actually draw a dotted line exactly where your seam needs to be--which can help if you're not great with straight lines.

You could make a paper pattern, or you could trace onto your fabric using chalk OR (and this is the way I'd do it) using a Mark B Gone pen (the pen will wash out in plain water but will stay visible with lots of handling).

Zippers can be tricky but they aren't impossible. Copying the piece with the zipper will be slightly trickier--it depends on where the zipper is. If it is between two separate pieces of the cover then you'll just need a slightly bigger seam allowance. If it is set into the middle of an existing piece then it is a little more complicated to explain. Pay special attention to what happens at corners/around curves. The seam allowance probably has small cuts in it that are perpendicular to the seam to ensure a nice curve. From the pictures I've seen the cushions don't have piping which is good- makes it a lot simpler.

HOWEVER--if the zippers are putting you off you could make the covers without the zippers. Just ignore the opening/seam allowance for the zipper and do that as another flat piece, leave one long seam completely open for stuffing in the cushion and then stitch the cushion up from the outside (google blind stitch or ladder stitch to see how this works). Of course the down side to this is that you'll have to rip out the last seam and re-sew them each time you want to wash them, but it can be done that way if you don't feel confident enough to tackle zippers yet and indeed this used to be the way it was done before zippers became so common.

My biggest tip is that when you are ready to make it out of the proper fabric make sure you pre-wash it! And iron every single seam as you're sewing them up! And...don't make things harder than they have to be--use a solid colour.

THANK YOU! Great ideas.

Bigjenny wrote: »

I have just made a cover for my Ikea Lycksele chair bed.

I used newspaper to draw round and make a rough pattern first, then I used that to cut out a pattern from an old sheet, made it up and adjusted the fit, then unpicked it, and used the sheet pieces on my material.

I also washed the material first as it was cotton, to allow for shrinkage.

Hope this makes sense.

Yes it does. Thank you for the newspaper idea.

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Owain_Moneysaver

If you can't sew them yourself then a local seamstress (man or woman) would probably be a lot cheaper than plumbs etc, especially if they can use the old cushion covers as templates.

You could avoid zips by doing large overflaps (like pillow cases) and fixing in place with press-studs.

MoonJelly

Owain_Moneysaver wrote: »

If you can't sew them yourself then a local seamstress (man or woman) would probably be a lot cheaper than plumbs etc, especially if they can use the old cushion covers as templates.

You could avoid zips by doing large overflaps (like pillow cases) and fixing in place with press-studs.

I am making envelope cushions myself. I have made an appointment with Plumbs (although a friend of mine said they were £££) but I also found a local person. I'll get a quote from both and see. I prefer a local person and I also prefer to scout for the fabric myself.

The fabric on the sofa is labelled "dry clean only" so I don't dare wash it -let alone dye it.

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FairyPrincessk

A dry cleaner may be able to dye it--they used to offer the service (think THOSE bridesmaid shoes from the 80s/90s!).

A local seamstress will probably be fairly reasonable, but ask to see examples of their work and make sure to ask them how much fabric they want. They'll likely agree that you can have any scraps, so they won't be trying to build up their own stash!

MoonJelly

FairyPrincessk wrote: »

A dry cleaner may be able to dye it--they used to offer the service (think THOSE bridesmaid shoes from the 80s/90s!).

A local seamstress will probably be fairly reasonable, but ask to see examples of their work and make sure to ask them how much fabric they want. They'll likely agree that you can have any scraps, so they won't be trying to build up their own stash!

I didn't think abut the dry cleaners being able to dye fabric -I will look into it!:D

A friend told me about a local person to do the job. But yes, I would ask to see examples of the work. They wouldn't be as cheeky as to ask for more material than needed, right? :eek:

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