My first sofa reupholster!

It is drop cloth month here at the Powell home. First I made some draperies for my Master Bed Room from bleached cotton off-white painters drop cloths.  After a few weeks of them being hung, I must say I am happy with the way they look!

Now that my confidence is up I thought I'd tackle a sofa we've had for 15 years. It was a well made roll arm from Eddie Bauer Home years ago, but the Belgian linen was intolerant of stains, kids and pets.

Not wanting to invest in new furniture for the sunroom, I like the look of the gray cotton drop cloths (from Duron), and the size and price was too alluring to pass up.  I spent $60 on two -- one is a 12' X 15' and the other for the cushions was 9' x 12'.

After washing them several times to remove the sizing and make them more pliable, I began by draping the fabric over the sofa, tucking it in the seat and arms to help me visualize the process.  I really didn't have a plan other than to staple gun the fabric to the frame and make cushion slip covers.  I am a fairly experienced seamstress, but have only made a slipcover for a Parsons Chair before...

 I was afraid to make the first cut of fabric, since there was so much excess, but with my husband's help, we just went for it.  He stapled the back and arms deep into the back of the seat and on the sides under the arms, and we cut big Vs of fabric away from where we tacked it temporarily....then we stapled the fabric to the underside of the frame both in the back and front.  At this point we could see real progress.

 I pleated the fabric as I rounded the back corners, tacking it in place.  We will use nail heads to finish over the staples.

I had to cut away excess fabric as I went, and folded over the finishing seam , then stapled it in place.

Archimedes, the cat, loved to lay in the puddles of fabric and on the couch every step of the way.

Next I took one cushion apart with a seam ripper, saved the zipper to reuse, and used the pieces as a pattern to cut out a new cushion.  I copied the old cushion exactly, although I did not do piping along the edges.   I also made 2 extra cushions that I will hand-sew closed some time in the future, for easy swap-out if need be.  This cushion project took an entire day.

Then I turned the sofa upside down and folded over all the seams and stapled them to the underside of the frame.

The final stage involved the front of the roll arms. This was very tricky.  I consulted my sister who has upholstered a lot, and she told me to make a cardboard pattern, put tacks thru it stretch the fabric over the tacks and then hammer it onto the front of the sofa…

  (cotton batting, cardboard pattern, fabric, paper pattern)

   Viola! The finished product!

I will post more pictures later but for now project accomplished!!  What a rewarding feeling... give it a try!

-Nancy

Project Alert : Drop Cloth Curtains Done!

I just finished the drapery project for our master bedroom.  I wanted a linen-looking drape to finish off the window and doors that have custom roman shades on them, so my inspiration came from lots of bloggers who have done this before with painter's drop cloths!

I purchased the drop cloths at Duron. They have a lot of sizes and weights to choose from.  The color choices are beige and gray.   I bought two 9' x 12' beige drop cloths in the 6 ounce weight for around $16 each. I needed four 54" wide x 84" long panels (like the ones you would buy in a store) but my panels ended up being 46" x 84" because but they are just meant to frame the window and door, not meant to be drawn.

The process of bleaching these drop cloths was the lengthiest part. Here's how I did it:

1. Fill the washing machine with water and add 2 cups of bleach

2. Soak the drop cloth for several hours ( I did 4 hrs.), then run it through the cycle.

3. Then wash the drop cloth with 1 cup bleach and regular detergent and run it through the entire cycle.

4. Next wash the drop cloth with detergent only. 

5. Dry it in the dryer and hold it up to see if it is white enough or if it is "splotchy".  

Mine was unevenly bleached and not white enough, so I repeated the entire 3 steps again! So that was 6 washings for each drop cloth. 

                        

 Here is a comparison of the 6th wash on the left, and 3 washes on the right:

They are Ivory in color now, just perfect for my room.  You can't get them perfectly white, though.  

I split each drop cloth down the middle and had to make a clean cut edge, since I made the mistake of rolling a hem from a torn edge, and boy were they wavy! So I took it apart and cut a straight line. I put 3" of Interfacing under the header hem so add stiffness to support the drapery hooks…

 I already had the pole mounted from a previous window treatment, so I used the drapery hooks and rings and ironed the panels, then hung them.

If you want them to look more substantial, you could line them, but I wanted them a bit transparent, to show off the texture of the fabric in the light.  For full closure, you would want to double your width, so use an entire 9 x 12 drop cloth per panel.

I also purchased a 16' x 20' gray drop cloth (8 oz. weight) for less than $40.00 (for 20 yds!!!!) to make a slipcover for my sofa in the sunroom.  But that is a huge future project . I have only slipcovered a Parsons chair before, so this should be a challenge!  Oh, and roman shade valances in the kitchen are also on my list.

Lesson learned: they're inexpensive and fun to experiment with, so give it a try! 

We also want to try to block print some of these bleached drop cloths for a headboard or another project... oh the possibilities!!!  

-Nancy

PS - Please contact us if you are interested in consigning any decor bloopers you have lying around your home.  We're running low on our own design mistakes in our basements, and are actively looking for new items to offer on our FOR SALE page!!