A Guide To Furniture Recovering

When learning how to recover furniture, it is a good idea to begin with a small item such as a chair for your first furniture recovering project. Then, after successful completion of your first project, you will be better able to tackle some of the more ambitious pieces, such as sofas. Few tools are needed to recover furniture; all you need is your fabric of choice, sharp scissors, a heavy duty staple gun, staples and dressmaking pins.

Fabric

• It may be tempting to select heavy duty fabric for your first furniture recovering project. However, heavy grade fabric is difficult to work with and is often not as comfortable as lighter fabrics. A medium grade fabric is probably the most suitable for this project as it is hard wearing and flexible enough for recovering furniture. Purchase more fabric than is needed, in case of errors of judgement when cutting the cloth.

Making The Patterns For Furniture Recovering

• Begin by examining how the old fabric was put together on the furniture. Start by removing the old fabric from each piece on the chair, very carefully. Do not rip the fabric away as this can damage the furniture. Once removed, label the old fabric such as 'chair, left arm.' When all the fabric has been removed and labelled, smooth it out onto the new fabric and pin it to the cloth to secure it. Using the scissors, cut around each piece allowing an extra inch.

Furniture Recovering

• Begin to recover the furniture with the new fabric, by covering the part of the furniture where you first removed the old cloth. Firmly but carefully, pull the fabric over the furniture. Ensure that the fabric is taut but not too tight, as this may result in the fabric tearing when the furniture is later used. Staple each piece down using the staple gun and staples. Finally, smooth each piece of fabric with your hands before stapling into place.