Reupholstering a Settee: Part 3- Choosing & Cutting your New Fabric
If you're following this series along through to the end, welcome back! If you're just starting your adventure into reupholstering a settee, here's our index for this series:
Part 1- Deconstruction
Part 2- Cleaning and updating the frame
Part 3- Choosing & cutting your new fabric
Part 4- Recovering your piece
So your piece is still naked, but you've gotten the frame all cleaned up and ready for some new fabric.
With so many fabrics available, how do you choose? I'll make it simple on you: if you've never upholstered a thing in your life, go with a solid. I repeat: go with a solid.
You do not want to add the frustration and added cost into choosing a patterned fabric. You'd have to match the pattern to itself for each separate piece, which means buying extra, and with patterned fabric already being pretty costly, that means some bucko bucks.
And if this is your first upholstery project, you don't want to waste hundreds of dollars on a piece you could potentially royally mess up.
Make sure you feel the fabric before buying it. I know that a lot of stores only have certain fabrics online (whoever decided that is not my favorite person), and so you need to order samples. It's better to spend a couple bucks on a sample than to buy the entire length of fabric and hate how it feels.
I went with an upholstery linen since it's soft, thicker than typical linen, but not super bulky. It also comes in a variety of colors at an average of $20/yd, versus some of the really thick solids that go for around $40/yd.
The fabric I chose happened to be 50% off, so instead of $19.99/yd, I got it for $9.99/yd. I also happened to have an email coupon from JoAnn's for an additional 25% off my entire Home Decor fabric purchase (you hardly EVER see those), sale & regular priced items included.
That meant that overall, this fabric only cost me $7.50/yd, absolutely unheard of for upholstery fabric that couldn't be more perfect if it tried. I ordered an entire 10 yard bolt, and spent less than $82 after taxes.
**As of 7/6/16 this exact fabric is on sale for $8.00/yd before any coupon!
I advise you order 2 extra yards for any project; if anything happens to your piece after it's finished, you'll have the correct fabric "in stock" to fix it. Sometimes fabric doesn't stay available forever, so it's always a good idea to have your exact match in storage rather than having to re-do the entire piece.
***If you're ordering fabric, always order it in-store. Ordering online could mean you get your yardage, but in several different sized pieces. Ordering in-store means one giant piece to work with, which in the end is SO much easier. There isn't any struggle to make sure each piece fits.
You'll need a big workspace for this such as a dining room, basement, or clean garage floor (personally, I'd like the space above, but you can't always get what you want).
Bring out your original fabric pieces from Part 1 & use them as templates when cutting your new pieces of fabric. I suggest pinning them down to the new fabric to ensure a good fit.
You'll want to lay your new fabric out, cutting out each face first (backside, frontside). I recommend cutting them in the reverse order of how you took them off in Part 1.
Now it's time to gather your staple gun & shears and cut pieces for Part 4!
See you soon!
Part 1- Deconstruction
Part 2- Cleaning and updating the frame
Part 3- Choosing & cutting your new fabric
Part 4- Recovering your piece
So your piece is still naked, but you've gotten the frame all cleaned up and ready for some new fabric.
With so many fabrics available, how do you choose? I'll make it simple on you: if you've never upholstered a thing in your life, go with a solid. I repeat: go with a solid.
You do not want to add the frustration and added cost into choosing a patterned fabric. You'd have to match the pattern to itself for each separate piece, which means buying extra, and with patterned fabric already being pretty costly, that means some bucko bucks.
And if this is your first upholstery project, you don't want to waste hundreds of dollars on a piece you could potentially royally mess up.
Make sure you feel the fabric before buying it. I know that a lot of stores only have certain fabrics online (whoever decided that is not my favorite person), and so you need to order samples. It's better to spend a couple bucks on a sample than to buy the entire length of fabric and hate how it feels.
I went with an upholstery linen since it's soft, thicker than typical linen, but not super bulky. It also comes in a variety of colors at an average of $20/yd, versus some of the really thick solids that go for around $40/yd.
The fabric I chose happened to be 50% off, so instead of $19.99/yd, I got it for $9.99/yd. I also happened to have an email coupon from JoAnn's for an additional 25% off my entire Home Decor fabric purchase (you hardly EVER see those), sale & regular priced items included.
That meant that overall, this fabric only cost me $7.50/yd, absolutely unheard of for upholstery fabric that couldn't be more perfect if it tried. I ordered an entire 10 yard bolt, and spent less than $82 after taxes.
**As of 7/6/16 this exact fabric is on sale for $8.00/yd before any coupon!
I advise you order 2 extra yards for any project; if anything happens to your piece after it's finished, you'll have the correct fabric "in stock" to fix it. Sometimes fabric doesn't stay available forever, so it's always a good idea to have your exact match in storage rather than having to re-do the entire piece.
***If you're ordering fabric, always order it in-store. Ordering online could mean you get your yardage, but in several different sized pieces. Ordering in-store means one giant piece to work with, which in the end is SO much easier. There isn't any struggle to make sure each piece fits.
You'll need a big workspace for this such as a dining room, basement, or clean garage floor (personally, I'd like the space above, but you can't always get what you want).
Bring out your original fabric pieces from Part 1 & use them as templates when cutting your new pieces of fabric. I suggest pinning them down to the new fabric to ensure a good fit.
You'll want to lay your new fabric out, cutting out each face first (backside, frontside). I recommend cutting them in the reverse order of how you took them off in Part 1.
Now it's time to gather your staple gun & shears and cut pieces for Part 4!
See you soon!
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