Vintage Sofa Reupholstery of a Family Heirloom

Have you ever had a décor project that meant a lot more to you than just decorating? This sofa reupholstery project is meaningful to me because the sofa belonged to my beloved grandparents and was part of my life since I can remember. In this post, Vintage Sofa Reupholstery of a Family Heirloom, I show you the process of selecting fabric and finishes and how the project progressed over two years. I completed the work myself and took a long break when I was about 75% of the way through the project. I’ll cover the following topics: how to choose upholstery fabric, how to estimate fabric yardage, when to call a professional, style details (like wood finishes and nailhead trim), and upholstery steps, resources, and tips. This post isn’t a complete tutorial on the project as an entire book could be written on that project. However, whether you’re a DIYer or want to have a piece professionally upholstered, I think you will find this post useful.

Family Heirloom

When my grandparents passed away 10 years ago, I was given this sofa. I remember feeling a responsibility to respectfully care for it because it represented so much to me. My grandparents had a beautifully decorated home where extended family would gather every Christmas, summer, and Easter. My happiest childhood memories were in their home, surrounded by caring and loving people. There are countless family photos on this sofa, and countless naps (it’s the best napping sofa!). Laying our Christmas stockings by the fire, having family photos taken at my aunt’s wedding, and holding my baby cousins are a few precious memories.

Before Photos

My grandmother had a wonderful sense of style and I always loved this sofa. The fabric on the sofa was a softly striped and patterned light green heavy-weight upholstery material. It had not been reupholstered during my lifetime, so it was at least 45 years old. It had faded and thinned irregularly and the cushions were flattened and thin. Sadly, our cat was drawn to scratching it which caused further damage. Style-wise, it didn’t quite work with my more casual décor.

Starting the Project

About 2 years ago, my youngest son started grade 1 and I had a little more time on my hands after completing the refresh of the other elements in our living room. For the board and batten tutorial, click here, and for the painted piano tutorial, click here. Although I looked into getting the sofa professionally upholstered, it was completely out of our budget. I purchased the fabric and watched a lot of videos about reupholstery. I highly recommend watching numerous videos (check out the ones in my resource list below), as it’s definitely the best free way to learn upholstery skills. When I was 70% ready, I jumped in and started ripping off the old fabric. I always start projects before I’m 100% ready because I know I will never start otherwise. Every time I ran into a snag, I’d take a break (sometimes for weeks or months) and watch additional videos.

When to Call a Professional

I think the first step in the vintage sofa reupholstery process is to determine if a piece of furniture is worth the expense of reupholstery. To do this, you will likely want to call a professional and get an estimate. You can often obtain a free estimate via email to get a ballpark figure. Look into local upholstery shops for more information.

Vintage sofa reupholstery prices vary significantly by region and to decide if you want to do the reupholstery yourself or hand it over to a professional, you need to be able to compare costs. In the case of our vintage sofa, it would have cost several thousand dollars to have it professionally reupholstered (not including the cost of the fabric). I wanted to have ours professionally done but it just wasn’t possible. Since reupholstery is so expensive, even more so for large pieces, it makes sense to have it done professionally only if the piece is very meaningful or valuable. If it’s a kiln-dried hardwood-frame sofa with a solid structure, then it’s a good candidate for reupholstery. A 20-year old IKEA sofa, maybe not so much. If you opt to reupholster a piece yourself, the price point is much lower (depending on fabric choice), so any quality piece with a solid structure may be worthwhile. I can’t imagine throwing a piece of furniture away and I’m continually reinventing pieces. Reupholstering old furniture is environmentally friendly and keeps things out of the landfill.

You should also consider whether the sofa needs work that you can’t do yourself, particularly when it comes to structural repairs like wood frames and spring systems. Make sure to add up all the costs, including labour, materials, and delivery charges.

How is Vintage Sofa Reupholstery Unique?

Vintage pieces are often handmade, have higher quality materials (like a hardwood frame), better workmanship, and were built to last a lifetime. For these reasons, they often make excellent candidates for reupholstery. However, they can pose a few unique challenges. They are older and may have suffered structural damage over the years. This can be an added complication and expense to correct.

You may also find that they are so well made that they may be difficult to deconstruct. I found the removal of the upholstery staples to be very difficult- there were several hundred to remove and they were all practically cemented in the tough old hardwood!

You may also be surprised by the materials you find in the reupholstery- I found burlap and beautiful thick 100% cotton batting and something that might have been coconut fibres. Vintage pieces commonly have straw, horsehair, or coconut fibres in their construction. You may even find something lost from the past, like an old letter or newspaper clipping!

How to Choose Vintage Sofa Reupholstery Fabric

Fabric weight

It’s pretty important to choose the correct fabric weight. Most fabric stores sell upholstery weight fabric. Upholstery fabric is some of the thickest and sturdiest fabric. You’ll want at least a medium-weight fabric for sofa reupholstery.

Rub Test

You’ll also want to choose a fabric with a high rub test rating. In a rub test, the fabric is subjected to a high number of rubs to see how it wears after prolonged use. The more your sofa will be used (eg. daily in a TV room versus less frequently in a formal living room), the higher the rub test rating you will want.

Materials

The most common fabrics for reupholstery include cotton, linen, blends, and synthetics. Cotton and cotton blends come in a variety of finishes, from soft brushed cotton, to plush velvet, to sturdy canvas and denim. Note that natural materials tend to be a bit more expensive and cotton, in particular, has a tendency to fade over time especially in a sunny room. Synthetics are quite popular for upholstery because of their durability, washability, and fade resistance. Keep in mind that it is possible to purchase fade-resistant fabric, wrinkle-resistant fabric, and/or stain-protected fabric (e.g. Stainmaster). Make sure to purchase outdoor fabric if you’re going to use the upholstered piece outside. Leather reupholstery is a much more difficult procedure requiring heavy-duty sewing equipment.

Colour and Pattern

My rule of thumb is to go for a neutral solid colour for sofas. This is even more true for pieces you take the time and effort to reupholster as you’re most likely planning on having them for a long time. Upholstery tip- You will likely tire of a pattern after 5-10 years, but your upholstery job could last 15-30 years, so it’s best to go neutral. Neutrals include white, cream, beige, grey, and soft blue-grey or green-grey. I wouldn’t do pattern on a sofa personally, because I like to change my pillows and décor elements often and I don’t want to be limited by a particular pattern. If you want pattern on an upholstered piece, choose a chair, which is much easier and less expensive to reupholster when you’re ready for a change.

My Fabric Choice

I decide on a heavyweight 100% Belgian linen in a natural beige colour. This fabric was definitely a splurge, but I purchased it at a discount fabric store (unfortunately, they’re no longer in business).

How to Choose Style Details

First, think of the theme/style you want to evoke. For me it was a relaxed French country feel with that natural linen look. The lines of my sofa are French in style so it also would have been appropriate to choose a more formal French style fabric.

Changes to the Sofa Shape and Cushion Configuration

If you’re working with a professional upholsterer or are a very talented DIYer, you may consider changing the shape of your sofa. For example, you might make a rounded back sofa straight, or vice versa. The shape changes I made were subtle- adding extra padding to the back so it could act as a tight-back sofa without the need for back cushions, adding padding to the sofa sides to give it a curvier silhouette, and changing the cushion configuration.

Probably the most difficult decision I had to make with this project was whether to change the cushion configuration or not. In the end, I decided to stick with 2 base cushions but removed the four back cushions entirely. I added padding to the back, making it a tight back sofa. This configuration works well for someone who likes to fill up a sofa with pretty throw pillows. And there’s more room for naps!

Wood finishes

Some sofas, particularly vintage ones have wood trim on the armrests, legs, skirt, or back. Keep in mind that you can sometimes upholster over excess wood trim with padding and fabric. Initially, I had wanted to strip and stain the wood trim. However, after stripping the wood, during my attempt at staining, I noticed that the wood took the stain very irregularly. I tried conditioning the wood, then tried different stains, hemp oil, plain wax, antiquing wax, and the result was always uneven. Even though I could have done a faux-painted wood, but I decided on an antiqued white paint to match my coffee table. I used Fusion Mineral Paint in Raw Silk with Expresso Wax (very lightly applied). These factors can make vintage sofa reupholstery a little trickier than reupholstery of newer pieces.

Trim and Piping

There are all kinds of trim used to cover upholstery staples and the edges where the fabric meets the wood trim. Examples include piping, flat braid, fringe, tassel trim, scalloped trim, and more elaborate trim. Nailheads can also be added to a simple fabric trim using decorative upholstery tacks. Better Homes and Gardens nicely outlines the various types of trim.

Piping is often sewn into cushion edges. This gives the piece a more finished and more traditional or classic appearance. For a modern or Boho look, consider cushions without piping. Upholstery tip- If it’s your first upholstery or slipcover project, I recommend going without piping as it’s tricky to get it perfect.

How to Estimate Fabric Yardage

I find this handy yardage calculator to be very useful, at least as a first estimate. If you don’t care to do a more detailed calculation, then add an additional 25-30% material. Upholstery tip- I find it useful to create a 3-D drawing of the pieces I plan to upholster- i.e. sofa body broken into back, seat back, seat base, armrests, sides, and skirt, as well as seat cushions and back cushions. Then, estimate the amount of fabric required for each piece. Allow extra material for piping, seam matching and limitations in fabric width. Also, assume you might make a few mistakes, so always add extra. It’s often impossible to obtain additional fabric from the same dye lot if you run out. Additionally, it’s a really good idea to have extra fabric in case a cushion cover or armrest becomes damaged in the future. This allows you to be able to replace the damaged piece rather than having to reupholster the entire piece.

Vintage Sofa Reupholstery Tools

• Sewing machine and serger (optional) if you’re making cushion covers
• Staple gun- I have the air-powered compressor type. A handheld staple gun might suffice for a smaller project like a dining room chair. You’ll also need upholstery staples.
• Scissors, measuring tape, pencil and paper
• Staple remover, fine needle-nosed pliers, floral wire cutters, and a mini Phillips screwdriver
• New foam if you are replacing cushions or building up parts of the sofa. You can find a local or online retailer to cut cushions to the size you need.
• Batting to wrap cushions and replace padding on sofa
• Foam adhesive
• Foam saw or very sharp kitchen knife if you are cutting foam yourself
• Stain or paint and fine paintbrushes, cotton cloths to wipe stain, furniture wax if desired
• Upholstery fabric
• Handheld rotary cutter, 24” mat and 24” clear ruler if you’re making piping
• Piping (optional)
• Cardboard seam tape
• Thread, upholstery thread
• Upholstery needles and sewing needles
• Zippers for removable cushion covers
• Dust cover fabric for underneath the sofa
• Glue gun and high-temperature glue sticks for applying trim
• Trim and/or upholstery tacks and upholstery hammer

Upholstery Steps

Prep Work

• Make all the difficult design decisions- this could take several weeks or longer. Create a Pinterest design board to gather all your ideas.
• Measure and determine the necessary fabric yardage. Use this handy calculator.
• Purchase fabric and all other materials and tools.

Deconstruction

• Study your piece to see how it was put together.
• Upholstery Tip- Remove pieces in reverse order to how they were initially applied. So, first, remove the piece that was added last, and so on until you lastly removed the first piece that was originally applied. As you do this, take pictures and record the order in which you have removed the fabric (this is VERY important).
• Label each piece of fabric removed (e.g. seat base) and keep these pieces.
• Upholstery tip- to remove staples, start by pulling the fabric, as sometimes this will cause the staples to pop out. If that doesn’t work, try your staple remover tool. That didn’t work very well for me, so I ended up using a mini Phillips screwdriver with the handle wrapped in a towel (to protect the wood from dents) to pry the staples out. I also had plyers on hand and floral wire cutters for staples that broke and needed to be pulled out, or, worst-case scenario, cut off.
• You may also want to remove layers of batting, or you can just add fresh batting on top to give the sofa more plushness. It depends on the condition of the existing batting and how difficult it might be to remove.

Reconstruction

• Strip and stain, or paint the trim and allow to thoroughly dry before proceeding with upholstery work.
• Use foam and/or batting to refresh and enhance the sofa shape. You’ll need your staple gun here as well as foam adhesive. Cut cushion foam to the desired shape or have it cut professionally (recommended). Wrap new cushions in batting.
• Use the old fabric pieces to trace your pattern (marking “cut” lines) on the new fabric. Always make your new pieces a few inches larger than the originals, as you will trim excess fabric as you go.
• Cut the fabric pieces and label them so you know where they will be going.
• Pin the fabric pieces to the sofa to ensure they will be a good fit.
• Working in the order that the sofa was initially upholstered, start to piece your fabric onto the sofa frame. A variety of techniques are used to do this- in many places, you’ll staple so that the staples are hidden or you’ll hand sew seams from the outside. As you get nearer to the end of the project, you will have edges that need to be stapled with the staples showing. Don’t worry, they will be covered with trim at the end. I recommend watching a variety of videos to take note of the different techniques used for a particular style. While deconstructing your sofa, you will want to take note of construction details so you can replicate them using the new fabric.
• Once all your pieces are incorporated into the reupholstery, cut and staple the dust cover onto the sofa bottom. This is easiest if the sofa is placed upside down.

Trim and Slipcovers

• Add the trim using your glue gun. Add upholstery tacks if desired at an even spacing. I found this video by Miss Mustard Seed very helpful.
• Sew the removable cushion covers. I made my own piping using the upholstery fabric. Upholstery Tip- cut piping on the bias (diagonal) using a rotary cutter. I used 2” strips. To sew the covers, make a back piece with a zipper than extends all the way across the back. Then pin you pieces together right sides facing in. If you’re using piping, pin it to the inside of the pinned pieces (see diagram). Sew pieces together with a piping or zipper foot on your sewing machine. Upholstery Tip- when making cushion slipcovers, make them exactly the size of your cushions or a ½” smaller unless you want baggy cushions.

After Photos

I love how this piece fits perfectly into our décor now. And every time I look at it I am reminded of happy memories. The neutral fabric was a good choice for us because I love changing my décor seasonally, and I’ll be able to do that effortlessly now.

Upholstery Resources

The Ultimate Guide to Trim by BHG

Fabric Calculator by Sailrite

Miss Mustard Seed Blog Reupholstery posts

Videos

How to Upholster a Couch by Jami Ray Vintage

How to Reupholster a Sofa/Couch by ALO

Reupholstering a French Chair series by Miss Mustard Seed

Books

Complete Step-by-Step Upholstery by Ruth Dye

Spruce: A Step-by-Step Guide to Upholstery and Design by Amanda Brown

Online fabric and suppliers

I encourage you to support local fabric stores. However, I recognize that’s not always possible. One online company that I’ve been happy with over the years is Fabric.com Make sure to read the fabric reviews and always purchase a fabric swatch for a large upholstery project.

A Few Additional Tips for Vintage Sofa Reupholstery

• Learn about the history and style of your piece. This will help you make informed choices about style choices and fabric selection.
• Take your time and do the research. If something isn’t working, take a break and/or watch additional videos.
• Practice on a smaller, less cherished piece first.
• Always measure twice (or more) before cutting your fabric! And purchase more fabric than you think you’ll need.

I hope you have enjoyed reading about my vintage sofa reupholstery experience. Believe it or not, I’m starting on two additional projects- with another large project waiting in the wings!