Supplies Needed to Reupholster an Antique Sofa
- Determining the needed fabric, yardage and tools requires carefully removing the antique sofa's fabric with scissors, a utility knife and an industrial staple remover. Jotting notes about fabric details, such as pleats, button tufting or welting, as well as information about how the fabric was attached to the sofa, is helpful when reupholstering an antique sofa.
- The reupholstering project may involve replacing the materials that make up the sofa's inside or supports. Most likely, the sofa has a layer of foam or wool padding directly under the layer of upholstery fabric. Beneath the padding, the sofa may have a layer of loose or rolled fillings. Replacement padding and fillings made of down, fiberfill, polyester, polyurethane foam or synthetic horsehair are available from upholstery supply houses. Webbing, which is available in polyester, jute or nylon in varying widths, can be used to weave a covering that supports the sofa's internal springs or to replace worn springs entirely. Refurbishing the springs using the webbing involves attaching the webbing in a basket-weave style using metal webbing clips, sewing each coil to the webbing with upholstery thread and a large sewing needle, and then tying the coil to the one directly next to it. Curved, sharp sewing needles are designed for this type of sewing.
- Upholstery fabrics are made in an endless variety of weights, textures, fibers and patterns. Options include matching the antique sofa's old fabric in type, changing is upholstery to match your other furniture's decor and giving the sofa a quirky or contemporary appearance. Organic materials, including cotton, linen, silk, wool and leather, provide an organic texture, but they do not wear as well as man-made microfibers and tightly woven synthetics. If you want a natural fabric, choose one with a high-thread count, which increases its durability. Purchasing a little more fabric than you think you will need allows for mistakes, to sew seams – because most bolts of upholstery fabric are about 54 inches wide -- and to match patterns if necessary. Leftover fabric is useful to cover a simple companion pillow.
- Upholstery-weight thread and a curved sewing needle are used to sew blind seams and darts on the sides and back of the sofa. It is possible to use a sewing machine to seam large areas, although traditionally all upholstery sewing is done by hand. A good-quality staple gun is helpful to attach fabric to the antique sofa's underside, where the fabric is attached to wood but will not be seen. If a fabric section was attached at the back or sides with upholstery tacks, do not try and reuse the tacks because they may be bent or brittle with age. New tacks, either plain or decorative, are available from most upholstery supply houses. Using the tacks requires pushing them in place using your fingers or a rubber-tipped mallet.