Part II: Renew and reuse: a guide to reupholstering
April 12, 2018
Reupholstering furniture and cushions is a fantastic way to breathe new life into some of your favourite pieces of furniture, without having to say goodbye and add it to the rubbish pile.
The wear and tear of furniture is only a natural part of its life cycle – repeated cleanings, hard-to-remove stains and fabric fade are just some of the major ‘life events’ your furniture will go through. But if you can’t bear to part with a beloved item of furniture, there is a means to an end to bring it back to life and restore its character.
Our team at Darkie Designs offers a full reupholstering service on both furniture items and cushions. We offer reasonable rates, a gorgeous selection of fabrics and an efficient turn-around time.
But perhaps you’re looking for a DIY project of your own and had your eye on a worn down item of furniture?
Here are a few essential tips for reupholstering DIY:
As a fore warning if you are reupholstering an item of furniture for the very first time – try and avoid using leather fabrics, as it is far more difficult to cut and staple leather. This is perhaps a task for reupholstering professionals.
Start with a simple piece of furniture for your first DIY reupholstering project, such as a dining room chair. Make sure to use very sharp scissors for the task and a robust pair of pliers!
Essential items you will need:
- Your chosen upholstery fabric
- Needle nose pliers
- A rubber mallet
- Scissors
- Glue
- A staple gun
- Wool batting / foam
- Tailor’s chalk
Simple steps to reupholstering:
Before
After
Step 1:
Remove all worn down cushions, fabric, nails and staples from your old chair with the needle nose pliers. Ensure the old fabric is not torn as you remove it.
Step 2:
Ensure the frame of the chair is in good condition, free of cracks, breaks or scuffs. If you notice any significant cracks or breaks which affect the frame, it may not be worth reupholstering.
Step 3:
Use the existing fabric you removed to trace upon and measure out your new upholstery fabric. Use the tailor’s chalk to draw out the tracing. Then cut the new fabric according to the tracing, ensuring you leave at least 10cm extra on the sides so that it can be secured around the edges.
Step 4:
Place the new fabric on the cushion, stretch and wrap as you would when wrapping a gift. Use the staple gun to secure the fabric in place once it has been wrapped smoothly and evenly. Ensure patterned fabrics are placed in the correct direction i.e. not upside- down or back- to-front! If you don’t plan on using the existing cushion, replace with the woollen batting or foam, just make sure to measure it out correctly to the same volume as the previous cushion.
Step 5:
This step requires you to smooth all the fabric edges, using the staple gun and glue to ensure the cushion is covered securely. Seam the edges properly, ensuring there are no gaps which can rip and tear over time.
Step 6:
Replace your newly upholstered cushion and use nails and screws to keep it in place. Follow the exact same procedure for the rest of your items of furniture if it has more than one cushioned section i.e. a cushioned back rest or arms.
While this DIY task can be time-consuming it certainly is rewarding seeing your hard work and creativity come to fruition. If you simply don’t have the time, our team at Darkie Designs would be happy to reupholster your prized furniture for you!
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Back in March of 2020, Bianca and Jana were dusting off their Fez’s and grabbing the pashminas out of storage in preparation to Rock the Casbah! However, as we all know and vividly remember - with March, came the eventual Covid shutdown, and instead of frolicking down the Moroccan streets, we all shut ourselves inside and watched the days tick by… 3 Years later, and now we can finally say - with conviction - that they’re going to Morocco at the start of September! This blog, filled with excitement and curiosity about all the weird and wonderful curios they might find, and endless sourcing they’ll do, stays as a reminder that sometimes plans change, things go awry and there’s not much you can do about it other than persevere - and that we did! So, here’s Bianca and Jana’s innermost thoughts about the trip, 3 years before it came to fruition, enjoy :) We've got our passports out and Jana has already picked out what she's going to wear each day… Come March [September] we'll be heading north with Air France to the Kingdom of Morocco, bright eyed and bushy tailed as we make our base in the ancient city of Marrakesh (also known as Marrakech to the French, but we're not French, so we'll go with the English version until all that fuss about Brexit is sorted out) - This turned into a year long negotiations trade, and now us outsiders would pay nearly double what we used to if we visit the UK - thankfully our flight is direct!! We'll be looking for inspiration and will be investigating what's there that we could possibly bring back to The Hoed. We can't wait to experience the atmosphere and afro-arabic influences of this amazing place as we visit the celebrated souks and off-the-beaten track artists and craftsmen that make Marrakesh so special. We're desperate to see the beautifully hand-crafted furniture, textiles, fabrics, rugs, carpets, objets d'art, accessories, lighting… anything that catches our eye and could possibly be brought back south. Berber mats and rugs are definitely on our list, as are the kind of furnishings you might find in a gorgeous Bedouin tent. If you think about it, the Bedouin refined the art of "glamping" into an artform - fabulous carpets on the ground, soft, billowing fabrics hung here and there, plump cushions spread on the ground, intricate leatherwork and carved wood, patinated metal… Total Glamping vibes! We just love all of it and will be tracking as much of it down as we can. We'll also have an eye or three out for wonderful ceramics and glassware and wonderful lamps that give off soft, filtered light. For us it's about workmanship, so we'll hopefully be finding the people who make furniture and ceramics using techniques that have been passed down over countless generations meaning that everything we look at will have its own, and its own special story. Our mission is to share those stories with you and, if it's feasible, bring some of that special workmanship home to the Rainbow Nation. We're most definitely inspired and are sure this is going to be a truly special trip! Counting the sleeps till then! Less than a month to go now - we will be keeping the updates going on our social channels as well as another few blog posts to explain in detail our wild adventures - Stay tuned!