I guess you could argue that all reupholstery falls into the category of ‘make do and mend’ but I want to give you other, more cost-effective ways to fix your furniture. These small solutions are great for addressing small cuts, tears and stains in order to make your furniture as long-lasting as possible.
You may have heard of Kintsugi, the Japanese art of fixing broken ceramics with gold, where the philosophy is to embrace the repair as part of the new history of the piece. I believe this can be applied to upholstery as well. Repairs do not always have to blend into the affected area; sometimes it’s best to embrace it with a contrast fabric or thread, which celebrates the solution and the new stage of life.
Darning
For small holes in the top fabric, darning is a great solution. You will need a curved needle (if working on a fixed piece of upholstery, or a straight needle if working on a removable cover) and thick thread or yarn to either match or contrast your fabric (depending on if you want to blend or highlight your fix). Decide whether you want a square, circle or organic shape and bear this in mind with your thread placement. First, stitch across the hole going sideways, sewing slightly beyond the hole on either side. Keep the threads close together until they cover the hole and tie off your thread when you are done. Now sew top to bottom, weaving the threads between the existing sideways stitches to form a thatch, keeping them close together to cover the hole in both directions. Again, tie off the thread when you are done.
Patching
The other option for small holes or rips is to sew a patch on. Again, why not embrace a contrasting fabric. You can glue a small piece of fabric inside the hole to help stop the fabric from tearing more. Then cut a patch and fold the edges underneath so the cut edges are not visible. Sew on the patch using a slip stitch. You can use a decorative stitch to create visual interest, if you prefer. Patching is a great option for cat scratch areas on furniture, as you can use more durable fabrics to make the patches.
Fixing seams
If a seam has started to open revealing a hole, you can simply use a slip stitch to close it back up. First, pin the seams back together and then follow the slip-stitch method (which I explain later in my book).Linwood Arlo fabrics
Replacing cushions
Often box cushions go flat over time as either the feather and down flatten or the foam degrades. For replacement foam wrapped in polyester you can follow the steps to making a new cushion inner in my book. Alternatively, you can order cushion inners made to size online with your choice of filling (feather and down, polyester, foam or a mix). To get the correct size, make sure to measure the size of the cover, not the degraded inner. Be specific with the supplier that you are supplying the exact size of the cover so they will know whether to add a tiny allowance to fill the cover or not. If they are feather wrapping the cushion it will be very full, so usually extra foam is not added. For soft foam, they may add a little extra to ensure the cover is filled out. You do not have to replace like for like. If you had foam cushions but you would prefer feather, you can swap.
Steaming
Steaming is a great option for cleaning upholstery but be careful. Not all fabrics can handle steam well; silk, for example, cannot withstand high temperatures. Professional upholstery cleaning services can clean your items on site, but always check your fabrics in advance and communicate your findings with the company. If your fabrics are dry-clean only, or have water-repellent, stain-resistant or other treatments, they will have different finishes and not all can be steamed or cleaned. Check before washing or steaming any upholstered covers, as many upholstery fabrics should not be cleaned with water. Steam can also help revitalise the foam inside if it has flattened over time. Looking after your items with regular cleaning, using the correct products, will help prolong their life.
Using your fabric offcuts
Keeping leftover pieces of fabric is an obsession of mine. I hate throwing away usable pieces and always try to avoid waste and sending things to landfill. But offcuts come in all shapes and sizes, so it can be difficult to know what to make with them. As upholsterers, we are used to making large pieces of furniture so smaller pieces can seem unusable. Here I share some of my favourite makes for smaller items!
Making a patchwork is by far the best solution for small offcuts, as you can cut small squares of the same size and sew them together to make a new larger piece of fabric. Mixing patterns and colours together works well for patchwork, and you can even start to make your own patterns within the layout if you like. A rotary cutter is perfect for this as you can layer the offcuts together and cut all the squares out at the same time.
- If you have a desired layout, arrange your squares before sewing. Make piles in the order you want them to appear in your strip for however many squares long you would like the patchwork to be (for example, 10 squares long).
- Take two of the squares from the first pile and sew them together with a 1 cm (3⁄8 in) seam allowance. Do the same with the other squares, joining them all together in one long strip.
- Repeat with the other piles until you have several strips of sewn squares.
- Press open each seam with an iron (this helps when joining in the next step).
- Join each strip together. This is more tricky as you will need to match up each seam to ensure your patchwork sewing is straight in all directions. I do this by holding the cross sections together as I sew each section, but you may prefer to pin them together.
- Press open the new long seams with an iron.
- Your patchwork is ready for use! You can make many things with it, including cushion covers, or use it to upholster another project.
These are a very easy make and a cute way to use herbs and scents at home. Using dried lavender, cedar or mint will help protect against moths. You can sew the scent bags in whatever way you want, as either bags or little cushions for drawers or something to attach to a hanger for your wardrobe.
If you have or know children with a doll’s house, offcuts are perfect for making tiny versions of the furniture you have already reupholstered. You can even make tiny curtains, tablecloths, cushions or dollʼs clothes. Let yourself get carried away with the possibilities, and if you can recreate your whole home in miniature form, you get bonus points!
In a similar way to the drawer scents, you can sew this in whatever design you want and then add small stones or pebbles to weigh the bag or cushion shape down in order to hold open a door. It’s lovely to use fabric in unexpected ways like this throughout your home.
If using heavy pebbles, you may want to line the shape before sewing your main fabric. You can even add a thin layer of foam to the bottom to protect your floor.
Long offcuts are great to put towards making a contrasting or complementary trim for another project, so always keep hold of them. Long lengths of offcuts are great for frills and diagonal lengths are great for piping on other projects, especially if you need a contrast colour or pattern. If you have long lengths of piping leftover, these are great for using on scatter cushions.
Plain fabric offcuts can be used for the backs of scatter cushions, thus saving your chosen patterned fabric for just the fronts. Remember that scatter cushions don’t always need to be square; try sewing rectangular lumbar shapes or even round bolsters.
I would love to have a totally upholstered room, where everything is covered in fabric! And adding fabric to mirror frames and picture frames is my attempt at starting this phenomenon. Add a thin layer of polyester if you want a more padded look. For thin frames you may need to glue the fabric into place rather than stapling it on.
Tiny scraps can be used to make fabric-covered buttons using your button press, which is great if you want contrasting buttons for a project. I usually keep a selection of mismatching buttons in my kit ready to trial on projects that may benefit from floating buttons.
Finally, if you don’t think you will get around to using your offcuts, you can donate them to people who will use them. Local schools or craft centres may take them, or larger pieces can be donated to charity shops that stock craft materials. I once donated my offcut leather to a crafter who made small leather items such as purses and key rings, so there is always someone out there who will be grateful for free materials, and it is best to avoid sending them to landfill when they can be used.
Long strips of fabric can also be made into drum lampshades with a drum lampshade kit (bought online). Alternatively, you could sew a pleated or gathered shade. One thing to bear in mind is the density of the fabric, as it may not let much light through, but for directional up or down light it’s perfect.
This is an edited extract from Modern Upholstery by Micaela Sharp (Hardie Grant, £30), Photography © Emli Bendixen
