Thursday, September 17, 2009

Camelback Comeback

When Hubby and I first bought our house, nearly a year ago, I knew I needed some extra furniture to fill it up. This sounds like great fun in theory, but our "Superfluous Furniture/Home Decor" expense fund had mysteriously run dry.

I've yet to get to the bottom of it.


So I turned to Craigslist, my new bestie. We had an entire extra living space to furnish, and we found this old gal for a reasonable price.

(these were the only pics I could find of the old couch)













I liked the shape of it and we both liked the color (at the time), so with a quick sniff and a once-over, we hauled it to our new, empty home.












Fast forward a few months and I'm not so thrilled with my purchase. Oh, I like the couch okay, but our dog, who is NOT allowed on any other furniture, has seen fit to curl up for an afternoon nap on numerous occasions. His tiny white hairs are a dead giveaway. Stinker. I really didn't mind so much, since we hardly ever use this room and have only sat on the couch a handful of times.

Also, I've since decided that buying a second-hand, upholstered piece of furniture this large is walking a little too close to the edge for me.

We briefly discussed getting a new one, but didn't want to spend the money. And besides, Mrs. DIY (moi) was pretty sure she could make a slipcover or reupholster it herself!

Sounds easy enough, right?

RIGHT.


So here she is! Sadly, I have no in-progress photos to share. I wasn't entirely sure I wouldn't scrap the whole thing mid-way through, and I didn't want any physical evidence.
















What do you think? Totally different, right??

You guessed it- I stapled and hand sewed that baby right on top of the old upholstery.















The fabric I chose is probably a mid-weight cotton, so the stiffness of the old chenille underneath helped give it good structure.

I like to wing it. I'm wild like that.















The arms here probably took the most time. I sewed them on BY HAND, people, BY HAND. Not gonna lie- I'm pretty proud of myself. I even put a little piping in the cushions! I thought it would be a nightmare, but it wasn't too bad.
















Then I made these babies for a little something extra.












In case you're wondering (and I know you are), I made myself a pattern before I got started to know how much yardage to buy. I found this tip on some upholstery website and HIGHLY recommend this step if you're planning to try this. Basically you measure each piece of the couch and make a pattern to scale on a piece of grid paper, then cut them all out and lay them out in 54" width, to see how many yards you need. Make sense? :) It took me all day just for this step, but I would have seriously underestimated how much fabric I needed otherwise.

Hope you like it! Come over some time and have a seat!



19 comments:

  1. Shut up!! I love it and am super impressed at your mad skills! Great job.

    ReplyDelete
  2. wow...you out did your self!!! it really turned out fab! I sent the sight to grma P. so she can see your new found skills! p.s. aren't u glad you have a sewing machine..they are sew handy!

    ReplyDelete
  3. I have to tell you, this is 100x better than so many other projects I have seen to cover a sofa. This looks finished while others look like well, tucked in fabric.

    Kudos!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Did you use a pattern or just wing it on that bad boy?! I want to recover ours SO BAD but I'm clueless where to start?! Yours looks fab!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Holy. nice work. That looks like it was made that way :)

    ReplyDelete
  6. Wow you are soooooooooooo clever - this is such a transformation - thanks so much for sharing :)

    ReplyDelete
  7. bravo, bravo! i recently snagged myself an old singer at a g-rage sale... thanks for the inspiration!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Great job! I'm super impressed! It looks so professional.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Duke has the nicest bed I have ever seen! : ) Honestly, though, I am sooo beyond impresed. You might have yourself a little side job soon!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Oh my gosh. You are amazing and so talented- slipcovers are hard! Great job!

    ReplyDelete
  11. GREAT job!
    That looks so difficult - I'm impressed!

    ReplyDelete
  12. Wow! that is impressive!!
    SMiles!
    Michelle

    ReplyDelete
  13. Way to go girl!! SOOOOO much better and I am so impressed... that is a JOB!
    ~Whitney

    ReplyDelete
  14. Thanks ladies!!! You all are too kind!

    -Aja

    ReplyDelete
  15. WOW! It is unbelievable! Covering a chair is going to be my next major project. Seeing things like your sofa help encourage me that I CAN do it!

    ReplyDelete
  16. It looks like it was professionally upholstered! Great Job! Thanks for visiting my blog.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Wow! That is unbelievable. I can't believe you did that yourself (I mean, I DO believe you, but you did such a good job it looks professionally done!) :-) Great job!
    pk @ Room Remix

    ReplyDelete

I ♥ your comments! Strange or lovely or somewhere in between, lay 'em on me!

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...