Wednesday, July 28, 2010

The saga of my reupholstered couch

When we moved into our apartment in October I bought this midcentury sofa on Craigslist. Mostly I just wanted the frame, figuring I could make new cushions in the fabric of my choosing. This proved to be more expensive than I had initially imagined. The cushions were so worn down that sitting on the couch you could feel the wood frame underneath. So not only did I need new fabric, but new foam as well, which is not cheap.

I also had a hard time finding affordable fabric that I liked. I had something really specific in my head--a charcoal gray wool--and the only thing I could find that remotely resembled this cost something like $40 a yard. Then I came across this post about upholstering a chair in gray wool felt, which set off a lightbulb in my head. I found a site selling wool felt for $10 a yard and ordered a huge roll of it. And then I procrastinated about three months.

After sewing one cushion a week, give or take, I finally finished on Sunday. From afar it looks pretty good but if you look at it up close you'll see that the felt is seriously pilling. In short, if you want a new couch that looks good, buy one at CB2 or something.

Okay, okay, I am kind of proud of my endeavor. Other than the pilling I think the end result is pretty good.

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