If the upholstered furniture has managed to get bored or lost its attractiveness due to long-term use, then you should not rush to change the situation, since sewing a cover on a sofa or armchair with your own hands is a more practical and creative way to update the interior. In addition, handmade furniture covers are back in fashion and are considered a very stylish design element.
It is quite difficult to keep the beautiful upholstered furniture intact, especially if there are animals or small children in the house. Therefore, it is much easier to protect sofas and armchairs from stubborn stains and traces of cat or dog claws with elegant covers. But before you sew a cover on the sofa with your own hands, you must carefully select the fabric and calculate its footage.
How to choose fabric for covers
In order not to complicate the work of sewing a sofa cover, it is recommended to focus on fabrics of medium density, not stretching and not satin. It should be remembered that a household sewing machine may simply not cope with a very dense material, therefore it is preferable to choose durable beautiful fabrics that are resistant to fading, numerous washes and do not form puffs.
If you do not have enough experience in cutting and sewing oversized products, then fabrics with a small pattern that do not require adjustment and cutting in a certain direction, like striped or checked material, are best suited for sewing covers.
Calculation of fabric footage
Before sewing a cover on a sofa, determine the amount of fabric required. For this, all parts are carefully measured, regardless of their shape. Even if the sofa has rounded handles and smooth outlines, every detail is presented in the form of a rectangle, ignoring all the curves.
For oversized furniture, cutting out a single piece for the seat and back is allowed; cutting fabrics for long and wide sofas requires the creation of separate parts that are subsequently aligned along the seam. When cutting, it is necessary to take into account the allowances for the joints: each part requires the addition of an additional 6-7 cm.
After purchase, the fabric is washed, dried and ironed using hot steam - this is a measure to avoid shrinkage of the finished product during subsequent washings.
Sewing a sofa cover
The fabric is placed on a flat surface, the required number of rectangular parts is cut out, and then, with the help of tailor's pins, it is fixed on the sofa with the wrong side out. All rectangles are connected together with a basting seam, repeating the bends of the furniture.
After careful adjustment of the future cover to the shape and dimensions of the sofa, all the parts are sewn together on a sewing machine, departing from the basting line by 1.5 cm. Excess fabric is carefully trimmed, the edges of the seams are processed with a "zigzag" or using an overlock.
The cover is turned inside out on the front side, tried on on the sofa, places that need correction are marked with pins or basting stitches. After eliminating all the shortcomings, the product is tried on again, after which the edges are processed. The cover for the corner sofa is also sewn using the same technology.
If a combined part of the back and seat was used in the work, then in order for the middle part of the cover not to move from its place during children's play, it is recommended to sew a strong tape at the junction of both parts, which can be fixed with a knot on the back of the sofa by passing it between the back and armrests.
A ready-made sofa cover, sewn with your own hands, is decorated with decorative elements made from the remnants of fabric. If there is a lot of material left, then beautiful pillows can be sewn from it, giving the interior a single style.
