How difficult is it to make a sofa cover

[JamNan]

Just that basically. I have a horrid sofa that we have to live with as can't afford to replace it. I wondered how easy or difficult it is to make covers for it. I would have to make cushions as well. I was thinking of using dyed calico which I've seen on eBay (can't afford nice linen).
I would have to make the pattern as well.

I am experienced at sewing. Has anyone done this, and do you have any tips?

I have re-covered a number of chairs and a sofa. Made loose covers so they could be machine washed. Didn’t have money to pay for professional covers

im pretty good with sewing and machines having made clothes etc before

it is a lot of heavy and backbreaking work ! I have never had so many pin stabs and has to be careful not to get blood on fabric-my fingers were shredded. You need to pin the cover onto the sofa body piece by piece cutting, pulling, pinning, stitching, trimming as you go. It’s hard and more work to tack so I was literally pinning back to back along seam lines then hefting it under machine and stitching slowly removing pins inch by inch. Just handling weight of 3 seat sofa cover under machine and allowing those pins is a heavy lifting task. You have to pin, adjust, re pin to ensure covers are taught but not so tight as not being able to get on and off. You work on it inside out. The cushions are a bit easier , but then there’s multiple to do.

It took me 3 very full days to do a 3 seat sofa , and 2 days for an arm chair with cushion seat and back.

I’ve done a few chairs since. BUT I’d never do again and would find the money somehow o get done professionally. They looked good but I hated the process and my poor back tools days to recover ( ha!)

ve careful about fabric choice! You need upholstery fabric otherwise it won’t hold its shape and will bag after a short time, and can wear out quickly- if you go to all that effort you don’t want to end up having to do it all again 4 years later 🙄

I did mine years ago before YouTube , so I’m sure theres tons of how to videos out there now

Oh, I didn’t make a pattern, you drape fabric over each section and go in with pins- if it’s curved arms it’ll be hard to create paper pattern- paper can’t drape to do it accurately.
if it already has loose covers- then I’d remove, unpick and use that as pattern. Mine didn’t except seat cushions.

What makes it horrid? Could steam cleaning help? I've got a minging velour type sofa that gets gross arms and I can't afford to replace. Every now I scrub down with damp cloth in fairy liquid water, scrub a few times over, sprinkle baking soda on then wipe again. Gets a lot of horrible stuff off.

If it's tears etc - look up repairs people have done to cat scratches on sofas by embroidering.

It might be easier to get another set of sofa coverings secondhand and adapt than make from scratch? If its a fairly common size and shape.

TBH what you'd spend on fabric might buy you a secondhand sofa that's not too bad, without the risk of the end result being suboptimal. I think there's high risk of sofa covers ripping unless seams are superstrong and fabric tension is just right.

This kind of thing - probably works best on plain coloured sofa

https://www.pinterest.co.uk/pin/432204895475731759/

It's a minging velour type sofa from Made.com!
We've done the steam cleaning treatment and that didn't make much difference. The pile is bruised and faded and the colour does not fit my new house.

I've looked on Marketplace but to be honest haven't seen anything better than what I've got now.
Taking on board about the fabric -calico might stretch.

It's a small 2-seater with straight edges. I reckon I could fit the fabric against the sofa - I've done pattern cutting before.

Do I need to use piping?

I will rethink the fabric choice.

Off to find some You Tube vids.

Thank you both.

I made one with my limited sewing skills. The sofa was symmetrical so I could pin everything on the sofa wrong side out without a pattern, sew it and turn it right side out and it fitted perfectly. Slightly stretchy cotton polyester with a tiny beige check, so no matching problems.

I did three cushions in one, seat + back because I didn’t have much fabric and all the boxy edges on 6 cushions would have taken up a lot. I later realised that a single jersey fitted sheet is a good alternative, no sewing involved.

Our sofa was like this, symmetrical.
You’d be making your life difficult if you added piping, it would certainly be beyond me. But if you have scroll type arms it would look very smart around the curve.

Stretchy fabric. Now I hadn't thought of that.

My sofa is very similar in design to this one (just not as nice) and a bit smaller. It also has that same single cushion seat and straight edges on the arms. I want the new cover to look Skandi in a neutral colour brown/taupe linen.
I'll put the piping idea on hold, although I think I might have a little gadget in my sewing box that attaches to the machine and inserts piping cord.