How to Repair Upholstery

Sofas and other upholstered furniture can be costly to repair. Learn how to do your own upholstery repair without breaking the bank. With these steps you will avoid the high expense of hiring someone to do it professionally or, worse, buying new ones.

Things You'll Need

• Upholstery needle
• Thread
• Pattern paper
• Upholstery fabric
• Scissors
• Crayons
• Wax paper
• Hot iron
• Nail polish
• Scraps of fabric
• Scraps of leather

Instructions

How to Repair Damaged Upholstery Made of Fabric

1. Examine the size of the damage. Determine the severity of the upholstery damage.

2. Sew the damaged area if the size is small and thin in size you can sew it. You can easily conceal the fabric damage if the hole is small by sewing using a color of thread that matches or blends well with the color of fabric. You will use the process of threading to replace the damaged thread or fiber by using an upholstery needle and the thread of choice thread to to cover the tiny hole or rip.

3. Patch the damaged area if it hole is bigger in size where thread would not be enough to hold or conceal the hole. Mark the size using a pattern paper placed on top, then cut the paper to size.

4. Cut a piece of matching fabric from the upholstered furniture that is hidden. For example the underside or lower back of a sofa or chair.

5. Sew on the piece of fabric over the damaged area. Make sure that if it is a patterned fabric that you make it seamless by matching the pattern lines and curves. Make sure to strengthen your stitches by not placing them too far away from each other and by doubling your threads.

6. For a large damage that needs you to remove the section, make sure to rip off from the seams and then match the pattern and sew along the areas where you removed the fabric. The fabric you removed will serve as your pattern for when you cut the replacement fabric upholstery.

How to Repair Upholstery Made With Leather

1. Determine the extent of the damage of the leather upholstery by checking its size and depth.

2. Melt some crayons that match with the shade of the leather. this works best with synthetic leather.

3. Place the melted crayon to patch the hole.

4. Blend immediately using an applicator stick and spread the crayon flat. Do this quickly before it hardens.

5. Place a wax paper on top of the crayon and then press on with hot iron until it melts and flattens the crayon. Be careful not to heat the iron too much that it will damage the leather. This method will work with small holes only. For bigger holes you are better off having a professional do the re-upholstering or get a slipcover to disguise it if you cannot hire a pro. You can try to cut a piece of leather to sew on as a patch but it will not look attractive.

Tips & Warnings

• Cover with a throw or slipcover to hide the damage if it is huge.

• Do not leave the hot iron unattended. Turn it off immediately after use.