How to Repair Worn Mattress Upholstery

Clean and Inspect the Mattress

• 1

  Cleaning the mattress before beginning repairs helps expose any hidden damage, making it easier to decide what damage can be mended or patched. Sprinkle the entire top of the mattress with a light dusting of baking soda and wait for one hour.

• 2

  Use the extension wand and upholstery brush on a vacuum cleaner with a microfiber filter to remove the baking soda and any loose debris, such as dust, pet fur or hair, from the mattress’ seams and surface.

• 3

  Steam clean the mattress top and sides, using an upholstery attachment and 1/2 teaspoon of low-suds, hand-washing detergent per gallon of water.

• 4

  Allow the mattress to dry for 24 to 48 hours indoors, place it in the sun to dry, top of the box spring or across three or four sawhorses.

• 5

  Turn the mattress over and repeat dusting the mattress with baking soda, steam cleaning and drying.

• 6

  Inspect the seam tape binding the edges of the mattress. Find places where the thread has worked loose.

• 7

  Take the thread’s loose end and poke it through the eye of a curved tapestry needle. Pull 1 to 2 inches of the loose thread through the needle and fold it back against itself. Do knot it.

• 8

  Find a place along the seam that has not yet separated. Push the needle through the last hole before the separation begins, making sure to hold the thread against itself, so that the needle does not come off in your hand.

• 9

  Take two to three stitches through that same hole, and then poke the needle through the stitches and pull tight to make a knot on the seam. Cut the loose thread and discard it.

• 10

  Thread the needle with whatever thread best matches the material of the mattress cover. Use cotton thread on a muslin-covered mattress, or polyester thread on a satin brocade mattress.

• 11

  Using the existing seam tape if it looks intact. Cut a new piece of seam tape if the old tape has frayed, stretched or become so brittle that it tears away with little force. Follow the existing needle holes to stitch the seam tape back into place.

Repair Tears

• 12

  Stitch across tears, pulling the sides together if you can do it without creating additional stress on the mattress cover.

• 13

  Make a back-and-forth lattice of stitches just wide enough to span the gap, from one end to the other, at least one-half to 1 inch past the intact fabric on each side and each end of the tear.

• 14

  Take two or three stitches to create a knot, beginning at one end of the latticework, then weave the needle over and under each thread.

• 15

  Knot the thread again at the other end of the latticework. Repeat this procedure until the tear is woven closed.

Repair Holes

• 16

  Cut pieces of Aida cloth, polyester screen cloth, burlap or mattress-matching fabric one to two inches larger in diameter than the hole you need to repair.

• 17

  Slip one edge of the patch into the hole, holding it in place on the underside of the mattress cover with your finger.

• 18

  Take one or two stitches through the cover and the patch keeping the patch in position and moving your finger a quarter-turn around the hole. Take two more stitches through the cover and the patch. Move your finger another quarter-turn and take two more stitches.

• 19

  Remove you finger from the hole and make sure that the entire patch is on the underside of the mattress cover. Take two more stitches.

• 20

  Using a whipstitch, stitch around the hole securing the patch to the underside of the mattress cover.

New Covers

• 21

  Place a fitted sheet on the mattress and turn sheet-side down on the bed.

• 22

  Put a second fitted sheet on the mattress, covering the remaining exposed mattress cover.

• 23

  Stitch along the elastic edge of the last sheet you put on the bed, beginning at the left edge of the mattress, at the foot of the bed. Stop 10 inches before reaching the right edge.

• 24

  Take three to five stitches making a knot where you stopped sewing.

• 25

  Turn the mattress around so that you have easy access to the head. Stitch along the elastic seam as before, beginning at the right edge of the mattress and stopping 10 inches before the left edge. Make five knotting stitches at your stopping point.

• 26

  Separate the two halves of the strip of hook-and-loop tape. Pin one-half of the hook-and-loop tape along the elastic seam of the sheet covering the top side of the mattress, going up the side of the bed from head to foot.

• 27

  Pin the other half to the covering the bottom of the mattress. Stitch the hook-and-loop tape in place.