How to Reupholster Furniture With Tufting

Take photographs of the furniture before you take off the covers. Continue taking pictures during the removal so you have reference images to help you put the new upholstery in position. Remove the existing upholstery using pliers, a flat screwdriver and a claw hammer. Try to keep the fabric intact as much as possible.

Use a seam ripper to open the seams between two fabric pieces. Place a piece of tape on each piece and label the item and where it goes. Iron the cover pieces to flatten out any folds or creases. Make a small slit around tufting buttons to pull the cover over the top of the buttons, leaving the buttons in place.

Remove the tufting buttons by locating the back support for the button. Often this will be under padding, foam, batting or webbing. Professionally upholstered tufted furniture often uses a prong back button. Undo the back of any fastener that appears to be holding the button prong or cords to the chair. Keep the fasteners if they are loose when you remove the buttons. Set them aside.

Place your ironed old cover pieces over your new fabric, matching pattern as necessary, and cut out new cover pieces. Examine the furniture to see if the stuffing is rotted, if any portion of the frame is weak or damaged, if the webbing has collapsed or if padding is missing. Replace and repair the frame and cushion, stuffing or webbing before reupholstering the chair. Most upholstery items are readily available at a local upholstery shop or online.

Cover your furniture piece. In general you should sew items together that were sewn originally. Follow the same seams and techniques used in the original. Most pieces are upholstered from the largest fabric area to the smallest. Usually this means the chair back is the first piece. Since this piece is often tufted, once you staple or tack the fabric in the seat joint and pull it up over the front of the stuffing, you will need to deal with the tufting.

Cover your buttons with the new fabric. In many cases a local upholstery shop will have a prong machine and will cover all the buttons you need for a small fee. Have a few extra made at the same time. You can also cover buttons by hand using covered button pieces available at most fabric stores. These are cord or thread type, not prong. When possible, use the same type and size of button used originally for the easiest installation.

Tuft from the bottom of the fabric up, keeping the fabric smooth and taut. The sides of the fabric may attach between the arm and the frame of the chair or sofa by pulling the fabric between wood sections and tacking or stapling it. The top area often wraps over and is tacked or stapled to the frame. Only secure the fabric as high as the row of tufting buttons you need to install. This will allow you to see what you are doing when you thread the button prong or needle through the fabric and chair material to the back where the button prong or fastener is secured.

Attach the sides of the fabric as you work your way up the front to the top of the chair. Fit and install the seat base. The seat base is often made of several pieces and types of fabric sewn together. Often the sides and back of seat base fabrics may pull through pieces of the wood frame to tack on the outside of the furniture in hidden areas of the frame. Follow your photos. Upholster the arms and arm face. Use new tack strips for straight hidden attachments and flexible ply grip for rounded attachments. Use staples and upholstery tacks to secure fabric.

Make and staple welting to cover staples when a second fabric section joins close to a first section. This is common on seat backs. The welting helps to define the lines of the furniture while hiding attachment fasteners. Welting is fabric wrapped cord in the same fabric as the furniture. Finish by hand sewing difficult curves and gluing double welting over exposed staples or tacks.