Does anybody know where I might get tips/instructions on how to make a sofa ?
Alternatively (since I've recently calculated that I've got enough DIY to keep me occupied every weekend until christmas 2005 without setting foot in the garden) does anyone know any online retailers who sell smaller sofas (i.e. 2 seaters less than three feet deep) which would fit in a cottage ?
Cheers,
John
================ You could look for a 'cottage suite / sofa'. Yes, that *is* the correct name. These are quite small because they lack most of the superfluous upholstery of larger furniture. I think they usually have wooden arms and loose fitted cushions.
Cic.
You should be able to find suppliers or custom makers without too much trouble. There are three makers within a 100 yard circle of my house ! (Bristol)
Any book on classic upholstery techniques.
There are any number of little booklets that will tell you the basics
- try S/H or eBay, because there are a lot of '30s - '50s books to be had cheap. Avoid '50s - '60s guides though, because they went post-war modern and the work is ugly foam-slab. There was no upholstery work done in the '70s. At least not that we talk about.
David James' "Upholstery - A Complete Course"
is the best serious guide on designing upholstery, rather than just recovering an existing piece. It's not a hand-holding guide though.
The frame is crude work in ash or beech, held together with mortice & tenons. Don't screw the joints or use random softwood - either will work loose over time. The woodworking part is really pretty easy, so long as it's entirely covered and you're not worrying about show wood. A bandsaw is useful, because you're dealing with a lot of curves, but a £100 jigsaw (barrel-body Bosch) will do it as well, with a tool that's a more justifiable DIY purchase. . The hardest part of upholstery these days is finding a supplier for the materials ! They're getting thin on the ground, even for such basics as horsehair or a range of grades of hessian and calico. My most recent fabrics (undercovers, not covers) have been coming from Croft surplus fabrics in Lancashire 01282 869625.
Personally I'd avoid all foam. My neighbour (an 80+ year old retired upholsterer) uses nothing but. YMMV. Whatever you choose, use top-grade filler materials that won't wear out and collapse - cheap foam is a problem for this. Fire resistance isn't a problem - just deal with upholstery suppliers and the relevant grades are all sorted out for you.
If you want latex foam (which is about the only foam I use) then Foam For Comfort or Foam Direct are the people to talk to. Expensive material, but it's so much more comfortable than PU, especially for mattresses, work chairs or the devoted TV viewer.
Don't use leather. It's not as hard to work with as you'd think, but it doesn't stretch and so any sloppiness shows up as wrinkles. Attempting your first large piece of upholstery in leather would just be asking for trouble.
It will probably cost more than DFS. You can buy a sofa there for less than the cost of covering materials, unless you find a really good deal on fabric. OTOH, a sofa is (or should be) a serious investment and it's worth putting the money into one.
I have been down this path several times over the years, without much success. For once, all the comments made in this thread, so far, have been spot on.
The books/instructions you will find, will detail construction of monstrosities in pine, from the naffest periods of the last years.
A nice Cottage Sofa is timeless and can be picked up for almost nothing.
One of the specs the OP asked for was "less than three feet deep". I took the word "deep" to mean the sitting area, from front to back. If that's not true stop here.
If he did mean that I wonder if he could get it from DFS. I have no actual experience of their wares but they keep sending me catalogues - goodness knows why, since I never have bought and have no intention of ever buying a sofa from anywhere - and all their seating seem to be very deep front to back. I've noticed this on friends' and relatives' modern sofas too.
They are the most uncomfortable seats ever devised, I'd rather sit on a misericord. One tends to slump on them because of their depth, it can't be good for the back. They are very difficult to get up from - for some of us at least. They're fine for lying on, which is how they're usually pictured in the catalogue. A two seater could be problematic for that except for the shortest among us.
If you want a sensible, not too deep sofa I think the best solution could be to make it one's self.
Mary
On 17 Oct 2004, Mary Fisher wrote
-snip-
Or shop for an old second-hand sofa and get it recovered -- I'll bet the end cost isn't a lot different.
My wife and I went through this exercise about a year ago. We had (a) a 19th century drop-arm, "tub" sofa that I really, really like; (b) a older Parker Knoll wing chair that she really, really likes; and (c) another side chair -- kind of like a tub, but a real sit-up-straight job that looks uncomfortable, but which is amazingly nice to sit in for quite long periods of time. They all needed reupholstering -- and the sofa needed some structural repair -- so we got a quote for all three of something just over a thousand pounds, IIRC. So we thought "well, why not check out what else is available?"
And then we went shopping. Almost no tub-shape sofas; all of them mostly too deep to sit on without cushions (which I detest); and over- scaled armchairs which wouldn't fit very well in a normal-sized sitting-room (1890s' semi).
We went for the reupholstering; aboslutely no regrets.
I bought a pair of sofas from DFS a few years ago (although I no longer have the sofas, house or even the cats 8-( ). I have to say, they were pretty good.
"John Anderton" wrote | Does anybody know where I might get tips/instructions on how to | make a sofa ?
local authority evening classes in upholstery?
| Alternatively (since I've recently calculated that I've got | enough DIY to keep me occupied every weekend until christmas | 2005 without setting foot in the garden) does anyone know any | online retailers who sell smaller sofas (i.e. 2 seaters less | than three feet deep) which would fit in a cottage ?
Argos has several sofas less than 90 cm deep, eg
Sommersby regular W 150 D 81 H 83 cms - 638/5657 or p212 in cat Milan foam sofa bed W 122 D 66 H 84 - 638/7813 or p224
You could also look at a futon style sofa, eg
Tosa W 137 D 85 H 75 - 638/9330 or p226 - this comes in 3 pre-assembled sections for easy assembly, if it is access that is the problem. The base looks pretty basic so you could probably just buy a futon pad and make your own base.
Alternatively, plenty of places online, or most major towns will have somewhere (department stores can often order, but may be pricey) that sells cut-to-size foam blocks. Use fire-resistant foam and a fire-retardent fabric interliner for safety. Sewing up covers is not too difficult provided you keep to rectangular shapes and have a machine.
Owain
My Pop built a sofa from sheets of blockboard (salvaged from a skip if my memory serves me right) . Very crude design involved two square-ish vertical 'arm' pieces with rear and top edges cut to the desired slope for the back and arm rests. Two rectangles - one for seat and one slightly higher for back. Batten across back at desired height for back of seat, corresponding battens on sides but at required angle for seat. Two more battens on vertical edges of back to match with sides. Screw it all together to produce a cheap, nasty but perfectly effective sofa carcass. The next day he started making the cushions and their covers. Any non-cushioned areas (sides and outside of back) were covered with foam under the same fabric used for the cushion. This was stapled to the blockboard so that the cushions hid the staples.
It sounds absolutely hideous and looked a bit 'Habitat' ('twas mid '70s) but it served them for many years and, being made to measure, was far more comfortable than many other sofas I have sat on (in?). No real need to go to all the lengths of beautiful joinery when no one can see it was his approach. And it got them a sofa when, put bluntly, they couldn't afford one.
His previous settee was a garden bench that he made cushions for.
Richard
Get a sound but scruffy one in the right sort of shape for next to nothing and cut it down?
Hi,
Do you want to get their catalogues?
cheers, Pete.
No. I've told them that. They can't understand why and say that I might change my mind. I can't be bothered wasting my breath.
Mary
Thanks, that's interesting but, unfortunately, not quite what I wanted.
For various reasons I'm after a traditional looking sofa with a curved back (a tub sofa ?) so that I can sit comfortably at about a 45 degree angle. Annoyingly I know someone who has exactly what I want but they don't want to part with it.
I'll have to spend a little time hanging around local antique shops I think.
Yup, as others have also mentioned DIY looks like the only other way apart from indulging in a little housebreaking :-)
Cheers,
John
Or offering a sum which can't be refused ...
Mary
That's a point, now where did I put that horses head ?
Hang on - you didn't buy that from us did you?
Mary
It's quite hard to buy S/H sofas. Because of the fire rules, it's near impossible to trade in old sofas, even if they're foam free - it's a headache for dealers, even if they're 18th century ! So the only ones around for trade are fairly new, yet discarded. Either they're badly enough made to have worn out, they're damaged (maybe a ruined cover is a good candidate for recovering) or they're the past property of people who change sofa according to taste and whatever Linda Barker tells them -- so they're probably as ugly as everything else in their houses.
The first question is to decide which method to go for.
1 Chipboard job - very very cheap, but not very nice. Can be made from scrap.2 Slatted bench style - very comfortable indeed when correctly designed, no upholstery on the wood frame, unpretentious. Some wooden garden furniture is made this way.
3 Fully upholstered curved padded job - pretentious or fancy, whichever way you see it. No more comfortable than the above one though.Now a repost for you...
Had a DIY type sofa, once, very comfortable. Lasted faultlessly, unlike most sofas, but of course had none of the pretentions that modern sofas usually have.
Both seat and back need to be tilted for comfort. So using the wall for a back is a real no-no. A simple wooden frame with slats is all thats needed. If moneys problematic, chipboard would do for the seat bases if it wont be seen. Dont use melamine chip though :)
For fabric covering it, theres no need. Wood looks good, as long as you dont stain it, and especially dont use that dreadful coloured varnish. Wood floor varnish should wear well.
Simple garden furniture type full long rectangular cushions provide comfortable squish and softness, but finding some that look decent is another matter. You'll inevitably need to make covers for the squishies. Sheet foam works nicely, but is pricey. If you use that, do get the 2 layer stuff, firm foam with a soft top layer bonded on.
The wood: I found 4" x 3/4" works ok for the sit on slats but is not
100% abuse proof. 1" would be best I think. Keeping gaps small helps for best comfort.The frame: 2x2, 2x3, or 1.5x2.5 CLS. The CLS comes with ready rounded edges which saves work if you have no plane. For the others I'd plane
1-2mm off each corner, at 45 degrees. Simple and looks quite good.If OTOH you want something fancier, you could go to plywood and use a scrollsaw to cut out all the shapes your heart desires. Tidy up the edges with a drum sander and you have a typical 1930s type of furniture construction.
Or if you want cheapass, box shapes can be made from chip.
BTW the simplest form of storage is just a drop curtain on the front: just lift it for access. Liftoff or hinged front panels are better though, but can be added later if desired.
*pretentious*
*fancy**pretentions*
*Wood looks good, as long as *finding some that look decent*
All show your taste, they are not standards for everyone.
Mary
In message , Mary Fisher writes
Why the sudden change ?
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