Do-It-Yourself Upholstery Repair



Posted: Wednesday, December 08, 2010

by Pamela Garner
http://cleaningsecretsinfo.com

Upholstered furniture is a popular and classy addition to any room. There are many unique styles and textures to really bring your personality into your home. However, accidents happen and fabric wears, so, in order to keep your upholstery fresh, follow these steps for upholstery repairs.

Iron-on patches are a brilliant investment for an upholstered furniture owner. These patches can be used to repair almost any hole or tear. They attach when heat is applied to the patch on the fabric, as opposed to adhesive stick patches, which leave you with less control and a higher chance of a mess.

If your furniture is torn, you can insert the patch into the tear after cutting it (the patch, not the tear) to the proper size (a bit bigger than the tear.) Apply one side of the tear to the patch with a heated iron, being careful to ONLY apply one side of the tear and not the other. When the patch is firmly attached pull the other end of the tear onto the patch until it reaches the already attached end of the tear. Match up the ends, keep still, and heat the other end of the tear. This should leave an almost seamless repair.

For a hole, insert the cut patch (again, a little bigger than the hole) into the inside of the hole. Find a piece of upholstery that matches the spot where the hole is visible. You can cut this piece from an inconspicuous place on the furniture where there is an excess of upholstery or find something similar at a fabric store. Place the piece of fabric over the patch in the hole and heat the area so that the patch is attached to the inside of the couch and the extra attached upholstery.

Smaller tears do not necessarily need whole patches; they can be sewn shut. Make sure to use upholstery thread that matches your upholstery and an upholstery needle.

For any accessory pieces that may be falling off, such as molding, wood glue works miracles as long as you are patient and can let the furniture sit without touching it for even longer than recommended set time, just to be sure.

There are professionals who have expertise in just about any kind of furniture repair you may be interested in. (A company in Denver even specializes in creating exact replicas of missing, broken, or chipped furniture legs and attaching them for you!) So if you are hoping to keep a piece of furniture that you just can't fix, search the World Wide Web for an upholstery expert near you.

Pamela Garner hates to clean. Her answer? Develop a "Speed Cleaning Secrets" system to make it as painless as possible. You can see more tips on upholstery care at her sitewww.cleaningsecretsinfo.com. While you are there, check out her free email minicourse on speed cleaning.

Original Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Pamela_Garner
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