Sourcing furniture on location - Bright Sparks

Sourcing Furniture on Location

With so much choice out there, it can be difficult to know what sort of furniture to choose.

High End Antique Shops

While these aren't necessarily the best places to buy furniture for an upholstery project, they are brilliant places to seek inspiration and to tune your eye into the kinds of styles and shapes you like.

Where to Find a Bargain

The best furniture items for an upholstery project are the secondhand pieces that can be bought inexpensively. They might not appeal at first glance, but the key is to try and see their potential.

Charity shops and car boot sales are a great place to look for bargains, as are online destinations eBay and Facebook Marketplace.

What to Look Out For

• Sofas or armchairs with loose box cushions. Don't necessarily be put off by size, as the process for making the box cushions is the same for all sizes.
• Mid-century pieces. The beauty of these is that they often have very clean and simple lines, making them a good upholstery project if you're just starting out.
• Boxy, square shapes. This will make it easier to achieve the right tension and keep your fabric aligned.
• The right size. Take a tape measure to make sure the piece of furniture will fit in the space you want to put it.

What to Avoid

• Metal framed furniture. Some mid-century pieces have a curvier shape, and this often means they have a metal frame inside, even if they have wooden legs and arms. A metal frame is much more difficult to reupholster as you can't staple into it, and requires different skills to the ones I'll be teaching in this course.
• Armchairs with a winged back. This is a more advanced project, and definitely one to tackle when you have more experience.

Measuring the Fabric

Once you've found your piece of furniture, you'll need to work out how much fabric you need.

Below is a guide for approximate quantities of fabric; however, this will always vary from piece to piece, and is also dependent on the size of your pattern repeat:

Small armchair: 3–5 metres

Larger armchair: 5–7 metres

Sofas: 12–15 metres

The first step is to note down all the measurements of each piece of fabric you require; both arm sections, front and back pieces and fabric needed for the seat.

Once you have these measurements, you need to work out how they will all fit together or 'tessellate' onto a length of fabric. The standard width of fabric off the roll is around 140 cm, so think about the most economical way to position each piece so that you don't have too much excess fabric.

Remember, each piece needs to stay the right way round so that the pattern or pile of the fabric runs correctly. Pieces that will be sewn together need to be cut exactly, while pieces that will be upholstered straight on will need to allow for enough extra fabric to pull and staple in place.