Save a sofa

We have a "leather" sofa.  It was purchased new by hubs 3 years ago with the idea that a classic thick leather sofa would last and last and age gracefully.  Unfortunately very few products are designed to age gracefully or get better with age these days, in fact most seem to be designed not to age at all and require replacement shortly after the warranty expires.

The "leather" on our sofa began to peel off (indicating that "full grain leather" was a stretch at best but hey, different argument) getting worse and worse.  What started as a little peel has fast become a mess, with the arms, seat area and back all shedding their dark brown skin across the cream carpet every day.  So what to do with nothing new?  Cover it of course, but upholstery fabric is costly and sourcing enough second hand to cover such a huge sofa is not very realistic so I put my thinking cap on.


I ruled out patchwork and waaayyy too much work for this piece and kept thinking about what to do.  Then I went on a trip to Ikea with a friend from out of town (hi Jules).  Simply in an advisory role of course and to watch her shop.  Love the place but no buying stuff.

Obviously I was unable to resist a quick squizz round bargain corner on the way to the check outs - frustrated children who need lunch or sleep notwithstanding this is always the highlight of the visit for me.  There, in the cupboard over by the wood bits almost hidden from view was the treasure trove I had been looking for, a big stack of boxes containing fabric covers for discontinued lines.  Oh the joy!  Of course there was nothing there which would remotely come close to fitting our sofa but I took a gamble that buying two sofa bed covers would give me enough fabric to make something to fit beautifully.


The most awesome thing about these was the price, knocked down to just $9.95 each, what a steal.  If you've ever had to buy upholstery fabric in Australia you will know how ridiculously expensive it is so this was incredible.  Even the lady on the checkouts was amazed.

Now back to home to figure out all the bits and see if I could make something of it.  So far so good...  mess, what mess....

Keep you posted.