An Idea For Cheaper Upholstery Fabric

[rebelstand]

Hi Everyone,
I just wanted to share an idea we are trying out for our upholstery fabric. It might not be ideal for everyone, but for some it might be an answer.

We found fabric on Craigslist. It was 30 yards for $15.00. 50 cents a yard, for those of you who don't usually sew, you can't get muslin for that price. The catch was that, although we liked the pattern, we didn't think we could live with with the color.



We decided to buy it for me to practice making the covers. At 50 cents a yard, it's a lot cheaper than $20 a yrd if you mess up. Then we got the bright idea of trying to dye it. We started out with regular household things like coffee, tea, food coloring. The pink remained a little too pink. Then my husband comes home with two boxes of fabric dye, which only costs about $1.66 each. After dying the fabric we got this:





Since there are a lot of choices in dyes, not to mention the ability to mix up your own colors, it gives you the opportunity to take something and remake it.

[dekew]

What a great idea! I love the fabric! I'll have to start looking on craigslist...

[sempi2]

You might check out your local Salvation Army, Goodwill, ect. I recently took 20 large fully stuffed black garbage bags of my fabric overload there. The majority of the pieces were at least 5 yards and more like 10 to 20 yards. (And I will admit - I probably over shopped - but don't tell Rusty Rivet-hee hee)

[rebelstand]

Originally Posted by dekew

What a great idea! I love the fabric! I'll have to start looking on craigslist...

Just a quick alert -

Wash multiple times after dyeing. I washed once then sewed the wine and the blue together to make a couch. I now have a wine and purple couch. It actually looks really good, although a bit more female than I had planned. I wonder how the green and orange will come out?

[rebelstand]

I am not sure how fast upholstery fabric fades when there are no curtains.... but I now have a case of sun fading on my dyed fabric. On both my gauchos after two/three weeks in the A/S. i have already re-dyed one and the curtains are going up this week!

[blmitch5]

We got great fabric From Jo Anns but it was for the back bolsters (just for look) and had Azbsmbi decors sew it for us. They did a great job and I'll post before and after when I'm on a real computer.

[rebelstand]

this was more a cheap test to see if I could sew it, to see what colors you could get, and a quick fix so we could get on the road. I do wish it had turned out a bit better. However, it works for now and I will know what I am getting sewing wise into if I decide to do it again. I'd love to see your pics.

[Ray Eklund]

Nicki... someone who can stitch their dream into reality!

My wife is the same with sewing talent and imagination. Our 2014 had the off white leather like cushions which for our Boondocking was a disaster in materials. Rather than doing the numerous cushions herself, like she did on our 2006 with denim covers... she paid to have these done by an expert with the heavier sewing equipment.

The "seamstress" charged $65 a cushion and we provided the material picked at a fabric shop with hundreds of kinds and materials. Total a whopping $1000, but with zippered covers and saved my wife hours and hours of painstaking stitching. She said it was well worth the $65 a cushion. I have to agree.

Our light colored seat cushion covers are now protected and fit into the decor. If we sell, the new owner can keep the cushion covers or take them off and enjoy an almost new interior.

Schools no longer have wood shop, machine shop and home economics classes. We are being trained to be dumber and more needy. The days of being trained as a youth to be handy and imaginative today... must be hired as we have become a dumber society.

If dumbing down was the idea to eliminate these classes in High School for sex education and other social indoctrination classes as substitutes... we are all dumber for it and succeeded.

I bet you even have made a winter jacket for your dog. Talent has become a rare unused ability today. No wonder every thing has to be imported. We are all now dependent on someone else, so we can play video games and watch numbing television programs.