DIY upholstery: finished sofa!
If you missed the first half of this project, here is the sofa being stripped and reupholstered.
Below is a photo of when you last saw it… (and also the point at which I realized I had failed to factor in matching trim to my fabric choice.)
Then! Because you people are so helpful are bored at work and want to be entertained… some of you wanted to shame me into DIY-ing my own matching, double-welt trim.
You know who you are.
NICE TRY.
You specified things like “bias” and “zipper foot.” And I was all – they think I do not I don’t know these things!
(I totally know these things!)
After all, I am a descendant of the people’s worker! And if THAT does not convince you, let me also point out that my mother is a woman who can sew a circle skirt (bias) OF PLAID FABRIC (mathmatical-probability-theory of plaid-matching and differential-equations.)
Then you took the welt-shaming one step further: by acting like I wouldn’t want to stab myself 12 feet into the 100 yards of sewing back-and-forth… and that rather! I would find it a soothing activity of productivity and thrift!
So I was like– FINE. I WILL WELT.
Heaven forbid that strangers on the internet are not impressed with BOTH my frugal-furniture-acquisition, AND the ease with which I breezily churn out miles of pristine upholstery trim; unmarred by fabric-puckering-and-broken-sewing-machine-needles-and-the-maddening-snarl-of-when-the-bobbin-randomly-decides-to-spit-all-the-thread-into-a-matted-tangle-of-project-destroying-fury… again and again and again. FOR NO REASON AT ALL. (Other than because it is possessed.)
And you want to just keep sewing right through the mess – as the machine binds and binds and binds– because you are gritting your teeth with rage and just want to exert your will over this stupid thing because THE BOBBIN TENSION HAS BEEN FINE FOR THE LAST 50 FEET, WHY ARE YOU BREAKING NOW? I WILL SHOW YOU WHO’S BOSS.
And the machine is like LOL. Nope. #nottheboss
So! Yes! For sure! Welting sounds totally awesome and exactly how I want to spend 57 hours of my life in exchange for the meager approval of people who will consume this post in less than five seconds and probably only look at the photos.
Fortunately, I remembered my saving grace: welting is not authentic to the age of this furniture.
Original trim on Victorian furniture would have been similar to modern gimp, (or if prior to 1850, more like a textured ribbon than woven cording.)
So I went back to the passementerie/soutache/gimp drawing-board.
*Insert intermission while I open 47,689 Etsy tabs.*
I thought I might get lucky and find some treasure trove of old-stock antique trim, but eventually I resigned myself to something new… The vintage stuff is BEAUTIFUL. But A– I need a LOT. And B– even MY foolish, detail-loving heart thinks it is idiotic to spend $1,000 on trim.
Also can someone please explain why everyone on Etsy has “acquired a wonderful collection of old stock French trims that are all in very nice condition and unused.”
Meanwhile, I myself have never once stumbled across boxes of old French trim just lying around in the street. WHY? So irritating!
Then after 457,823 hours of looking, I chose this one… it was $20 for ALL I NEEDED. And on top of that I actually really like it!
In closing, (if you care about such things) you can see the evolution of this room in the post where I sold the Restoration Hardware sofa … and for posterity’s sake, I also sold the petite orange velvet sofa that I got at my first auction.
Edited to answer about the coffee table… it’s old, RH. Discontinued. I got mine on CL (of course) so check yours! I couldn’t find a good dupe, but this one has legs that are similarly turned (it’s cheap, so could be great or horrible!) and this one’s scale looks closer to mine, but is pricey!
SEE ALL MY FAVORITE CRAIGSLIST FINDS
February 28, 2017 @ 3:46 pm
absolutely gorgeous!!!
February 28, 2017 @ 4:08 pm
Wow, I love that trim! Maybe I need to find something to put it on.
Or not. I’ll just live vicariously through you. Lol.
February 28, 2017 @ 4:16 pm
you did it again….. hahaha! let us get under your skin…. but hey, great job there with the trim…. my stupid sewing machine does the same thing to me, especially if i am binding off a quilt edge…. it breaks or snarls…. all other times it sews fine… go figure… you and your better/other half are making lovely memories in that house. God continue to bless you b oth.
February 28, 2017 @ 5:11 pm
I love that trim. It was totally worth the hassle. You always amaze me!
February 28, 2017 @ 5:17 pm
It is amazing beyond words! Yes to the gimp! I put (by attaching it with a glue gun) passementerie on all my dang furniture whether it is appropriate or not. I wrote a whole blog post about my deranged lust for passementerie: http://chipinhead.com/2016/07/28/july-bricolage-roundup/
I have never stumbled on that cache of exquisite deadstock French trim either and it makes me furious!
February 28, 2017 @ 5:44 pm
It is beautiful, and I admit, at first I thought what an ugly looking … settee?
And that she’s nuts redoing it. It’s gorgeous! Congrats to you!
February 28, 2017 @ 5:53 pm
Holy Cow! I have that exact sewing machine with the tension/bobbin torment. (It’s my trusty black Singer straight stitch, sometimes needing to make me curse just for its entertainment.) Gah!! Wise choice to buy the trim which looks fabulous!
February 28, 2017 @ 6:59 pm
You are hilarious and spectacular, and the pictures are nothing compared to the words you write (that’s what we come here for, don’t worry!)!! It looks FABULOUS as usual. Also, I’m with you on the people finding anything worthwhile anywhere, you can’t even find good stuff in the antique stores here that doesn’t cost your firstborn child and your right kidney!
February 28, 2017 @ 9:09 pm
I have gotten tons of gimp, and even yards and yards of continuous zipper (with attachable pulls) from eBay at very reasonable prices. That’s my contribution to your next project. The loveseat is gorgeous.
February 28, 2017 @ 10:21 pm
Firstly, I am so glad you used the gimp and did not welt. It looks great and worthy of the sofa.
Secondly, I am so envious of your Jeliff sofa I can barely stand it! Lucky lucky you to live in antiques world instead of out here in Oklahoma where people had no intention of hauling Portals to Narnia and other GFTs to the Territory (and if they did, managed to throw everything in the ditch along the way).
Thirdly, I am doubly envious of your commitment to a real Victorian settee. I long for one but can’t quite give up the modern monstrosity of a big couch as yet because where else can my 87-year-old dad take a nap while clutching the TV remote when he visits?
February 28, 2017 @ 10:58 pm
You are far braver….. or crazier …..than I. I am still staring at this little stool that I was going to recover from a freebie CraigsList find. It’s been two years. The stool and I are waiting for the other to blink. It’s been a long running stand off.
February 28, 2017 @ 11:11 pm
Unbelievably, I opened your post after a day of MAKING WELTING! It’s my first attempt at making a slipcover for my sofa. Although it’s going OK so far, I’m anticipating that exact fight with my own machine. Your script for said fight is dead-on; thanks for a much needed laugh. Lovely job on your sofa.
February 28, 2017 @ 11:29 pm
Your 457,000 hours looking for trim paid off! Wondering what the frame cost on Craigslist, as I never find anything like you do, here in Dallas, Tx. (Jealous)
March 1, 2017 @ 6:10 am
Gorgeous! And I love your $20 trim- it is perfect for this sofa. But you are incorrect about one thing- I NEVER just look at your photos- your writing is what makes this blog so special…and perfect.
March 1, 2017 @ 6:53 am
Beautiful, but the orange Victorian is gone? I loved that sofa.
March 1, 2017 @ 9:13 am
Thank You for sharing….As always, can’t stop laughing thru the entire post…..You and Paul are the perfect team! Your sofa is BEYOND GORGEOUS. Kudos. What’s with the nosy people who are so worried about your comfort? Weird.
March 2, 2017 @ 11:41 am
Really gorgeous and all, but the room looks cold and kind of sterile. Didn’t victorian people ever appreciate cozy comfort and warmth? No color? No softness?
Your commenting software is a skittish nightmare! Fix it!!!!!
March 3, 2017 @ 11:00 pm
I look at your living room, with all of its wonderful GFTs and am reminded of my rug saga, my sofa saga, ceiling fan saga and the travesty that followed.
Having lived through 11 rehabs in 22 years [spoiler alert – currently working on #12] was tough. Most of them were to re-sell or knowing it’d be turned over to tenants. I was the living embodiment of the phrase ‘the shoemakers children go barefoot’. Along the way, back in 2000, I stubbornly acquired the perfect sofa. PERFECT [for me]. This divine divan of narcolepsy helps with my insomnia. The rolled arms are cat wide. Also just right for the laptop. and it took a mere 8 months of sitting on cushions on the floor to find. I moved said sofa hither and yon. Successfully protecting it from the elements [construction dust, sweat, etc], but not from the cat claws.
In between other projects, we returned to my favorite unit over and over. Because it’s a 120 year old building, with original hardwood floors, rugs are a must. Rugs are expensive, and hard to find. I have had many rugs I hated. too small, wrong color, wrong style, just plain wrong. I even painted [because of boot stains] a sisal to go under a small rug I liked. Finally, after 5 years of searching for the perfect rug, I located it when visiting my in laws in 2014. Color wise, it didnt go with the sofa, but after 14 years, it was due for re-covering, and the period and style, well, I swooned. [no, I still have not located the right fabric yet].
So after all the years of re-habs, we settled into one unit. to stay. I even found the perfect ceiling fans – no easy task, most of them are butt ugly. We installed a murphy bed into the living room built ins. Built cornice boxes for the 7′ tall windows. Re did the master bathroom to accommodate the washer dryer, a 5 x 7 glass block window with shelves for all the ‘stuff’. a whisper warm fan, a tiled in shaving mirror. The kitchen had even more bells and whistles, because I love to cook. when there was, for the first time in my adult life, no more customization to be done, no more painting, no more trim repair. no more. And then we moved. far, far away from the city where I spent my whole life. And we’ve bought another fixer upper. Gluttons for punishment I suppose.
March 5, 2017 @ 10:37 pm
You think the internet has distortd our sense of reality? Made everyone’s life who is not Melania or Ivanka Trump sad? (But they will have to have their breast implants replacd every 10 years. EWWWW!! YUCK) Some of us have perfectly wonderful, large homes, with pools- 7,400 sq. ft including my restord farmhouse 2 bedroom art studio that sits on my 2-acre property. But anyone can be bombarded by TYRANNIES of glizty something. A daily reality: some neighbors- ordinary looking, even frumpy , overweight, barely educatd (I swear) on my street have at least 2 of these : an elevator, a lake you can row a boat across and catch fish, 4 stall barn, riding ring, peach, pomegrant, and fig orchards, full time cook, nanny, housekeeper, car washer who comes every Tues and washes all 7 cars, hidden staircases behind bookcases leading to art rooms, home movie theatres so cozy I no longr think they are a waste of space, pristine terraces with fireplaces, treehouses built into 350-year old oaks, home gyms, tennis court. If that doesn’t make you want to puke your guts out, try having to look at relativs’ pictures having dinner at Sean Parker’s house twice in one month. (He threw himself a ten million dollar wedding.) Honey, the kitchn ain’t the big thing, it’s all the floating around people are doing. Holy moly, it brings you to your knees. I have to pass the West-Kardashian house every time I go to my hometown. There is no more confusing place on earth than LA.
March 6, 2017 @ 10:27 am
I was a subscriber but then somehow, was unsubscribed. So glad I am back in the fold, but realized I must have missed the reveal of the GFT. The thing you sold pracrically everything in your living room for ( I see the orange chair made the cut). Did you buy it? What is it?
March 7, 2017 @ 8:22 am
I did! I bought it! http://victoriaelizabethbarnes.com/renaissance-revival-carved-victorian-bookcase/
I have no idea what is up with the email subscription!
xoxo VEB