Re-upholstery the sofa
- okaynagan
- Weekend Camper
- Posts: 96
- Joined: Tue Sep 05, 2017 6:56 pm
- B190 Year: 1995
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- Location: Arizona
Re-upholstery the sofa
Surprisingly only two bolts on each side in the back holds the sofa in place. They were easily removed with the socket wrench allowing removal of the couch from the van. From the comfort of the dining table we reupholstered the couch.
In Tempe Arizona, the next town over, there is a fabric upholstery store that sells mill ends, discontinued fabrics, fabrics from liquidated factories (everything from golf bag manufacturers to companions making office cubicle walls to hospital mattresses)… If you ever find yourself in Phoenix you owe yourself a visit to this hole in the wall. They have a room full of a hundreds upholstery fabrics for three dollars a yard. The hardest thing to do is select the fabric for somebody else with the instructions: She likes " blues and grays and neutral colors". She tells me "you know what goes with the B190." I selected a most conservative upholstery fabric for her B190 I would like to have gone bolder. She was pleased with my selection and at less than $25 I really couldn't go too wrong, could I? Those of us who couldn't sew were delegated the task of removing the couch from the van, peeling the fabric off the frame, seam ripping, sterilizing and de-greasing the foam rubber cushions,washing the zipper casements, reassembly of the cushions on the frame, placing hog rings and re-installing the sofa back in the van. Those of us that could sew cut fabric, pinned seams, ran the sewing machine and drank hot cocoa.
We replaced upholstery fabric from our sister's 190. This was entertaining as a group project. I don't believe I would've enjoyed it half as much if I had to do it on my own. While it wasn't difficult it took three times as long as I thought it might. The project was pretty straightforward, no specialized equipment/tools other than the sewing machine was needed.In Tempe Arizona, the next town over, there is a fabric upholstery store that sells mill ends, discontinued fabrics, fabrics from liquidated factories (everything from golf bag manufacturers to companions making office cubicle walls to hospital mattresses)… If you ever find yourself in Phoenix you owe yourself a visit to this hole in the wall. They have a room full of a hundreds upholstery fabrics for three dollars a yard. The hardest thing to do is select the fabric for somebody else with the instructions: She likes " blues and grays and neutral colors". She tells me "you know what goes with the B190." I selected a most conservative upholstery fabric for her B190 I would like to have gone bolder. She was pleased with my selection and at less than $25 I really couldn't go too wrong, could I? Those of us who couldn't sew were delegated the task of removing the couch from the van, peeling the fabric off the frame, seam ripping, sterilizing and de-greasing the foam rubber cushions,washing the zipper casements, reassembly of the cushions on the frame, placing hog rings and re-installing the sofa back in the van. Those of us that could sew cut fabric, pinned seams, ran the sewing machine and drank hot cocoa.
- skater
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- B190 Year: 1991
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Re: Re-upholstery the sofa
Looks great!
1991 Airstream B190 - bought, 2005; sold, 2011; bought 2017
1995 Airstream Excella 30' trailer
WBCCI #13270, Washington, DC Unit
1995 Airstream Excella 30' trailer
WBCCI #13270, Washington, DC Unit
Re: Re-upholstery the sofa
Super Job, did you do front seats as well ???im about to pull mine out and give it the old college try !!! If I screw up too badly then I’ll pay the $500a seat which seems to be a number that gets thrown at you immediately upon asking about a van seat !
- okaynagan
- Weekend Camper
- Posts: 96
- Joined: Tue Sep 05, 2017 6:56 pm
- B190 Year: 1995
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- Location: Arizona
Re: Re-upholstery the sofa
Jersey747 wrote:Super Job, did you do front seats as well ???im about to pull mine out and give it the old college try !!! If I screw up too badly then I’ll pay the $500a seat which seems to be a number that gets thrown at you immediately upon asking about a van seat !
A local firm made our seat covers for the front seats. Their website is here http://www.seatcoversunlimited.com/. They did a lot of custom measuring as we recall. Ask for Jason, he keeps measurments for the 92' b190 on file. While we can not remember exactly what we paid it wasn't anywhere near $500 for them both, it was more like half that. Seatcovers Unlimited also make great dash mats that hold up to the desert sun for years.
Our van is a 95, we can take that in for measurements if you wish. That is if we have the same seats as you.
Last edited by okaynagan on Thu Mar 15, 2018 4:55 am, edited 1 time in total.
Re: Re-upholstery the sofa
That’s great , will check out website and give him a buzz tomorrow , front seats look great ,and appear to be exact same size
Cheers
Paul
Cheers
Paul
- okaynagan
- Weekend Camper
- Posts: 96
- Joined: Tue Sep 05, 2017 6:56 pm
- B190 Year: 1995
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- Location: Arizona
Re: Re-upholstery the sofa
Even after diligent measuring and precise drawings (on the back of the Wendy's bag) we still managed to come up short on the amount of fabric necessary.
Should you recover your couch we recommend buying a yard or two more of the fabric than you think you need. On the other hand this miscalculation did mean that we didn't have to install the zippers. With that serendipitous result we can say 6 yards of a 54 inch wide fabric was adequate for our job.
We noticed that the original manufacturer of the couch cushions used odds pieces of fabrics for the zipper casings; ironically the underside scrap fabric held up better than the expensive upholstery material on the top side.
Our saving grace was that the zipper casing side was washed and reused; we just put it through a gentle machine cycle with bleach and detergent. line dried. Still in great shape after 25 years of use the fabric was, it cleaned up just super. Should you recover your couch we recommend buying a yard or two more of the fabric than you think you need. On the other hand this miscalculation did mean that we didn't have to install the zippers. With that serendipitous result we can say 6 yards of a 54 inch wide fabric was adequate for our job.
We noticed that the original manufacturer of the couch cushions used odds pieces of fabrics for the zipper casings; ironically the underside scrap fabric held up better than the expensive upholstery material on the top side.
Last edited by okaynagan on Wed May 30, 2018 6:30 am, edited 1 time in total.
- okaynagan
- Weekend Camper
- Posts: 96
- Joined: Tue Sep 05, 2017 6:56 pm
- B190 Year: 1995
- WBCCI: 0
- Location: Arizona
Re: Re-upholstery the sofa
This is a detailed image of the bolts that hold the couch in the van, there are 4 bolts in total, 2 on either side, you can see how simple it is to remove the sofa.
Nothing but hog rings securing the fabric to the metal frame. They held for 25 years, so they mostly likely will hold work for another 25 years.
Re: Re-upholstery the sofa
This will be very helpful.
- okaynagan
- Weekend Camper
- Posts: 96
- Joined: Tue Sep 05, 2017 6:56 pm
- B190 Year: 1995
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- Location: Arizona
Re: Re-upholstery the sofa
Made this post so long ago that I'm most pleased to find it still is read. I recall the most of the seams were chained stitched together; meaning that If you pull the right end of the thread the seam all pulls apart like a feed sack. Therefore, the old fabric can be used for the pattern to cut the new cloth.
Take lot of photos, that will help in the long run when putting the couch back together. It will also let you report back on you progress and help others with re-upholstery five years down the line.
Take lot of photos, that will help in the long run when putting the couch back together. It will also let you report back on you progress and help others with re-upholstery five years down the line.
Re: Re-upholstery the sofa
Well, I'm certainly happy you took the time to detail your work!. The missus and I had just about decided on a new sofa entirely when I came across this, so now with a little bit of effort it looks like we can keep the original. Thank you for taking the time to record your work.okaynagan wrote: ↑Thu Jun 02, 2022 6:26 pmMade this post so long ago that I'm most pleased to find it still is read. I recall the most of the seams were chained stitched together; meaning that If you pull the right end of the thread the seam all pulls apart like a feed sack. Therefore, the old fabric can be used for the pattern to cut the new cloth.
Take lot of photos, that will help in the long run when putting the couch back together. It will also let you report back on you progress and help others with re-upholstery five years down the line.