In the middle of fabric projects, sofa, etc.

[Twentyrivers]

I've been recovering the jack knife sofa this last week. I was hoping this would be a staple and fabric kind of project. After I took apart the back of the sofa and saw the metal framing that looked like the seats in a car, I had to come up with a new plan. I considered making the seat like a an elastic fitted sheet and belting the back fabric. The goal to have this cover be washable. Finally decided that I will just secure fabric over existing, and attach with hog rings like the original. I couldn't figure out a good way to attach the back cushion fabric, and keep it taught over the bar on the back (that bed sits on).
(Bought hog ring pliers at harbor freight, and a box of 1/2 or 5/8" hog rings with a sharp point, not blunt at an auto paint and upholstery shop. Heavy duty, covered coat hanger for the wire that goes in fabric seam allowance. Joanns had nothing for upholstery wire or hard piping.)

My corners are a bit more square on the seat, and I could have stuffed them with a bit of batting, but I chose not to bother. I'm almost done. I have the seat sewn and crimped on. The board on the back is covered, I was able to staple that part. I got a stapler at menards to use with the air compressor. My daughter enjoyed helping with that.

Today, I worked on the seat back. The top is curved, so I cut square pieces (front, top, sides) and then pinned them on inside out since I didn't have anything to use as a pattern. I wasn't too sure how it was going to come out. I tried to keep seam allowances even, but the top curves a bit, so I have these funky corners to cut off. The whole thing is sewn and refitted, seems good. Just have to add one piece to attach it towards the bottom. I think it might be a slightly tighter fit than the bottom. We'll see once I start attaching with the rings.

Dd is working on her curtain. She picked a couple different fabrics. There will be a panel sewn across the bottom of the whole thing. I think I have to unpick one of the pieces to make that process simpler. She has been practicing sewing a st right line without pulling the fabric. Tonight I tried using an air soluble marker to draw a guide line for her. I think that mostly helped. Once done, it will have a 1 1/2" hem all the way around, and will hang from ikea curtain clips we added to the slides in the camper. That way, I don't have to sew a rod pocket, or add button holes, or loops to attach to the weird hooks that were on the slides.

I also got an IKEA pocket organizer for the bathroom door, but it's exactly as wide as the door. I don't want it to slide around, so I have to see about getting a narrower one, or something. Or mount it in the shower, since we'll never use the shower for anything but storage.

I have a link in my sig to my Flickr album. So there are some sofa progress pics in there.

 

[thoughtsfromjules]

Nicely done!  I like your fabric choices too. They look durable and neutral enough to last through different trends too.

I like the hog ring idea too, we have a set of those pliers too so it is nice to know another application to use them in!

Looks like a big project, but you have great sewing skills!  I will be at this stage eventually, and I look forward to the finishing details after the major remodel stuff is done.  Ours isn't a jack-knife sofa like yours, we have the multi-fold goucho sofa cushion to figure out how to recover. lol  I am looking forward to the challenge.

Just wanted to give you the thumbs up and congratulate you on the progress!

 

[Twentyrivers]

I finished the sofa today. night time photo in my album.
I used upholstery fabric (bench and kick plate) and a twin chenille bedspread there is a decorative twill on the back. I hope to get a daylight photo tomorrow.

Dh put the mattress in. I feel like I'm climbing into a bunk bed. We got a 14" memory foam mattress. Thinner would probably be a better fit, but it was a good price. I'm sure it'll be comfy.

I'm still working on everything else. I picked up a pair of nice curtains at home goods today. Decorator curtains for $25/pair. Wide enough to go across the front bed area. I have a shower curtain for the kids ceiling curtain. I like the shower curtains because the length is perfect.

I purchased multiple 24 packs of curtain clips at IKEA to hang all the curtains. They are slipped onto the glides, next to the hook that was there. They had some cute rectangular bolster pillows too, so I picked up a few for the kids bunks.

Link to Album of progress in my signature.

 

[Wegocampin]

Wow! Looks great!! I wish I had your sewing skills!  Side question... I see you had to repair the floors. Did you find where the leak was?

 

[Twentyrivers]

I'm not sure if we 100% figure out where the water came from. It leaked long before we got it from the looks of it. The water pump in the bathroom was broken. We found a small leak on the side slideout, coming In along the cables?, dripping at the corners. We caulked behind some of the trim, as the roof, window, etc seemed fine. Caulked and rep,aced some screws that looked rusty.
The back seemed to have a very small leak, I think we determined that one was a combination of gutter runoff and I caulked trim/moulding.
The water damage was weird because it was front and back. The middle and the bathroom were fine.
We wondered if Windows and doors were left open during a rain. But if water was in the tank, and the water pump burst, the black membrane on the bottom is almost like a pool liner. Who knows.

Thanks for the compliments. I still have more sewing to do, trying to hold on to motivation.

I ordered vinyl for to make some wordy decals, so as soon as I get the rest of the name decals cleaned off good, I'll get to that.

 

[Wegocampin]

Yeah, water leaks in an rv almost never make sense. Water can be coming in from the front, run down and pool in the back. You just never know. Keep up the good work! And keep an eye on things...I'd hate to see you get more water damage after making it look so awesome.

 

[Twentyrivers]

Went camping this weekend, had a short burst of heavy rain. A bit seems to be coming in where the two rubbers meet at the roof of slideout.
Found a very small leak with the water main under the fridge.
The leak in the back corner seems to be fixed.
So, beyond that we're keeping an eye on things. It always seems to be something. Just like a house.