so the very first thing that we're going
to do on this American Victorian
furniture in order to strip it we're
actually reversing what the upholster
did so we're starting from the last
thing that he did and the last thing the
upholsterer did the last time was place
this wood piece on the top after it all
been upul I'll show you what I mean so
some of these come off easy and some
don't this one happened to come off
really easy
um but these are
dowels and usually they're glued and
they're a little harder to take off if
you do have a piece that's that's hotter
just be careful with the Chisel do not
use a tack
remover um use a chisel but be very
gentle when you're trying to pry it up
and do it slow at a time you'll hear the
glue
cracking and just really ease it off so
that's
that so our side cut is a a great tool
to have when you're stripping
Furniture um we're going to have a
wooden
Mallet and we're going to have a tack
remover so now I'm going to startop with
my ply
grips and what I'm going to do is I'm
going to work the which is glued on
I'm going to work a corner up and then
I'm going to cut it right here and then
I'm going to carefully I'm careful I
don't obviously do not use the wood for
leverage if you're going to use any part
of the sofa use the old fabric come down
this way now if you're lucky the fabric
comes separate from the I mean the
comes separate from the fabric so this
is what I'm trying to do I'm trying to
separate the two so that I can take this
off there we go so I always like to see
that I cut this right here and sometimes
you could just pull now on some veneer
pieces you have to be careful here when
you're pulling that you don't take the
veneer but on this piece here because
it's not veneered it's a solid the piece
of wood that's been finished um it comes
right off and so I try to be as gentle
as I can so the comes off first and
then I see Staples so we know looking at
the Staples onto this fabric it's not
the original upholstery that's it that's
an indication Staples came into
popularity probably about in the
1980s um and this sof is at least 100
years older than that so um but to take
Staples out we can use our tack remover
which is also a staple remover and uh
again you don't want to come this way
this is a beautiful piece of wood so we
want to keep it that way so what you
want to do is just
gently uh using your Mallet try to get
under the staple coming this way your
fabric side and lift lift up and then
with the side cut is take the staple out
the rest of the way now notice how I'm
starting on the back of the sulfa this
is what we need to do first we're still
reversing what the upholsterer did so
I'm going to just show you a couple more
techniqu techniques here sometimes with
the side
Cutters um what I do is I I kind of
eliminate one step with the Mallet and
you have to be careful when you do this
just maybe for you Advanced people tap
tap lift tap tap lift I'm using the back
side of my my side Cutters and then I
lift it sometimes when you get the
fabric going now if you know your your
fabric is not going to be used sometimes
we do repair work too you couldn't do
this on a repair job but what we're
going to do is we're just going to
sometimes
you know we can get the fabric started
and use the fabric as
leverage or pull it like this carefully
be very careful notice what I'm doing
with my other my right hand when I'm
pulling this I'm not just pulling this
I'm supporting this antique sofa now for
those of you who aren't as advanced you
may want to just use the the method of
tap tap lift and then go to your side
cuts okay I'm trying to show you an
advanced way of doing it also
and I'm going to take this off
completely this
back again I know that I'm not using
this Fab but notice though on the on the
Cotton I'm going to try to save the
cotton sometimes customers want to be
authentic as possible so they they'll
ask me to reuse the as much of the
original material as you can as long as
it's not you know smelly or bu bu
infested and then of course you would
you would you're talking a different
walk in there
okay so now this is the outside back and
the outside back is stitched okay so
we're going to save we're going to save
all our cover uh a professional
upholster like myself I don't really
need to save it for patterns but
sometimes I like to save it as patterns
just to just for a reference CU I kind
of like what I like here is I see that
they lined up the inside back seam with
the outside back seam so I kind of like
that so I might do it the same but I
haven't made up my mind but I'll keep it
so this is going to come down on both
sides we're going to undo this simple as
that and
then this is good this is coming off
pretty good A lot of times on older uh
fabric on older wood uh the Staples
don't go in as well so that you can pull
the fabric I'm going to pull the fabric
down sometimes you can pull the fabric
down like
this take it off the bottom so what I'm
trying to do is sensitive strip job as I
can on this I don't want to use a lot of
heavy tack heavy hammering I want to try
to preserve the piece as much as I can
so now that the outside back is
off uh I'm going to go now and with my
fingers now you have to be careful when
you do this I want to make sure that
every square
inch is stripped clean of all those old
Staples and they're all sticking up
there you can't see but they're all
sticking up you know you need to make
sure you're going and get
everyone
okay okay after we do that I'm going to
carefully come to the to the arm and
continue with my
method see how I'm holding the wood take
the off over
here
now I want to show you now after you get
your outsides off so you start with the
outside back and the outside arms you go
and you you go over like so and you make
sure with your fingers don't trust your
eyes that you have all the Staples that
are in
there the the better job that you do it
stripping a piece of furniture the
better it's going to look when you're
upholstering it cuz you don't want these
staples in your
way okay sometimes you can dig out
them sometimes you need to
take your tool you T
remover and for those of you who aren't
quite sure about the side cuts as a
hammering tool take your Mallet lightly
tap tap and lift see how nice that came
up and then you come and you take it out
the rest of the way
right so all that has to be stripped
before we get into the insides now
that's a whole different ball game on
the insides so what we're going to do is
carefully peel away the cotton and like
I said I am going to save the cotton for
now and then this is kind of
neat hopefully we'll be able to
see a date on this you know I'm I'm
putting a date of 186 60 on this so it
be interesting to see sometimes I'm
surprised too with other things um and I
just saw something now might want to see
this there are button holes in this
piece and when we get to the front we'll
we'll take a look at right now there are
no buttons showing on this piece so I'm
hoping that um the upholsterer who did
this last just simply went over the
beautiful tuting that might be under
this it's always a bonus now if I find
that I will call the client
and ask if that's what they want um it's
always better to do it original and this
is what uh I find often
times changes that I made they're okay
to make those changes as long as you
kept uh the Integrity of the piece
underneath so I'm just going to roll
this
off I'm going to just save it I doubt
very much now that I'm looking at this
and all the dust coming off it that I'm
going to reuse this I'm going to put a
new piece on it's a little too
old
okay so we have to get the this the the
insides are coming through here uh to
the outside so we have to prep that so
when we go to the front to start
stripping uh the front cover so what I'm
going to do is I'm going to take this
piece off and look what we find here
folks we find all of the cover coming
from the seat and the inside back coming
this way see that so this piece this is
just a piece of old burlap that is no
good it's called a stretcher we will
replace this so I don't need to save
this I'm going to throw this away don't
need to make patterns with that that's
simply an extra piece usually I use
fabric because burlap tends to do what
you see in here it's caved in okay so
that's not good I mean the whole purpose
of doing this with the stretcher is to
add support so that when your knee hits
when you're moving a piece of furniture
by yourself that this doesn't happen
this is good to see this in action for
all you do it yourself is don't use
burlap try not to use burlap the other
thing too is when you peel this away it
would have been nice if they had used a
piece of webbing down here uh piece of
webbing would have added more support
and then put your stretcher over would
have been a much better idea so I'm just
going to take
that and I'm going rip this
off oh it's always a surprise when you
take an old piece out this like this
apart it's kind of
neat okay so now I need to take this
fabric this is the inside back that's
coming down being stapled here and they
have this is the fabric and this is a
stretcher put onto that fabric it's just
another piece of fabric so look how easy
isn't this nice and sometimes we find
little things that come through here I
just found a Bazooka Joe oh an old one
too if I had more time I'd read that to
you but it's kind of fun finding stuff
it's kind of like a treasure hunt so so
let's see what else we're going to find
here you never know oh we got
money that's some
change that'll buy coffee later
on and what else do we have oh I love
this like a treasure
hunt so this piece what we want to do
with this piece folks we want to pinac
this up so that we're not stripping that
right away on the inside back and you'll
see in a minute what why that's a good
idea is need to get a couple of you can
use staples so I have my staple gun I'm
going to pin Tac or pin staple this
fabric which is the inside back fabric
up to the top here it's just a temporary
stable you could do that with tax folks
too if you're not comfortable with the
stable gun but it it's important to get
this part up so that you can get in here
and take this off this is the seat okay
you're loosening just loosening for now
okay and then clean all your Staples up
go back and clean up all your Staples
and the best way to do it I do it at
least see all these staples here will
clean that up I do it at least three
times I I I look take the Staples and
then I fail take the Staples and go back
again and and and again it's very
important that you get every single
staple that's or tack that's sticking up
clean the piece up as best you can uh
because later on that will either get
you like it got me earlier with the
staple or uh the fabric will rip on a
staple like that so I'm going to go over
to the side now here we go again into
the pouch area or or the money Hall some
people call it this is about as close as
I'm going to get to being an Indiana
Jones archaeologist than I ever will be
because this is where you find I mean we
took the back off and found a pocket
full of change and and a Joe bazooka I
actually got more excited of the Joe
bazooka cartoon because I remember those
as a kid but anyhow and which which
gives me a date on the fabric by the way
you know that the fabric might have been
uh from the' 70s so I'm going to take
this off who knows what we're going to
find you we're finding this uh quite
interesting this piece so I don't know
oops what we got here we got toothpicks
we got some cereal which is normally
what we
find there something else fell there I
don't know what that
was I guess we'll leave that for the
sweeper so we didn't find so much here
but that's okay it was fun we had some
anticipation
[Music]
there so I'm taking I'm taking the top
off the inside arm and the seat okay
what I'm going to do is on the uh inside
arm portion I'm going to pin tack that
up you'll see the why when we go to the
front why this is so important to pin
tack this up of course I'm going to go
back and clean up all these
staples that's it so I'm reading I went
to read my Bazooka Joe and I realized
it's in Hebrew and um I'm I'm really
amazed at that uh most of my mentors
would would Yiddish speakers so this
brings back a lot of memories to me
that's what I love about this about this
business we never know what we're going
to find so let's move
on so the next thing we're going to do
is we're going to take the the front of
the seat off very carefully like we've
been doing and that seat is going to be
removed the fabric only and uh we have
we have the benefit of very good seat
it's in good shape whoever did this last
time restored this so that um we we
don't have to restore it we're going to
reholster it which is what the client
was charged for uh but again I want to
show you uh the comes off first
with your side Cutters and I think if
you're very
careful you can use the fabric as a
little bit of a w Edge but not the wood
cuz we're trying to preserve this
beautiful antique handcuffed wood so
what I'm going to do is I'm going to
come up I'm going to come behind it look
at that I love it when I'm able to take
fabric off like
this it's so much nice not to ruin the
piece by uh you know if these were tough
if these were Big 12 14 oz taxs in here
and we needed to use the Mallet you know
often times you do need to use the
mallet
but notice how I'm twisting in inside
not outside so we want to preserve that
wood so I'm really liking this so I'm
going to do is I'm going to hold on with
my hands those of you who don't like
getting cut you may want to use gloves
but I I don't use gloves because I get a
feel for what I'm doing um I'm I'm
applying pressure onto the fabric but
I'm holding look at my right hand my
left hand is apping pressure my right
hand is holding so that I don't rip the
fabric this one but I'm I'm putting some
leverage on this and the Staples are
coming out with the fabric and and
all I love to see that I'm not worried
about veneer on this I'm just going to
continue going I know you guys can't see
this at the back side here I'm going to
continue going cuz once I get momentum
right I like to use
it
just going to finish taking this left
side off and I'm going to come back down
to
[Music]
you okay so the front's completely
undone and the back is also with the
added pin tacking of the insides so that
when I go to pull the seat fabric this
pattern beautiful Pattern Fabric that's
been cut for us doesn't come with it
with it that's very important so we're
doing a really low impact stripping of
the antique sofa to try to preserve as
much of the wood and as much of the
Integrity of the original uh piece so
here I go if I did a good job on the
other side this should come out fairly
easy and I'm holding the cotton as I
pull Now look for Little Treasures
sometimes Little Treasures come here too
you know they get stuck underneath
so far I don't see any Little
Treasures ah beautiful this whole seat
just came off of me the seat fabric gone
beautiful so I'm just going to go back
I'm going to Pat Pat the seat down a
little bit to make sure there's nothing
came there no fing
object and I am going to just quickly
check this to
see oh I have a beautiful Edge roll here
that's in really good shape I may put a
piece of burlap a new piece of burlap on
that in the front edge but I'm really
happy with the way this looks very low
impact on the seat uh sometimes we end
up retiring the Springs which is a big
project you could see that on some other
YouTube videos what what it what it
entails to TI Springs but this piece is
not in for that so um
the next thing believe it or not at this
point uh we have um we're not going to
strip this yet on the
insides and what we're going to be doing
let me explain okay so believe it or not
we're upholstery ready on this piece so
what we're going to do is we're going to
measure this piece up and here are the
components to this piece there's a seat
inside arms two of those inside back one
of those outside arms two of those and
outside back one of those
and what we're going to be doing is
we're going to actually freshen this up
with some new cotton new AAA gray uh
cotton and then what we're going to do
is pulst to that seat and then we're
going to take the back off the back
comes off in one piece entirely and
again we're going to use leverage to do
that you know why we're not going to go
right in digging this in right now we're
going to get our piece of fabric on the
reason our new fabric is good going to
be good is it slides through and secures
and then we take our pin tacking off the
inside and then we take it off from from
this way after this has been upholst we
pull from from the bottom and we pull
use and leverage the rest of the fabric
and we are going to keep that piece of
fabric for patterns we're going to cut
cut them to big sizes uh in the
beginning and then take them to pattern
sizes because these are these are Cuts
in here that are angled cuts and sew
those and put that all in one piece and
then do our outside on and our outside
back and then we're going to put a trim
on this glue just like they glued their
 on and then we're
done okay so now I'm on my outside arm
up and down measurement this is the
highest point I'm going to go there I
get 22 + 3 that's 25 in and to fill that
in here
25 side to side we go all the way here
swings all the way around I get 32 + 3
35 and and the last piece will be our
outside
back outside back up and down I get 25 +
three that's
28 and side to side where outside arm
intersects with the back is right at
this point that's what I'm measuring
side to side I get 52 + 3 is 55
Ines so that's it we got all our
measurements now we're going to go to
the cutting table so before you start
cutting you look over your measurements
in this in in this example with the
fabric we're using we're coming off the
roll the correct way so it's 57 in wide
so the important measurements come on
this side on the right column okay so I
see two good measurements meaning that
we can get a width of fabric out of two
pieces which is what we're going to cut
first so now that we have all of our
measurements all of our math is on one
piece of paper you can see the best use
of the fabric that's what you're
striving for you look down the columns
and see what you can get best out of the
fabric so I see right away there are two
measurements the seat and the inside
back actually there are three
measurements seat inside back and
outside back that I can get out of a
width of fabric that is probably the
best use of fabric that you can get
right there and the other measurements
we'll we'll show you as we go
along okay so I'm we're going to do the
seat first the seat measurement is 33 in
front to back and 69 in wide but I've
already measured the seat surface area
that's going to be seen is going to be
less than 54 so this piece here is going
to require us to sew a stretcher on a
piece of fabric doesn't even have to be
this piece of fabric it's the fabric
that gets tucked inside the chair inside
the sofa so we're not worried about that
right now so I'm going to cut my seat so
I'm going to go up 33 in from the bottom
my by the way this is a beautiful cut
velvet leopard pattern and it's
beautiful the Naps coming to the front
always to the front folks I've already
uh made sure that we're going the
correct way so I'm going to go up 33 in
and I'm going to pick up this pattern
I'm I'm picking up a
pattern um sometimes it's hard but
there's the pattern right there and
right there so this is the way I cut
fabric folks uh if people want they can
use their tape the the um best way to do
cutting fabric on a pattern though is to
go with your pattern follow your
patterns uh cushions are a different
thing but we don't have any cushions on
this on this project so I'm going to go
right along here I'm going to use my DOT
dotted
line and cut
across and then before this fabric
leaves the table this is very important
Mark the cover what it is and the
direction so I'm going to Mark front
F seat so when I put this aside and I
pick it up next week or whatever I know
that that's the front of the seat and I
have no question I'm not going to turn
fabric turning a a cut velvet or a
velvet or any fabric practically the
wrong way and have one piece going the
wrong way will ruin your whole job make
sure that all your patterns are going
the same way all the dire same direction
I'm just going to put this aside so
that's our seat make sure as you're
going along you cross out I'm going to
cross out seat you don't want duplicates
I'm going to go to the next full width
measurement that I have this is great
when you have three it doesn't always
happen that way where you have three
pieces that are the width of the fabric
the next width it it's 55 by 23 great so
I going to go up 23 I'm not worried
about patterns here this is an overall
pattern so we're not learning a lot with
this fabric but we're learning about
measurements which is important so 23 in
and I'm going to go up here going to put
a little chalk line there and I'm going
to carry over I'm going to pick up my
pattern sometimes it's a little harder
than right there than it looks that's
experience right there
though I'm going to cut
that sometimes if you have a sharp pair
of scissors you can just blade it this
called blading right
through um so the inside back I'm going
to make sure I Mark the fabric IB notice
the direction that I'm in I'm not at the
bottom of this fabric I'm at the top of
my back inside back top an over
description is better than being left
there later on saying oh what how did I
Mark that notice I'm in the middle of
the fabric too I'm not at a corner don't
be at a corner cuz then you you're
wondering which way from the corner if
it was a smaller piece you'd see you'd
see it more why that's not a good idea
so I got my inside back I'm just going
to put that
aside I'm going to cross that out I'm
going to go to my next one now I'm
skipping down too by the way to the
outside back I have inside arms and
outside arms mixed in there um but the
outside back is my width so I I move
around on my measurements I don't go
right down down the page that doesn't
ever work that way going down the page
you always have to get the best
measurements first There's real wisdom
in this saves fabric
all about saving fabric so my outside
back measurement is 28x 55 I'm going to
go up 28
in I'm going to give a little slash mark
there at that pattern I'm going to pick
up this pattern all the way
across it's a little hot sometimes it's
harder to pick up on
these and
[Music]
it now for those of you who don't want
to Blade it across like I did I'm going
to do small little Cuts Like on this one
see that some people are very nervous
about cutting I think most people are
but you know it's only $300 a yard so
don't worry about
it
and I'm going fold it back and right
outside
back top t or
top okay so we have three pieces cut now
we're getting into our Oddball
measurements and that's what you want to
save for the last
I'm going to cross off the outside back
so I have we'll do the inside arms first
which are 23x
36 so what I'm going to do is I'm going
to go up one side of the fabric I'm not
going to cross cut and end up with
little pieces never do that always leave
a piece cuz we might have for piping
welting or what up I'll show you what I
mean by that so we got 36 we need two of
these
36 by 23
see and look at I'm just going to put
two lines here for now watch this line
there and a line there I'm going to
follow this line
up this is my repeat and I'll follow
this repeat over here like connect the
dots that patterns are nice that way you
can go this
way go this
way and I'm going to mark this inside on
I
a
top okay now you can use this as a
pattern for the next one you don't have
to go through that process the same
process you can just put this up like so
un roll your fabric get this to lace
flat why not P use that as a pattern so
I have both my inside
on I a very important to mark fabric I
can't say that enough once it leaves the
table you're in question and that's not
good waste time and there's nothing
worse than being unsure yourself when
you're upholstering at one piece of
fabric be surprised how sometimes you
can't see it until it's in the client's
house you can tell I have
experience now this is going to be just
enough fabric so inside arms we have we
have two outside arms left 25 by 35 okay
we're really close here so want to going
to do
is 25 and I knew I was close on this job
folks
25
[Music]
35 cut
cut and come across
here this is the
[Music]
outside
outside arm
o a
top all like
this use this as a
[Music]
[Music]
pattern make sure we Mark that before it
leaves the tap table outside
arm
[Music]
top we're done we have the entire sofa
cut
out and um The Next Step would be to up
pulser the seat on the sofa and then
take the old fabric off the sofa and use
that as a pattern sew that up and then
put that on thanks once again for
joining us in the YouTube videos on the
upholster on Broadway Channel