The sofa process ….

I love to upcycle unwanted sofas and chairs because I get a lot of leather of the same colour - and pretty big sections. They do take a lot of effort though, and I do have to co-opt my hubby in the process. Because of this I limit myself as there are always many more free sofas than we have the time to collect in my Mini Clubman….and process.

The sofas often have wear or no longer have their fire-retardant labels, so cannot be sold by local charities. This makes them perfect to upcycle.

Getting the leather ready for sewing ready isn’t a quick process. After arranging pick up, getting the sofa on and strapped to my car roof and then getting it home, my first job is to give it a wash. Then I strip the leather from the frame. I harvest the fire-retardant wadding (I use this for making cushions). I use sections of the frame as fire kindling for my open fire at home. Some elements do still end up in the landfill, but much less. I then clean the harvested leather with saddle soap and then rub in saddle conditioner. I discard any leather that is beyond use at this stage.

Recently I picked up a couple of small dark green sofas. Here are the bags I have made so far from the leather. And there will be more! Oh, and here are a few of the Christmas cushions made using the wadding from within them.