Admittedly, the one refurbish job that we have been avoiding and seriously dreading is reupholstering the Gaucho. I am not a sewing person but can sew a straight line. It seems to be that the Gaucho is basically a lot of straight lines so we decided to be brave and buy some fabric!
I always thought that a good slipcover was needed for our gaucho so the easiest thing to do was to buy a quilt and throw it over that hideous green flower fabric. As you can see, our original theme was a groovy green 70’s look. That didn’t last long since we had plans to revamp the decor from groovy to fish camp/Craftsman style.
Here is the problem with using a slipcover on the gaucho: it’s messy and never stays put. This gaucho is where my teenager sleeps and to convince him to not only make the bed back into a gaucho as well as tuck in the quilt to make it nice and neat is, well, impossible. Absolutely, 💯percent impossible. Although, it is nice to have something to catch crumbs and dirty dog paws.
Picking fabric was the challenging part. We wanted something durable with some stain protection. The design and color had to be neutral as well as we switch over our bright palate to neutral, there wouldn’t be a need to buy new accessories. The closest we could find was a black fabric from Joann’s with white hash marks that felt “campy”.
Since upholstery fabric is not cheap, we bought the decorative fabric for the top of the gaucho and an inexpensive ripcord fabric for the bottom/back of the gaucho. The upholstery fabric was on sale for $14 and the rip stop was $5 a yard.
Dimensions:
We needed four yards of the upholstery fabric but bought five yards so we could also cover the arm rest. Since we had a bit extra, we also made two side curtains from the upholstery fabric. We needed three yards of the rip stop fabric and had some scraps leftover.
Sewing:
We found a trick to sewing these panels together: cut the fabric of the top as one piece and then sew the bottom with the zippers as one piece. Then sew the top and bottom panels together to separate the bottom and back cushions. The last step is to sew the side panels (with the piping) to connect the top and bottom panels.
Zipper:
Buy a 72″ zipper. You can buy the less expensive plastic ones or the heavy duty metal ones. Plan in advance if buying the metal zipper because they usually have to be ordered. NOTE: You need two zippers for this project.
Piping:
Personally, I think piping is needed for the visual “look” of the gaucho. Piping is very easy to do, uses very little fabric and only a couple of extra steps. It truly is worth the effort!
How to easily sew piping:
Cut a piece of fabric the required length making sure the width is 1 1/2″. Cut cotton piping cord slightly longer than your fabric length.
Place the cotton cord in the middle of the cut fabric, fold over and pin to keep everything secure.
Sew as close as possible to the cotton cord. I find using my Zipper sewing foot best to use for this task. The zipper foot allows you to sew very close to your edge. Cut any excess cotton cord. I usually tuck in the remaining cotton cord when finishing the next step.
Once completely sewed, pin to your gaucho fabric panel, right side up, and sew it onto the panel.
And that is all it takes to sew on piping to your upholstery project! So simple but adds dimension to the finished look.
Finished Gaucho and Matching Curtains:
Sourcing:
Black Upholstery Fabric from Joanns
Black Rip Stop Fabric from Joanns
72″ Upholstery Zipper from Joanns
Cotton Piping from Joanns
Mike
Sandy
