Almost all of us have a sofa or chair that looks pretty good in shape and is still intact, but the fabric looks backdated and ugly. This could be your favorite thing in the house, as you would have spent a lot of evenings in its laps. You want to display it in your study or on the lawn, but you feel it would look old.
So the problem is that you do not want to spare it anyway, but you can not display it confidently in the present condition. Here we have a solution for you, which is very useful and is very affordable.
In this article, we are going to tell you how to make the fabric look like leather. It will be a step-by-step guide, and yes, you will enjoy doing this. The result would be amazing, and you will never regret it after doing this DIY.
How To Make Fabric Look Like Leather?
First of all, you need to complete the following list of materials to do this adventure work.
- Water
- Tissue paper
- Sanding pads
- A Large Paint Brush
- A Litle Bit Terracotta
- Some Chocolate
- Vandyke Glaze
- A small amount of Brown Wax
These all things mentioned above are very cheap and easily available.
Now, let’s start this marvelous DIY.
Step # 1: Vacuum the ChairSofa
As your chair or sofa, what you are going to paint is old and backdated. There must be a layer of dust that can not be clean with a simple cloth. So start this by vacuuming the chair (to simplify, we suppose we will paint a chair) deeply. When you are vacuuming, you will see a cloud of huge dust that would continue to coke out from the cushions as well. Keep doing this until you feel it is now clear and clean.
Step # 2:Remove All the Staples Carefully
The skirt is often attached with a lot of staples. Use a screwdriver to pull off all the staples and make sure there would no staples remain. If you feel it difficult removing some staples, hammered all of them pretty well back into the wood. Do not ignore this part, as if any staples remain on the surface, it would be dangerous for you.
Step # 3: Paint the Fabric
Painting fabric is very easy and enjoyable. Apply a handsome amount of paint on the fabric so that it may absorb enough pigment. Check again so that every corner of the fabric must be painted.
Make base color for the wingback using terracotta and chocolate chalk mineral paint. The ratio between Terracotta and Chocolate chalk mineral is almost 3:1. Use a big brush to make and then apply this mixture properly. To get the best result, first, dip your brush in water, then dip in paint, and repeat it. You can also do this by spraying color on the fabric, but believe me, painting with a brush is much easier and more fun.
Do this three times to the chair. After the third coat, you will find a total brownish chair in front of you.
Step #4: Glaze the paint
When you see that the third coat is almost dried well, then prepare to glaze your work. It would be best to have some leftover paint in your container; add some chocolate and VanDyk Brown Glaze into it. It would be a small amount compared to the paint in the container, almost 10-15% in ratio.
Apply this glaze+pain mixture on the chair for the first coat.
Now to get the real leather look, do a technical thing here. Crumple a tissue paper and lay it on the wet pain+texture after the first coat. Now start painting tissue paper slowly instead of the direct chair. When you see all the tissue is painted completely, pull it up right away and see the magic. It will look like real leather with shades and wrinkles on it.
Step #5: Waxing and sanding
When the paint and glazing are done, apply brown wax to darken up the seems and random areas of the chair. Use a random pattern of applying dark and light wax. Apply a heavy amount of wax at some places while a very low amount at others. Do not brush it hard and let it be dry itself.
You have done your work pretty well, but the chair is not yet ready to sit on. I suggest using this chair after 4-5 hours, so that you may not destroy your clothes at all.
This is all you have to do to make your old chair look new and charming. This is how to make the fabric look like leather, and believe me. It is easier to do than in reading. Do it Yourself and enjoy the fun work of painting chairs.
FAQS
Does the fabric stiffen after painting?
Crofty Cosplay reports that the fabric will get a little stiff after you use her method. She recommends that you test out her approach on a smaller piece of fabric to get a feel for the result.
Is it better to stitch on the fabric before or after painting on it?
The fabric starts to feel somewhat papery after painting on it, but Crofty Cosplay reports that it will remain sturdy and not crack. However, it’s always best to play it safe, and stitching the fabric before painting is a good idea.
How do I get the fabric to have creases like real leather?
If you don’t apply too many coats of paint, you can crinkle a piece of tinfoil, flatten it, and then place the fabric on top and iron it. The fabric will loosen up a bit and have more detail, and look more like authentic, aged leather.
Does it resist water?
No, but you can always use waterproofing spray. Remember to follow Crofty’s advice and test it out on a small portion of the fabric first.
ADDITIONAL TIPS
While the effect of the paint doesn’t wholly depend on the color of the fabric, paint fabric black if it is black. Using a fabric having a similar color to the color of the acrylic will give you a neater final result.
Also, for maximum effect, you can wash the fabric and put fabric softener on it before pouring water-diluted paint over it. The fabric softeners rubberize the paint, making the fabric feel more leather-like, and the moisture will help the material absorb the color a lot better.
Use this technique for leather looking belts, straps, hats, aprons, clutches, pouches and so much more!
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