G-Plan dressing your suite

We have a sofa which is at least 30 years old. It was recovered in 95 and then I stripped it back to the frame and re-upholstered it about 10 years ago. Needs recovering, if I have the energy and can find some reasonably priced fabric I might do it in the autumn. I couldn't afford a new sofa every 3 or 4 years.

And - if anything is wrong when they deliver, they will send someone out to inspect and put it right/change it, which they did with us. We decided that the very slight fault was not visible when the sofa was in place and not worth bothering about; they gave us a small compensation discount and we were happy.

The only thing is I decided not to have it Scotchgarded, which I now regret.

suzieD:
I bet this furniture was made in China unlike the old G plan which was U.K. made.

G Plan is made in Wiltshire I think

Each one of our sofas is crafted by the hands of a skilled upholsterer right here in the UK, with every piece carrying their signature. And just because you can't see inside your sofa, rest assured, it's as lovingly finished as the outside, using quality materials.

I hope that you 'upcycled' your old suites paddyann - I am sure that you probably did but it is amazing the amount of good stuff that goes to landfill these days.

I would have had our old suite recovered but the cost was very high and we wanted to have a different configuration too.
However, it did go to the charity shop and someone got an excellent G-Plan suite with a practically unused sofa for £50 apparently!

Paddyann, you are fortunate to be able to change your furniture so frequently. When we married, 57 years ago, we bought a new sofa from The Ideal Home exhibition, and took with us two armchairs, from my parents home, and covered in a stretch fabric to match. When they downsized, we inherited their three piece suite, which I recovered. Forward a few more years and we bought a second hand suite, which we had recovered. Further down the line, we splashed out and bought two leather sofas. These have served us well for nearly 20 years, and are now soon to be replaced by two new leather sofas, that are in the process of being made. Today, from a Forces Support charity shop, I have bought a cream leather pouffe. I was intending to recover it, but after a good scrub in the sunshine, I don't think it will need doing, so we will live with it for a while to see. I like my home to look tidy, comfortable and reasonably up to date, but cannot bring myself to spend unnecessarily. Skinflint moi?

Our suite has changed configuration over the years and, as I said, has been recovered twice. We know it's comfortable for us. I'd be scared to buy a new one which might not be comfy.

I had no idea people kept sofas for 40 years or more .I change mine every 3 or 4 years as I like my home to be modern .Mind you the Habitat corner sofas we had when we got married mid 70's is bang up to date again ,but I certainly couldn't have lived with the same stuff for 40 odd years .

My G Plan is 1970's!!! Had it recovered 3 times. Only problem is I could do with more back support on the sofa now. So am looking to replace. Both chairs, one a recliner, fine though.

ps no-one mentioned 'dressing'
We bought it from Furniture Village

I had noticed that the cushions on our newish G Plan suite seem to have moved around in the covers, ie the seams are no longer in the right place.

Apologies GPlan is a British company but has changed hands from its original owners and it does manufacture in the U.K. I like their 19760s/70s designs and they are now quite fashionably “retro”. I do like Ercol but I don’t like the fact that they now licence some of their products to be made abroad and then sold under their name. I have a lovely bench “loveseat” which is solid beech and is made to the same design from the 1950s this is still made to order from the Ercol factory in Buckinghamshire. No cushions to plump up ! (Sorry off topic)

We bought GPlan sofas five years ago, I think they are made in Somerset, as we had to ring the factory when we had a change of mind about the fabric for them.Service was good,
The sofas are as good as new, the cushions don’t come off ( will never have that type again) neither do the backs, so there is nothing to do.I brush them now and again.
It must be the style you have Fisher that is causing all the trouble.

We used to have a feather filled Sanderson print sofa back,in the 70’s/80’s/90’s and wish we’d kept it.
I used to plump/ bash (gently) and turn the cushions last thing every night , front to back, right to left (a bit like the joke another bachelors and their pants)
Lasted 25 years and the rame was as sound as the day we bought it. But rupholsteri g AND recovering we’re going to cost as much as a new one

Our suite was bought in 1975 from Jessops (now JL) and has been reupholstered twice since then. We made the mistake of having the back cushions filled with feathers and had to whack it to make it stand up so we had it redone with foam with a thick soft cover (technical terms there) and no bashin (or dressing?) required.

I have a suite that we bought from M&S in 1995.
We have had it reupholstered once
& the cushion fillings were changed then.
I had no idea you were supposed to ‘dress’ a suite

It's not just gplan . We bought one of the more high end suites in a store and opted for down and feather back cushions and We have to "dress" this one . Sometimes it has to be done 2 or 3 times a day . The seat cushions we do when my husband is asked to or thinks about it. We had a technician out to inspect it about 3weeks after delivery and he weighed all the cushions and told us how to dress it and left us thinking he was going to get it sorted but about a week or so later we got a letter saying he found nothing wrong.

I bet this furniture was made in China unlike the old G plan which was U.K. made. I like mid century furniture and have a 1960s Danish sofa which has been reupholstered and it’s so comfortable and looks great . I also have an Ercol chair and a reupholstered Parker Knoll swivel chair which both date from the 70s and were made in the U.K. and excellent quality. I rarely buy new furniture unless it’s made in the U.K. Ercol still have a U.K. factory but you have to be careful as some of their designs they have allowed to be made in China and sold under their name in John Lewis. Its worth checking the provenance of some furniture.