The first six weeks
In the first weeks a handmade sofa settles into itself: the fabric relaxes out of its newness, feather cushions find their working loft (plumping brings them back up whenever you like), and the loose covers ease into their tailored fit. None of it is a fault and all of it is the wearing-in beginning. Start the three habits now, plump, rotate, and know your care label, and the sofa's thirtieth year is already being looked after.
A new handmade sofa arrives at its most formal: fabric crisp from the cutting table, cushions at their proudest, everything slightly on its best behaviour. The early weeks are when the sofa and the household get acquainted, and like most good acquaintances it involves both parties relaxing a little. Knowing what is normal spares you the new-owner anxieties, so, an honest weather forecast.
What will change, gently
Three things, all of them welcome. The fabric will lose its just-made crispness and begin the long softening that natural fibres are famous for; the first wash, whenever your household's life calls for it, accelerates the charm. Feather and feather-wrapped cushions will settle from their delivery-day maximum into their everyday working loft, which can alarm a new owner who thinks something is deflating; nothing is, and a two-minute plump returns the full glory any time you want it, which is the entire deal feather offers. And the loose covers will ease from showroom-taut into their lived-in tailoring, the way a good jacket does in its first month. If anything changes in a way that does not feel like settling, a seam, a leg, anything that worries you, tell us straight away; the people who made your sofa are still here, and would far rather hear about a small thing early than a big thing late.
The three habits worth starting now
Habits set in week one last thirty years, so begin these while the sofa is still a novelty. First, the plump: daily if you chose all-feather, occasional if you chose the 70/30 over foam, ideally folded into an existing ritual, with the morning coffee or the closing of the curtains, so it never becomes a task. Second, the rotation: turn and swap cushions between positions from the very start, so the favourite seat and the sunny end never get ahead of the rest, and the sofa ages as one piece rather than as a map of habits. Third, the thirty-second education: find the care label, read it once, and note whether your fabric is a 30-degree machine fabric or a dry-clean one, because the day you need that answer will be a day you are in a hurry. Do those three and you have done essentially everything; the frame and springs require precisely nothing from you but decades of sitting.
The honest first-spill note
Statistically, the first spill arrives while the sofa still feels too new to deserve it, and the panic does more damage than the tea. So commit the calm version to memory now: blot, never rub, with a dry towel or kitchen roll; no aerosols, no miracle sprays, no hot water improvisations; machine-washable covers go in the wash at 30 degrees and dry-clean fabrics go to the professionals. The whole point of the loose cover is that this moment is recoverable, every time. The sofa was built for your actual life, and your actual life includes the tea.
Habits set in week one last thirty years. Start while the sofa is still a novelty.
SophieLovely things to do next
Everything the early weeks might raise, ready before they raise it.
Questions, answered honestly
Is it normal for new sofa cushions to settle?
Completely: feather and feather-wrapped cushions arrive at their delivery-day maximum and settle into their everyday working loft as they are sat on. Nothing is deflating or failing; a two-minute plump restores the full height whenever you like, and that exchange is simply how feather works.
Will the fabric change in the first weeks?
It will begin softening out of its just-made crispness, which is the start of the long improvement natural fibres are loved for; the first wash accelerates it on machine-washable fabrics. The covers also ease into their lived-in tailoring, like a good jacket in its first month. All of it is welcome and none of it is wear.
When should I first wash the covers?
When your household's life calls for it rather than by any calendar: there is no required first-wash date. When the day comes, it is 30 degrees with natural-based detergents for the machine-washable fabrics, the professionals for florals, prints and velvets, and the care label as the final word.
What should I do in the first week to look after the sofa?
Start three small habits: plump (daily for all-feather, occasionally for foam-core fills), rotate cushions between positions so wear and sunlight are shared from day one, and read the care label once so you know your fabric's camp before you ever need to. That is genuinely the whole regime.
Something does not look right on my new sofa. What now?
Tell us immediately, with a photograph: the workshop that made your sofa is still here, and we would far rather inspect a small concern early than a grown one late. Settling is normal; anything that worries you deserves our eyes on it, and asking costs nothing.