Cushions are a good place to start as the next time you put them back on the suite hopefully the whole thing will be clean.

Firstly treat all the stains you see using the stain treatments in the stain section making sure you add only a little of the stain treatment. Use a medium brush and tamp in then lightly scrub the area you've treated. Then apply plain water and vacuum this off using the hand tool. Once this is done start cleaning the whole cushion by placing the tool at one of the corners and pulling it towards you follow the edge of the cushion while dispensing and sucking up the liquid with the appliance. Once you've reached the end go back to the top and repeat the process in a line next to the first run.

Make sure you slightly overlap each run of the tool otherwise you may miss a section that could show when the suite has dries. After you finish the side you're working on make a try to judge if the side is clean enough and if you don't think so then turn the cushion 1/4 turn and repeat the process at right angles to your original direction. If you still don't think it's clean enough let it dry and treat again but this time first spray the cushion lightly with a general cleaner designed for carpets and suites, brush it in and then repeat the above process.

Remember to do the sides and the underside of the cushion, otherwise you'll only be doing part of the job, in exactly the same way as described here.

If the top of the sofa is dirty spray it with a general cleaner or spotter and treat any other stains you see. Then using the hand tool firstly lift the tool off the fabric and spray a portion parallel with the top and then suck the liquid off using the vacuum. The reason for doing it this way is that the tops are often so thin that the tool will not fit running lengthways and if you sprayed and vacuumed at the same time you would probably miss some of the top.

Now run along the back of the settee spraying and vacuuming parallel to the top, overlapping each run slightly as shown on the cushions. Then working vertically from behind the sofa pull up from the seat to the top both adding liquid and vacuuming, moving from one side to the other one width of the vacuum tool at a time.

The arms of a sofa are often the most soiled portions. You're therefore likely to have to treat these before you clean. A good solution to spray on is a 1:4 mix of household ammonia and water. Spray liberally and then scrub in with a soft brush.

Next spray and vacuum the arms in sections as you see illustrated by the blue lines, in the direction of the red arrow. Go as far down as the seat once you're sure the arms are coming clean. Then do the sides the same way as illustrated.

This is perhaps the most awkward part of a settee to clean because it's often shaped so that a hand tool just won't both vacuum and spray. The way around this problem is to hold the hand tool about 4" away from the fabric and spray the liquid onto it. Scrub it in lightly with a soft brush and then vacuum away angling the head of the vacuum to get as much liquid off as possible.

The seat base is simply a case of progressing from one side of the sofa to the other in bands that slightly overlap. If there are any stains treat them first but the most likely areas for staining are in between the cushions where something might slip down. The front panel at the bottom of the sofa can have scuff marks from shoes or splashes from anything dropped on the floor. Treat these first then work with the hand tool parallel to the ground stripe by stripe, slightly overlapping each pass.