Pair of buttonback chairs

This pair of chairs are maybe 10 years old.

They have a new owner who can look past fabric and see what a quality pair these chairs really are.

She asked to have the stripes tailored horizontal.

It gives the pair a real nice look!

 Here shows the pattern match wraps around the front and back.

 And a one piece outside back tailored up nice with the fabric backed with a thin coat of cotton.

 And the pair themselves were mirror cut as they were pulled off the cutting table.

They sure will look great on night display this weekend.

Thanks for looking!

Practical Upholstery

The #1 blog in all of blogdom

for small town American upholstery shops!





Danish sofa and chair

The burgundy has really seen it's day and it's time for a new look.

The camera doesn't pick up this %100 black wool fabric well.

 Northern European furniture is always a challenge.

Hand sewn on three sides around the base and back.

 The wood frame freshened up real nice!

 There is zero tolerance with this Danish furniture.

 I tightened up the beltings by a quarter inch and steamed the foam back to original shape.

 The owner wanted bolsters added to this day bed (sofa).

 I kept the button pattern as simple as possible.

 And the zipper was kept in the back only.

Not to be seen from the sides.

 And extra buttons under the zipper as well.

 The hand sewn cushion onto the frame stayed pretty and strait.

Thanks for looking!

Dining chair seat cushions

This is one of a set of 6 chairs.

The owner wants a nice flat relaxed thin cushions that can be easily washed.

I sized these so as they are not to large for the petite but very sturdy chairs.

I got a nice thin look.
 They will even be more relaxed as soon as they are put into use.

I weighed out each cushion for the same amount of feathers and down.

And put internal separator cloth so the stuffings stays balanced.

Down proof ticking (of course).

Sippers complicate.
A nice easy removal pocket backed with hidden Velcro.

All fabric mirror cut.

And plenty of mirrored pleats.
With a 4/32 piping.

 

 Thanks for looking!

An original Recliner

Life was much simpler when this recliner was created.

It's probably been 40 years since any maintenance was done on this recliner.

The glue has deteriorated on this hardwood frame loosening all the joints.



 

The corner blocks were made of pine and were put in with ring nails.

 

With the frame needing quite a bit of attention I had a wood worker glue this one back up and clean up the finished wood and new support corner blocks.

 

I steamed up the foam in the cushions to bring them back to original shape and a fresh coat of poly wrap glued on.

This fabric is the new-old.  It looks contemporary but is accually hundreds of years old. 

As seen in European and middle east windows.

Moorish window design.

Stocked in house in my fabric library.

Below shows the belting centered on both cushions.

And the coil springs hand tied.

 

The frame came back from the woodworker looking really nice.

 

Was a joy freshening up this chair.

Thanks for looking! 



Colonial Sofa

Here I got myself into upholstering a 94 inch long oak frame sofa from the early 1970's.

I tried to do some fast talking to not upholster this colonial.

It obviously didn't work.

 This hide-a-bed's weight becomes manageable when you remove the mattress and even more with the mechanism removed also.

 These pillow top arms got a bit of patterning and tailoring to them.

 Pretty important to get them set at the right height and level.

 The fabric was chosen from the shops in stock library I have.

A real thick heavy fabric with a nice soft hand.

Below where the cushions set is tailored up nice and neat.

No fraying, rolled under edges.

 The outside wings backed and lined.

 The original makers never lined the outside backs.

It will help maintain the fabric in it's place with no bruising.

 Notice the scalloped outside arms.

 With the curved wings that are designed into the inside back cushions, I was unable to use a shortcut that would really help keep the labor cost down for the owner.

There is a total of 33 pieces of fabric that I patterned and mirror cut and sewn for the three cushions.

There was lots of tailoring to set those cushions in place neatly beyond criticism.

 These set in back cushions are always a challenge.

  Even for the most seasoned upholsterer.

 

The fabric is really thick as I steamed the skirt on the table after it was surged and triple sewn.

 

 The wooden arm caps took a bit of doing to get them nailed in place.

 

 The camera won't pick up the richness in the color of the fabric.

This sofa should be good to go for another 40 years.

Thanks for looking!

Practical Upholstery

The #1 blog in all of blogdom

for small town American upholstery shops!