Skip to main content

Stripped down

One of the first things I did as an upholstery student was to strip down a traditional dining chair. My chair had been sourced by a fellow student as one of a pair. I remember picking it up at Waterloo station. It was covered with a black bin bag as of course it was raining in London that day. I took it back home on the tube and used it as a seat for the journey. Thankfully, it held up throughout. Having seen the state of a fair number of traditional chairs since; this is no longer something that I take for granted.  

The frame was a beautiful 18th century shield back style armless dining chair. 


I hadn't appreciated the number of layers and fixtures I would find in such an unassuming, relatively small and compact seat. Held together by a massive number of tacks, staples, and cord; this dining chair was truly traditional and stripping down the layers gave me an appreciation for the amount of work that goes into upholstering a traditional chair. Something to look forward to. 

What I found:  

  • tacks
  • jute webbing
  • laid cord
  • hessian
  • springs
  • coir
  • horse hair
  • calico
  • top fabric
  • upholstery braid/trim






The only non-traditional element used were staples - lots of them. 


Stripping down the chair was quite the task. Being a new student, it took me a number of hours over a few days. As the internal components of the chair spill out, the mess starts to spread, so if you are anything like me - you'll constantly be stopping to clean up. For some reason, I hadn't expected the copious amount of dust particles that would be released and quickly realised I would need a face mask and something to cover my hair. I also wore gardening gloves when clearing out the piles of material. 

                                               

There was definitely a great sense of satisfaction when I finally got down to the frame. The small scraps of fabric and odd staple here and there notwithstanding.  

Tools I used: 
  • pliers from my mini DIY toolbox
  • hammer
  • scissors
  • gardening gloves
  • face mask
Tools that would have also been useful:
  • staple remover
  • mallet 
  • pincers
  • safety spectacles
  • upholsterers apron





Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

C'est ma vie

New term, in fact my final term. So I want to start it in as modest a fashion as possible. Save for the fact that I just have  to have a french style chair for my last sourced traditional project chair; I'm happy to keep things simple. Yes, I have my heart set on a antique French Napoleon III tub chair - and I've found one!  These chairs can be quite pricey when fully restored and upholstered so I was looking for one in need of restoration that I could get relatively cheaply. I want a proper project to get stuck into, so I absolutely was hoping to find a chair that was a bit beat up and would need some work. And I almost had the perfect find, except the chair had attracted a lot of 'attention' already. I knew there was something iffy about the wood, especially when a good portion of the front rail came off while I was stripping the chair down. I hadn't even used a mallet or hammer at this stage because I was being as gentle as possible - just hands and scissors at f...
Post a Comment
Read more

Supplies

A major benefit of being a student in a training centre linked to a large university is not only the ability to access trade discounts via the accounts the centre has with suppliers; but also gaining exposure to the better sources for upholstery materials and supplies. When shopping for specialised equipment the default answer nowadays is Amazon - it has everything, right? But a one stop shop that is cheap, accessible, and delivers quickly, although tempting for an enthusiastic newbie, is not the way to go. This is true for fabric and trimmings as well as materials and tools. Without a doubt, it is better to patronize the suppliers known for selling quality tools of the trade. And because upholstery is such a niche trade, suppliers can often be small family businesses as well as industrial traders with unfamiliar names that have been in business for years - often specializing in a particular tool or item.   Some of the suppliers and trusted brands I've been introduced to as a ...
Post a Comment
Read more