Showing posts with label chair. Show all posts
Showing posts with label chair. Show all posts

Thursday, May 19, 2011

ME: Finally Starting to Look Like a Chair

I haven't done a chair update in a while, which is bad on my part since the chair is nearly finished.

So, last you saw we were up to the eight way tie, I have made some good progress since then. It is really amazing how my empty little wooden box is all of a sudden looking like a chair.

On top of the springs you add burlap...


And then you made edge roll. An edge roll is a burlap stuffed with cotton (rolled and stitched) and added to the edges of the chair to start creating soft edges...


Now, the front edge roll actually came from the original upholstery of the chair. It is not made from cotton stuffing but a cork tube. This will help keep the shape of the front of the chair. Now, to keep that in place, I had to stitch it onto the burlap covered seat...



When I was done adding the burlap and the edge rolls, I had to stitch the springs to the burlap. This is to make the springs move with the burlap when somebody sits on the chair. This is just a quick basting stitch, so there isn't much rhyme or reason other than the fact that you have to catch 3 spots on each spring...


(You only have to catch 2 spots on each of the back springs since they don't see as much action as the seat.)

Once all of that is done, you move onto the cotton and foam. Unfortunately, I forgot to take photos of these stages. But from there, you add the muslin. Now, if you send something out to get upholstered, they may or may not use muslin, but for us in class , it is like a dry run before we cut our expensive fabrics!




E voila... it's looking like a chair all of a sudden! And at this phase, I couldn't stop sitting on it. I know, silly, but damn it's was more comfortable than I thought would be!

Thursday, January 20, 2011

ME: Changing Things Up


Sometime we all need to change things up. Whether it's a different brand of cereal or a new haircut or a new car, we all need a something different in our lives once in a while. When I need to shake things up I either move to a foreign country or I take a class. And seeing I'm married now I can't really run away... so, by default, it was time to learn something new.

This may seem odd, but I always wanted to learn how to upholster furniture. While you all know that I love working with my hands, sometimes I just don't want to work in metal (I think that's why I enjoy baking so much) and that's larger than a nickel. So, I signed up for this upholstery class at the Eliot School in Jamaica Plain.

The funny part is the day I signed up for the class I popped over to Goodwill to donate some clothing and I spotted a chair.



Actually, a pair of chairs. Horribly ugly 1950's goldenrod yellow slipper (roll back) chairs. And after having read the restrictions on the piece of furniture to bring to class (no couches or chaise, strongly suggests no arms or wing-backs for your first project, etc) and it has webbing and springs and padding and wood and fabric and so many different parts to fix, I knew this was the perfect match. It was fate! I knew I had to have them. AND they were $15 each! How could I pass that up?!?!

So, today was my first day of class. The first step is to strip the chair of the horrible goldenrod fabric...




... lo and behold it is NOT a 1950's chair! It was re-upholstered in the 1950's but it is actually from the late 1800's or early 1900's. There were many different clues once you started stripping away...



... like multiple layers of fabrics...



... and horse hair stuffing...



... and stitched (not stretched) webbing...



... and layers of straw stuffing...



... and LOTS of tack holes!

I'm at the point of the chair being nearly stripped and so excited to learn what comes next!

The hard part is repeating all the steps on the second chair at home... fingers crossed I don't destroy anything!
Locations of visitors to this page