Furniture Up Holstery Sitemap

01. Brief history - It is widely thought that the craft of upholstery evolved from that of the tent-maker. And it does seem a likely development. Although tent-making is now quite a separ­ate and a very prosperous trade, it is not so many years ago that many branches of that trade were carried out by the upholsterer.

02. Tools + Workshop - Compared  with  other trades  like  cabinet-making, plumbing, etc., the upholstery trade requires few tools.

Perhaps the most important one is the upholsterer's hammer. Upholstery hammers are specially made for this specific craft. There are three types, the favourite one being that with the round ringed shaft.

03. Frames - The frames of upholstered furniture are, as the name implies, the skeleton upon which the stuffing or padding is built. These frames are made of metal and of timber, the great majority of them from timber.

I suppose the first frame-maker was the cabinet-maker or chair-maker for as already explained the first sign of more comfortable sedating was the addition of a cushion to the completed chair or settee.

04. Springs - The ordinary coil spring made of coppered steel is probably still the best and most efficient way of building a sound foundation. It is also the most adaptable unit in the comfort of an upholstered job. These are made in a long range from 3 in. in height to as high as 14 in. They are graded in gauges or thicknesses of the steel. The 3 to 8 in. are usually made in six gauges and the longer springs in four gauges and are the heavier types.

05. Stuffing - Although one can't classify webbing as a stuffing material I've included it in this chapter because it is upon the soundness and quality of webbing that any up­holstered job depends. That is, of course, if it is not a spring-unit job

Upholstery webbing is made in various qualities. The best-known and the highest grade is known in the trade as 'English Webbing' or 'Black and White Webbing'. It is made of pure flax in a herring-bone design of black and white.

06. Cover - In choosing the type and quality of material to cover upholstered furniture, previous thought should be given to the value of the furniture and the usage to which it will be subjected, also to the general decor of the room it is to occupy. In the hey-day of upholstery the drawing-room was furnished with the finest linens and silks and the living-room with more robust materials such as tapestries and moquettes; or as they are called in America, mohairs.

07. Measuring - Modern upholstery factories carry out this part of the job on a very methodical scale. For each model of settee or chair, templates are made for every piece of cover, and several dozen pieces of cover are cut off with a machine. The number of cover pieces to a settee or chair is about ten. They are made up as follows: Seat—Inside Back— Outside Back—two Inside Arms and two Outside Arms —one or two Borders and two Facings.

08. Basic Principles - The object of upholstering a chair or a settee frame is to provide a comfortable piece of furniture to sit on or recline in. As it is more than likely that it will get regular everyday use it is therefore essential that it should have sound foundations. After the frame, the basic foundations are of two types; the 'webbing and spring' and sometimes just 'webbing and canvas' base. In common with most jobs of work, if we begin right it will serve as an excellent guide to all that will follow on. So the first part, the webbing, may well merit detailed explanation.

09. Webbing - The webbing stretched across the frame can take the weight of three and sometimes four persons on a settee or perhaps just one person on a dining-chair. But no matter how many it can be readily appreciated that if a skimpy or a poor job is made at this, the first stage, any further work is wasted, despite how well it may be done. Well then, a good-quality webbing is essential, particularly if one is webbing a large area like a settee or easy-chair. Unless it is a non-sprung job the webbing is attached to the underside of the base rails.

10. Springing - The hand-sprung job, particularly today, is a fair guide to good-quality upholstery. One could almost describe it as the bespoke part of the trade. This of course does not mean that other forms of springing don't produce good-quality furniture. Quite the opposite, in fact, for not only do the manufacturers turn out good-quality upholstery, they also combine it with excellent framework, particu­larly with show-wood settees and chairs

11. Stitched Edges - The outside edges of upholstered furniture are usually made into a roll to give firmness and a smooth edge. The edge of a seat is normally called the 'front'. Edges are labelled 'stitched edge' and 'thumbroll' and in America the terms are 'stuffed roll' and 'cordroll'. When edges are required on the less expensive furniture the thumbroll is made, as it is one of the simplest forms of making a roll to soften the frame edges. A piece of spring canvas is cut off, the length of the required roll and about 4 in. wide.

12. Cushion Seat - Although frames do not come within the scope of the upholsterer an illustration {see Fig. 6) shows an average type of easy-chair of an orthodox style. This should not be too difficult to make if the reader thinks he would prefer to make his own frame or perhaps feels he would like to complete the whole of the chair himself. Birch or beech timber is preferable to construct a frame of this type. They are hardwoods and although they may be tough to work from they give a sound job when properly construc­ted

13. The Arm - Stretch three or four short webs across the arm open­ing vertically, and on the inside. These need not be stretched very tightly as they take little strain and are mainly to give a foundation to the arm stuffing. The web closest to the back should be set very close to the rail. A gap between the rail and webbing should not be more than 2 in. This is the web that will form the opening through which the cover fly of the inside back and the inside arm will pass, and, of course, any canvas covering of these parts that precedes the cover proper.

14. The Back - As this is going to be a sprung back the webbing will be put on the outside of the rails. There will be four webs vertically and four across from side to side. The vertical webbing is to be done first and tacked on to the tacking rail of course and not taken down to the base rails. An­chor to the tacking rail first, using again five tacks for each web. It will be found helpful to rest something under this rail when tacking on the webbing to prevent 'springi­ness' when striking the tacks.

15. The Seat - Turn over the chair and rest the arms upon the trestles ready for webbing the seat. Space out on the front rail thenumber of webs required, probably five or six, and anchor at this front rail using five tacks over the folded webbing. Stretch to the back as tightly as possible without buckling the frame or taking too much out of the webbing. Take the initial strain and then pull the web through the strainer a little farther ready for the second bite at it.

16. Second stuffing - Although second stuffing can be covered with linters, felt or wadding and the covers pulled straight over, a more complete and satisfactory job is to cover the second stuffing with calico and then fix the cover over a layer of wadding. The calico covering has more than one advan­tage. In the first place it makes for a much cleaner job and has also the added advantage of keeping the stuffing in place if and when the covers have to be changed.

17. Pin-cushion - Many chairs, like bedroom chairs, occasional and office chairs, are lightly upholstered on the seat and always have a surround of wood. They are usually referred to as show-wood chairs, and the upholstery as pin-cushion seats. Sometimes one sees the backs also upholstered in a similar manner. Wherever this kind of seat or back is adopted, the main frame is slightly rebated in depth so that the completed upholstery comes level with the surrounding polished frame.

18. Dining-chairs - One of the most popular types of dining-chair is that of the loose seat variety. Although the period and styles varied they retained one thing in common, a framework within the chair seat that can be lifted out. Still produced in volume, they are extremely economical in material and the covers can easily be changed without incurring heavy labour costs. The loose seat frame is made of birch or beech and assembled by dowels or mortised and tenoned joints. Dowelling is the system most used today.

19. Cable springing - Cable or tension springing has become very popular in the last few years, particularly for the smaller type of chair and indeed for the well-designed easy-chair. The cable spring in appearance is the same as those fixed to 'exercisers' and sold in sports shops. They are made in various diameters and are usually covered with plastic, and in some cases with a material. The less expensive chair carries a spring without any covering at all.

20. Bedding - Divan bases are made in standard lengths and widths, i.e. 6 ft. 2 in. x 3 ft., 3 ft. 6 in., 4 ft. and 4 ft. 6 in. widths. Frames can be made from any kind of timber but are usually in a softwood. The normal dimensions for the sides and the ends are 5 in. x 1 in., and for the slates 31/2 in. to 4 in. x 1 in. It is assembled by butting the ends to the sides, gluing and nailing. Strengthening blocks are put in each corner and a wooden bracket against the centre slat and side. Seven to eight slats are needed for a 4 ft. 6 in. base, which are inserted on the base rails at regular intervals.

21. Occasional chair - This type of chair is very comfortable and is used extensively in the home as a dining-chair, or in the office or showroom. The frame is quite a simple one, a frame that could be tackled by oneself, but the frame-maker will turn them out more quickly and expertly. It requires the minimum amount of stuffing which is very convenient for re-upholstering or only having a change of cover. Note the rebated edges of the side rails and the front rail fixed at a lower level.

22. Bedroom chair - Here is another very simple type of chair that can be used in almost any room in the house. It is mainly seen, however, in the bedroom or bed-sitter and is the right dimensions for use as a nursing-chair. The frame is made of hardwood and the legs are french polished. The front legs can be varied by fixing a 'cabriole' type of leg. Note that the top back rail is slightly curved to take the shape of the shoulders and make a more comfortable back-rest. It is on the back where we commence this time.

23. Tensile-Sprung - One of the most popular types of easy-chair amongst men has always been the long, deep-sprung easy-chair. Some­times this had side pieces added which are known as 'wings'. A chair that one could relax in, sprawl in and generally find comfort and ease. They can be seen in abundance in almost every club room and indeed came to be known and described as 'club' chairs. These chairs were always a fully upholstered piece of furniture that entailed many hours working time, considerable stuffing amounts and a good yardage of covering material.

24. Settee Unit - Anew type of seating arrangement has developed in the home since the advent of television. Very soon after television had established itself on the home market, it was seen that a smaller type of chair was needed so that people could have a suitable view whilst watching their entertainment. The chairs were put side by side as closely as possible and it was much more intimate for the family.

25. Upholstery Repairs - The basic operations for repairing any part of a suite, or any of the pieces that have already been written about, of course remain the same, depending on what has to be done. There is always some ripping-out to be done and if it is a complete re-upholstering job then the whole of the frame is laid bare. If it is only for the covers to be re­placed then only the covers, including the outside covers, will have to come off.

26. Terminology - As in any other craft or trade there are a number of words or phrases that are either outside normal language or perhaps known words that convey a completely different meaning. Many technical words and terms never find their way into the ordinary dictionary and unless ready reference is available it sometimes means that interest can be lost or a wrong interpretation put on a word that means lost time in study.

THE END