French Chairs

The chair with the collapsed rolled edge.

These two painted French Chairs needed some work! The entire rolled edge front had collapsed on one chair, for the other the spring hessian had given way and both had sagging webbing.

The chair springs under the seat.

To start, the first chair was turned over. Beside the hessian under cloth was the name Rose. I wonder who she was?

The undercover and the old webbing were removed. The springs were also removed and retained for later use.

Sunken top of the chair.

Upright again, and with no support the top sank. The cover fabric was removed.

One stripped chair, ready for the new seat.
The new webbing with springs tied to it.

The under covers and stuffings were also removed to leave a clean frame. With the chair upside down, new webbing was added.

The new undercloth.

The opportunity was taken to add a new hessian under cloth.

Hessian spring cover tied to the springs.

Upright again, the springs were attached to the webbing and laid cord used to secure the spring tops. A hessian spring cover was added and ties added to hold the cover to the springs.

The old worn underside of the chair.
One of the chairs as received.

For the second chair, the same sequence was followed, working from underneath, with the old webbing removed, retaining the springs.

The old spring cover still on the springs.

From the top, the old fabric including the rotting spring cover was removed as part of the work. This chair base had Cissie written on it several times!

Springs tied in on top of the webbing.
New webbing added.

The join in the centre of the back had failed and that was glued back together.

New webbing was added and the springs attached, held with laid cord and covered in a new hessian spring cover.

Barrier cloth added to ensure compliance with current fire safety legislation.

Both chairs now had a thick layer of coir bound to the spring cover.

That was covered in more hessian and sewn through to pull the coir into a rolled edge. Care was taken to keep the same heights for both chairs.

The two completed rolled edges.

Through ties were added to pull the hessian down towards the webbing and level the top.

One finished chair before piping added

Hair stuffings were added and covered in wool guard as a barrier cloth to ensure the chairs are compliant with current fire safety legislation.

The covers were then added to the two chairs, making sure to keep the pattern positioning the same for both.

The two finished chairs.

To finish the chairs, double piping was added, cut across the fabric so that the pattern matched.

JBerryUpholstery has many examples of furniture Recovering and Restoration and also Soft Furnishings to add to or complement the finished items. You can see pictures of these in the Galleries – Recovering Gallery, Restoration Gallery, Soft Furnishings Gallery and Transformations.

If you have some upholstery that is in need of a bit of TLC or you are interested in Soft Furnishings then please contact us.