Marquetry Chair

This chair, reputed to be Edwardian, had exquisite marquetry and fine stringing on it’s elegantly shaped and proportioned frame. This is another of our featured Transformations.

However, while it needed a new cover, the upholstery appeared to be in fair shape – although appearances turned out be deceptive! 

The old cover had ribbon sewn around the sides – presumably to extend a small piece of  fabric.

The cover was removed, along with a mass of glue. Below that was some very thick polyester wadding. Bad news. 

Under the polyester wadding was a layer of horsehair and a totally ruined pad of grass – which once would have been a pad for the seat. A paper roll at the front and more polyester at the back gave the seat it’s shape. Very bad news. It all went in the bin.

Just the support hessian and sound webbing were retained.

Loops of twine were sewn onto the hessian and coir balls held in place under them. 

The coir balls were eased out into an even mat and covered in more hessian.

This was hand stitched to form a rolled edge on all four sides of the seat.

Hair was added over the top of the rolled edge and covered in calico. Strips of wadding were added to soften the sides. The whole seat was covered in calico and finally in polyester wadding.

The cover fabric, lined up to the edges of the show wood, was the final layer.

Finishing trim of double piping was added around the base to complete the project.  

Nice chair!

This chair was a real surprise as a Recovering project. Clearly the replacement seat stuffings could be classed as “Restoration” and you’ll find plenty on the Restoration page.

Thankyou for taking the time to have a look!

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.