A pair of button back Victorian Chairs – one for men with arms, one for lady’s without arms – had old green fabric covers with braid trim and needed to be recovered.
There were no obvious structural issues but the polish work would benefit with some refreshing and the castors were very grubby and needed cleaning.
The undercover of the ladies chair was taken off. The webbing appeared good, so was left as is. Tacks securing fabric under the chair were removed.
With the chair upright, the braid trim was pulled off.
The back cover and then the back stuffings were removed.
With the old supporting hessian out of the way, the cords holding the buttons in place could be cut.
At the front, the buttons were pulled out, letting the fabric sag.
The fabric was removed first from the inner back and then the seat.
The same work was carried out on the man’s chair – removing the under cloth, then the back fabric and stuffings finishing with cutting the button cord.
At the front, the buttons and fabric were removed from the inner back and then the seat.
The only extra work for the man’s chair was to remove the covers and the braid from the arms.
The castors were cleaned up, removing the tarnish from the brass and the dirt from the white ceramic castor. That’s a messy job, so best done before any new fabric is added to the chair.
The other ”wet work” was to refresh the polish work. The wood work was first cleaned of dust and grime, then some dark stain applied – this coloured scrapes and scratches and so become unnoticeable even though they are not filled. Finally, dark wax wood polish was applied and buffed to a pleasing sheen.
All parts of both chairs were covered in FR polyester wadding. This ensures the chairs comply with current fire safety legislation.
The inside back of the man’s chair was added, pulling in buttons with nylon buttoning twine and pleating the fabric before the outer edges were secured.
The seat cover was added, secured under the seat at the sides.
The arm covers were added to complete the inside of the chair.
At the back, the buttoning cord was trimmed before a new hessian supporting layer was added.
The back was covered in FR polyester and the cover added.
Braid trim was added around the back, passing behind the arms and continuing down to be secured under the seat.
The same sequence used on the man’s chair was used on the lady’s – although no arms of course. The inner back was covered, including deep buttoning, and then the seat.
The outer back was covered – with supporting hessian, FR polyester wadding and the cover.
The braid took a different route, continuing forward to the front end of the show wood before dropping straight down to be secured under the seat.
A new under cloth was tacked on to both chairs. All done!
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.
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