Upholstery Class - Day 1

Yesterday was Day 1 of my Upholstery Class. My entire day was spent stripping the chair of the fabric layers and removing many, many staples from the frame. So many staples! You can see what my chair looked like before here. I have a new found respect for those who do this for a living.

I was supposed to have done all this before the class but who had time with such a hectic week and weekend? I got up at 5.00 am to continue packing and we drove straight to Toowoomba and only just arrived in time.

The back of my chair only had one single piece of webbing attached at the centre which resulted in the the hessian (burlap) overlay being very loose.

It's interesting hearing our teacher, Laurens Otto, pointing out all the past sins of the previous upholsterers. I smile at this as I think of all the mistakes I see from other screen-printers as I'm sure many of you see in sewing, knitting, etc.

Here is the new webbing now offering firm back support. I was also advised to file the frame edges to prevent the calico cover catching and ripping.

My chair had a very wobbly leg that Laurens kindly screwed firmly into place and the other one too, to be sure. He also cut and attached new frame braces so there's no chance of it collapsing now, especially if Voyt sits on it (he has broken chairs before).

The zig-zag springs have been popular in modern times but are frowned upon by the professionals in the business as I found out.

Today should be more interesting as we start covering the frame with the various layers of hessian, wadding, calico and fabric. I have to go to shopping this morning which should be interesting as the local upholstery supply shop is closed until next week.

A big thank you to the lovely Anna for organising a lovely granny flat for us to stay at. It's very cosy!