An Artisan Craft

Upholstery is an artisan craft. People are often astonished by the skill, detail and complexity that goes into it. It’s broadly categorised into two main approaches: ‘traditional’ and ‘modern’. Traditional techniques mirror those of the time when older furniture was designed. Modern techniques and materials tend to allow for more contemporary styles. The age and style of the piece helps determine the right approach.

As a fully qualified upholsterer and member of the Association of Master Upholsterers and Soft Furnishers, I'm fully trained in both approaches and can help advise which is more suitable for your individual piece. I love the sculptural aspect of traditional techniques, but I’m always impressed by the clean lines and streamlined look modern methods enable.

Stripping Down

The first part of any re-upholstery project is stripping down. This means removing the existing fillings and fabric, back to the frame. It can be slow, dirty work, taking out hundreds of tacks or staples, taking care not to damage the frame. But the better the preparation, the better the finished work. Once the original upholstery is removed, I can examine the frame and identify if it needs any repair work, which I can also complete, before the new upholstery begins.

Layers on Layers

Depending on the piece, there are as many as seven separate layers involved in the traditional upholstery process.
For a typical sprung chair, first there’s the webbing, which supports coiled springs, gives the furniture a strong base layer. This is covered with tarpaulin hessian, providing further durability.

Coir is tied to the hessian using bridle ties and contained within scrim hessian, providing the first layer of padding. A combination of stuffing ties, blind stitching and top stitching firm up the structure and shape of the chair, providing the first insight into how the finished chair will look. Loose horsehair is then tied to the scrim hessian, using bridle ties, to provide a second layer of padding.

Next, cotton felt is placed on top of the hair to prevent it poking through the seat into someone sitting on it. Then a layer of calico is added, stretched tightly over all the other layers and fastened securely with tacks. Dacron sits between the calico and the top fabric to prevent the two rubbing, extending the life to the fabric. Finally the top fabric – the layer you actually see - is added as the decorative covering.

 

Contemporary Techniques

By comparison, modern upholstery uses some traditional methods but is mainly based on synthetic materials like foam, elasticated webbing, polyester wadding and tack roll. Staples replace furniture tacks. It’s still all about the layers, but for a modern project I work with prefabricated stuffing, which is much faster to apply and allows me to create crisper, more flexible shapes. As the concept of contemporary furniture tends to be around simplicity, function and innovation, modern materials often provide a more adaptable framework.

Traditional or Modern – Which is Best?

The truth is there’s no simple answer. It depends on the piece of furniture, the desired style and the budget for the work. We generally feel that the method should reflect the period of the furniture. In some cases bringing together the traditional and modern crafts produces fantastic results that will really last.

Traditional

  • Appropriate for older ‘antique’ furniture.
  • Durable and long-lasting.
  • Firm structure that holds its shape.
  • Primarily natural, sustainable materials.
  • Slower, more labour intensive to achieve.
  • More expensive.

Modern

  • Appropriate for more contemporary furniture.
  • Flexible, less rigid and structured designs.
  • Soft and comfortable.
  • Faster to achieve.
  • Less expensive.

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