The Upholstery Process
Traditional Upholstery involves building uniform symmetrical shapes using authentic materials and techniques sympathetic to the period and style. In the main the finished shapes are determined by the contours of the frame and the position of the rails. In many cases major repairs are required in the form of re-dowelling, gluing and often new rails. Good quality stuff-over (completely covered) frames are usually made from heavy sections of beech or birch with mahogany, oak, or walnut show-wood (external polished) areas. Using interlaced webbing as a foundation arms, backs and seats are spanned in readiness to support the springs and fillings. Double cone coil springs are stitched to the webbing and laced to the frame. Springs may be required throughout the work - arms, back and seat and even cushions, as in a full stuff-over lounge chair or seat only as in the case of a Victorian dining chair. After the springs are secured woven linen, hemp or hessian is applied to each springing arrangement or spanned webbing. Small stuffing ties or loops of twine are made to accept handfuls of animal or vegetable fibre, building a dense pad of filling - the ‘1st stuffing’. Scrim linen or hessian is applied to the stuffed area then the pad is consolidated by stitching both internally and externally around the perimeter creating a hard dense shape.
Proportion, shape and symmetry are the real skills of the upholsterer and the 1st stuffing is essentially the finished shape, although normally another layer of hair is applied - ‘the 2nd stuffing’ to give surface resilience with an over-layer of wadding and often a calico jacket before the primary fabric is fixed.
Modern Upholstery – much of modern upholstery de-skills the upholsterer's task into compartments - in the main two thirds of the work being cutting and sewing. The real skill is in the initial design, development and styling of the work. In many cases the frame is engineered, being composed of hard and soft wood rails with man made board materials - ply, chip board etc, stapled and screwed together. The springing type may take the form of a coil spring unit (originally developed for the car industry) designed for that specific shape, serpentine springs, cable springs or even elastic/polypropylene webbing – thus reducing the making time compared with traditional upholstery. Cellular plastic foams are used for cushioning, either in sheet or pre-moulded form, these being stapled following the contours of suspension and frame. Many modern styles are tailored (cut fitted and sewn) to again speed up the assembly process. The internal sewn assemblies of arms, backs and seats are stapled to the frame with the external outer arms, backs and base cloth closing the finished lines. The cushions are either zipped in place or are of a box cushion style in the form of back and seat laid on top of the finished carcase.
