Ladies Antique Chair Reupholstered

Antique Chair After

Antique Chair Before

I believe this chair dated back to the late 1800’s. It had a broken arm and lower right side unattached, this chair had seen better days. The fabric, though old, was reupholstered since the chair’s construction, however it was done a long time ago. My guess it was done sometime in the 1940’s, judging by the needlepoint style material they had used. 

This chair had likely been made with seat springs, but during the 1940’s upholstered was replaced with thin plastic webbing on the bottom of the chair. It also had a couple hundred tacks surrounding the bottom seat as well as the arms and back rest. My customer had planned on doing the work herself, so she had already removed the needlepoint fabric from the backrest of the chair, but soon realized it was quite a bit of work.

Removing the material was time consuming and tedious. First I had to remove hundreds of staples. These staples were not your average staple, but extra thick copper staples that were quite difficult to remove. Removing that many staples gives your upper body a workout (translation: you will be sore the next day!) Then I had to remove all those tacks, which were rusted and stuck to the fabric in most of the areas. Using tack removal tools as well as a vice grip helps the process along. 

Once all the staples and tacks were removed, I could remove the old fabric. The chair had a broken right arm, which was obvious, but after I removed the material, I discovered it also had come apart at the lower right leg/seat area as well as a portion of the front of the framework. Jim made the necessary repairs then I could start the process of adding the new fabric.

The chair had a very old, very brittle cushion which was shaped to fit the chair but was no longer usable as it had the texture of a loaf of dry bread. As I was removing the staples the foam was leaking a yellow powder which resembled a cake mix. No way would I reused this foam. Instead I created a new foam seat base after I built the foundation with webbing. 

I used 2” foam cut to size which covered the underside webbing, then I added criss-cross webbing on top of the foam, front to back and left to right, for a more stable seat. Next I added a thick layer of raw cotton, which comes on a roll and can be torn apart, easily filling the seat area. This cotton is very soft and wonderful to use on a chair’s seat. On the raw cotton I added a fitted cut size of 1” foam followed by a second layer of raw cotton. Finally I topped it off with a double layer of polyester batting to hold everything together with a good top base. I always use the “sit on it” test before adding the fabric, which means I sit on the chair and if it feels good to me, it’s ready for material. 

The customer provided two identical fabric panels, each with a single large flower which she had wanted centered in the seat and back portions of the chair. She also brought purple velour for the small section of the arms and the open back facing fabric (not seen in photos). The purple color choice was perfect as it pulled the color from purple flowers. I added gimp trim along the bottom edge, arms and top front to cover the staples and add a touch of elegance to the chair. It was once again a beauty that will last another hundred years.