Salvedge chair Part 2.

Once you have your chair, next is taking it apart. Take photos along the way, it will help to remember how to put it back together. Remove staples carefully as you can use the original cover as a pattern. I didn’t have that luxury this time but have done with previous projects so know from experience it can make it a lot quicker and easier. If it’s an arm chair, you will most likely need to unscrew the arms to get all the fabric off. Just save the screws for later and take care when handling the chair as it will be more unstable without them, keep popping them back in when you don’t need access to the sides to put less strain on the structure. Definitely put the screws back in while working on the frame and woodwork. 

Woodwork on old furniture generally needs a good wash with sugar soap (diluted as the back of the bottle suggests) and wipe down. Sanding is usually required, the amount will depend on the degree of wear and tear. I got lucky as mine was done for me this time so I just gave it a light sand with very fine grit paper before waxing. I used Annie Sloane clear wax as I had some from previous projects and liked the original wood colour. You could paint or use a coloured wax, depending on how you want your chair to look. 

If your chair is in reasonable condition when you remove the covering, you don't have to strip it back any further. It might need new batting, foam or uncovering further. Use your judgment on how it looks and stop when you’re happy. 

Mine needed taking back to the springs. I added strapping/ strong webbing to the frame to add support and hopefully make the chair last longer. If the springs seem strong and you're not worried, skip this step. Then was a layer of hessian. This stops the springs from damaging the foam and protects them. I stapled this on the inside edge of the frame, as you don’t want to be stapling everything in the same place. Keep staples off the back edge as much as possible until the back needs putting on. 

Next is a layer of fire-retardant upholstery foam. You can choose the thickness and density: Standard is firm blue high density, medium is grey and soft is yellow/white. The thickness is generally sold by inch. You can buy as a sheet you cut or some places sell some cut-to-shape pieces. With the foam, you need to consider how deep you want the seat and how firm you like the seat. There are options to stack different foams to layer a firmer base structure with a thin soft top layer for comfort. I used 1" blue foam for the back, cut to the size of the frame. To fix, add glue (upholstery spray adhesive) to the back and edges of the foam. Put the foam flat to the hessian, then create a curved profile working around the edges by tucking the flat edges under so they stick face down to the hessian base.  Add staples along the edge to hold firmly in place, how many staples you will need to add will depend on how well the glue has gripped. If you want a more boxy profile, only glue the back of the foam, as the tension of the fabric covering will soften the hard edges later. 

Now add a layer of fire retardant batting/wadding. These come in different weights and widths too. I used polyester 4oz wadding. Stick down with spray glue onto the foam, smoothing the wadding into place as you go. Take care to shape the corners without adding extra bulk, cut away excess and lightly glue the cut edges together as needed.

The final preparation layer is the fire-retardant upholstery barrier cloth. I found a heavy-weight fire retardant cotton calico. Take your time to put this layer on neatly as this forms the foundation of the chair before the final layer. Measure your chair, going around to the back of the frame, and cut your fabric roughly to size, allow extra to hold as you staple and trim away excess when everything is stapled in place. Start in the centre at the top and add a few staples along the top edge to hold in place. Smooth down and keep tension on the fabric pulling down to the bottom, underneath and around to the back, then hold in place with a few staples along the bottom edge. Now do a few on each side with an even tension, keeping the fabric taut but not overly tight to dig in or make the foam bumpy. Continue adding staples working outwards from the centre on all sides until you come close to the corners. You will need to create a tuck or tiny pleats to gather the fabric smoothly around the corners. 

I chose to work on the back of the chair and then the seat pad. Hopefully, you will have a seat pad you can work with, again just judge this by look and comfort. As mine was completely missing, I had to start from scratch layering 3 layers of foam: grey then blue then yellow glued together. 2 layers could work equally well, 1 firm and 1 medium or soft depending on how you would like to sit. You will need to cut the foam to size and might want to round off the corners for a softer shape, though I chose not to for this one. The foam needs to be covered in fire retardant batting and calico. I use Gutermann upholstery thread for the calico as it is thicker and stronger than regular cotton thread. 

As my seat was a simple block shape, I could create a simple calico cover, however, if you have rounded off your seat, you might need to contour your calico further to match. I measured the circumference of the foam pad by wrapping the tape measure around the width and length. Half these measurements and add 1” then cut 2 pieces of fabric to size. Sew the pieces together along 3 sides, leaving a large turning gap at the back/4th edge, using 1/2" seam allowance. Then box the corner by the depth of the seat pad, like you would a boxy pouch. Fold the side seams to match to create a triangle at the corner and pin to hold. Measure and mark at the size you need, so that the sewn line will match the depth of your seat. Now sew across the corners and cut away the excess. It's a good idea to check the fitting before you cut away excess. When removing excess, if possible, cut one seam allowance slightly smaller than the other, as it will be less bulky and have a neater finish. Squeeze the batting-covered foam seat pad through the turning gap and hand-stitch up the hole once you're happy. 

You will now have a chair effectively, simply needing a fabulous cover/jacket. So, you can pick a wonderful fabric and cover the chair with the final top layer, or as I did patchwork and quilt your cover. 

Mx

Salvedge chair

Welcome to my salvedge chair blog series. Basically I salvaged a chair and used selvedge's to give it a new life and space in our home.

House renovation is expensive and since I love old furniture, I am more than happy to save some pennies buying old and up cycling. Last year I have discovered Facebook marketplace. It’s fair to say it’s been amazing if a little bit dangerous. I will get around to doing my other bits of furniture but with a good wash they are usable so painting can wait. However I spotted a chair for free! The magic word is free. Did we need another chair? Probably not but I couldn’t resist. In fairness I had been looking at chairs when searching for our sofa and had tried to buy a couple of others but was too far or had gone already. It was local and all the woodwork had been prepped and sanded, which was an amazing time saver. The lady had started recovering the chair but had got stuck and abandoned the project. It looked a bit of a mess and was missing the seat entirely but I hoped I could just either finish it or more likely recover it. I have done a few bits of re upholstery before so wasn’t worried. When it come to taking all the staples out and getting it ready, we discovered some random bits of foam tucked in and foam that had been added to the back which was making the shape of the chair very dated. The more we took off the worse it got so we took it back to springs. That was a little bit more scary and required a touch more research, it also meant the project got moved up the to do list. 

I have always fancied putting a quilt in the festival of quilts and had decided this was the year. Then after starting to sew my Ruby Star Society stash this year I wanted a selvedge's project. Me and Abbie were chatting one day and decided a quilt coat made from them would be fun, and different for the entry too. When we went to collect the chair, I joked with the lady about maybe even doing it patchwork and Abbie said no! However after me suggesting the selvedge's would be quirky she liked the idea, it would mean I couldn’t do the coat and enter the competition. It is a quilt creation category though and maybe a chair would count, after a quick email I got my response… Yes, you can enter a chair! That moved it up the to do list, to the best get started list, as the festival of quilts deadline was soon. 

There was some struggles along the way. My health conditions mean I’m not very strong, I wasn’t strong enough to use even the electric stapler we bought. So Abbie was on staple duty, both pulling out and putting in. We actually used a regular hand held stapler for most of it in the end and think the electric one isn’t worth buying if you only plan on doing a couple of small projects. The arm fell off and when it come to getting it back together we couldn’t manage it. My neighbour ended up helping and putting a fresh screw into it to fix it, we used the original screws for everything else though. I had an accident with the seam ripper, which followed with many tears and hours of redoing things to mend that. This added to the stressful deadline that was getting close. However we got there in the end and it looks fabulous (if I am allowed to say so) so well worth all the effort. I have had many lovely comments before and after on Instagram and at the festival of quilts, with many people wanting to do one for themselves. I never expected it so hopefully this blog series inspires and helps if anyone wants to have a go. 

Firstly you need a chair, ideally one that’s free or cheap. You might even have one that’s at home you love but needs a facelift. Go for whatever budget suits you though, if you love a shape or style it may be worth the extra cost. Remember as well as money for supplies and fabric, you will be adding time and energy, you need to like the shape and style ideally before you start. You can pick whatever style you would like, some will just be a bit more of a challenge than others. Some chairs will be in better condition, they might be more money, but won’t need taking back to springs so you can save on supplies. 

Stay tuned for the next blog, with hopefully some helpful tips on putting the chair back together.

Mx