Patridge bantam chicken poorly foot?

[Olly]

I'm keen to learn this - I couldn't find an evening class locally, but I have a couple of old Victorian chairs in the garage that are badly in need of some TLC so I've decided to have a go. I've got a good book (I have huge faith in the power of books! ) and my friend's mum has done some upholstery so I can ring her for advice if needed.

 

Just wondered if anyone else does this? If so, are you self-taught or did you have lessons? I'm reasonably handy and have done quite a bit of sewing and stuff like that; is it realistic to try and teach myself? Also, where do you get your materials from?

 

I'm still in the process of sanding down the first chair, so not quite ready to start yet. Any tips would be much appreciated, though.

[ubereglu]

Well, you need wadding to re pad the chairs-this can be bought either online or from haberdashery shops. You'll need a staple gun-DIY stores-Staples are better to use as they don't split the wood like pins do. And also you'll need strong, hard wearing fabric too, type in 'upholstery fabric' into google and see if you can find some fabric you'd like once you'd worked out how much you'd need-basically enough to cover the chair and a bit extra to attach it-double fold those bits so it looks neater.

 

Hope that helps.

[Louise]

I did an upholstery course many years ago and it was good fun

 

I would start on something easy maybe a chair with a drop in seat which means you can learn the basics of webbing and then stuffing before progressing onto stringing in springs

 

If your chair is an over stuffed one it will take alot of work but it is very satisfying to see the finished project

[bluekarin]

I was an upholsterer until about 10 years ago. I started doing a work experience type thing which was with my income support benefit. My boss taught me how to upholster seat pads and like you, I am quite handy with a sewing machine and craft things so I learnt it quite quickly. Made a couple of bad mistakes - but you learn from them, and it's much better when it's someone else paying for the fabric!

There are quite a lot of upholstery suppliers in the internet - shop around for best prices. I have an air compressor for my staple gun. I find this much easier than a hand held one as you don't need to worry about applying the pressure and hold the fabric into place. If you have a local market, they sometimes have fabric stalls which sell upholstery fabric at good prices. I am quite lucky as I have an upholstery shop near to me. Also, a decent pair of fabric scissors are essential.

I would suggest you do some very simple upholstery like drop in seat pads (as Louise suggested) so you get to understand about how fabric stretches and then go from there. Most upholstery books seem to have some projects starting from easy and working their way to more difficult things. The hardest thing I ever did was a double drop ended chesterfield 3 seater sofa! And it was button backed!

I would ask your mums friend if she can help as learning from someone with you is much better than learning from a book.

Good luck, enjoy, and let me know if you need any other advice.

[Olly]

Ooh, thanks bluekarin!

 

I decided to press ahead, the book I've got is very good, and I'm quite pleased with results so far - I stripped the chair, did the webbing, first and second stuffing, and now I need to do a final layer and put the top fabric on. I struggled a bit with how to do some of the stitching, but it's not looking too bad for a first attempt.

 

Thanks for the tips about where to buy things, I found a very good online supplier but ended up going to John Lewis for the final fabric. Hadn't thought of market stalls, I'll have to pop back to Walthamstow one day for my next project.

 

I will post some photos when I'm home - hoping to finish it this weekend, it's all been held up a bit due to lack of time.

[A chickychickychick-ENN!!]

Youtube may also be your friend, Olly. If you search for 'upholstery' or 'upholstery how to' there are a number of pages giving visual demonstrations of what to use and what to do.

 

BTW - I've just seen you live in Buckhurst Hill. There used to be a goat in a fenced of area in the foresty bit. Did you know him and is he still there? I loved visiting that goat!

 

Anna x

[bluekarin]

Ooh, thanks bluekarin!

 

I decided to press ahead, the book I've got is very good, and I'm quite pleased with results so far - I stripped the chair, did the webbing, first and second stuffing, and now I need to do a final layer and put the top fabric on. I struggled a bit with how to do some of the stitching, but it's not looking too bad for a first attempt.

 

Thanks for the tips about where to buy things, I found a very good online supplier but ended up going to John Lewis for the final fabric. Hadn't thought of market stalls, I'll have to pop back to Walthamstow one day for my next project.

 

I will post some photos when I'm home - hoping to finish it this weekend, it's all been held up a bit due to lack of time.

 

You're welcome! I look forward to seeing the piccys!

[Olly]

Youtube may also be your friend, Olly. If you search for 'upholstery' or 'upholstery how to' there are a number of pages giving visual demonstrations of what to use and what to do.

 

BTW - I've just seen you live in Buckhurst Hill. There used to be a goat in a fenced of area in the foresty bit. Did you know him and is he still there? I loved visiting that goat!

 

Anna x

 

That's a good idea, hadn't thought of looking on there.

 

I've only lived here two years, but no, I've never seen a goat - I have a friend who's very involved in local conservation and I think she'd have told me if he was still around! I'll make some enquiries though, I'd love to see one around here! They do have horned cattle on the nature reserve at the moment, they bring them in every year to 'mow' the grasses.

[A chickychickychick-ENN!!]

The English longhorns of Epping Forest! I love them! They have a lady cow-wrangler with a three-legged dog too. Girl and puppy power!