Chairs
Furiture fabrics
Upholstery

Traditional topp-stuffed upholstery without coil springs of a set of ten Elm wood dining chairs (The Netherlands approx. 1800).

The old fabric and inner work are being removed. The wood of the chair is cleaned and weak joints of the wooden frame are strengthened using gelatine glue.

Jute webbing strands are being interlaced underneath the seat; forming the base .....

…. for the brass coil springs to be positioned.

The usage of coil springs saw its development after 1830. The inner work of these chairs is reconstructed using true materials and techniques commonly used at that time.

The number of springs needed for a seat is set by its width. In principle, an average dining chair needs five springs, whereas the sprung seat of a larger armchair could hold 16 coils springs

or the seating of this Art Deco sofa even 52 springs.

The brass coil springs under tension are covered with hessian,

followed by a thick layer of ‘crin vegetal’ of botanical origin put directly over the hessian as first stuffing.
Initially, this will be kept together by bridle ties in loops of twine sawn into the hessian.

The botanical crin vegetal (lengthwise thin cut palm leaves and than curled) is a very resilient fibre and commonly used at the time for durable stuffing of seating furniture.

Jute cloth is tensioned over the crin vegetal fibre. Now this entire layer is stitched through holding it in position.

The edges will be stitched twice with twine creating a strong roll along the chair’s edges.

A roll is also stitched at the back panel of this approx. 1860’s armchair in order to maintain its shape long term.

The armrests also have stitched edges.

A new layer of ‘crin vegetal’ fibre or possibly horsehair is put over the hessian to create the desired smooth round shape in the end.

The next step is to put a layer of blue/grey cotton wool and a white cotton cloth on the seat and then tensioning this second stuffing. Now the chair is ready for covering and finishing.

The wood work will be polished before the seat is covered with fabric.

The finishing touch of the fabric could be achieved by applying trimming gimp…

… or decorative nails.

And your chair is finished!

So is this arm chair.