This is an antique wooden chair with a horsehair seat. Here is the story of how we re-upholstered it to bring it back to its former glory.
To begin the transformation of an antique horsehair chair
Firstly, we stripped back this antique horsehair chair down to the bare frame. We removed all fittings and stuffings. We examined the components carefully to see if we could reuse them. The springs were viable but a little rusty and we revived them with working them with some fine grade steel wool. Meanwhile, we washed the horsehair as it was in good condition.
Secondly, we examine the frame. The antique show wood has the odd crack at the bottom and a little crack to the carved back too. We sanded and glued the cracks using wood glue and clamped the repairs for 24 hours until hardened. In addition, we rubbed the entire wooden frame with linseed oil to revive the wood. This gives it a wonderful warm glow.
To re-web the seat
Thirdly, we start to rebuild. To re-web the chair seat with traditional jute webbing, we use a web stretcher hand-tack the webbing in place, taking care to interweave the strands to provide additional support.
Reattaching the springs on the antique horsehair chair
We tie the revived springs in place on top of the webbing with linen cord and a curved needle. After that, we tie the springs down firmly with heavy linen cord and fix them in place. This gives us a neatens supportive sprung base.
Covering the springs
We covered the springs with a layer of new hessian, stretched to form a platform on which to fix carefully arranged horsehair.
The horsehair and stuffings
The recycled horsehair which we have washed, dried and prepared is ready to use. We take little bundles of horsehair and tuck them into the “bridles”. These are stitches made with cord and stop the hair from moving around inside the seat. We adjust this with a regulator and then we cover this with a second layer of new hessian. After that, we add a second layer of horsehair stuffing, adjusting it all by hand.
Fire Safety Standards
We covered this all with a layer of fire-retardent calico, carefully cut and shaped at the legs and front. This is essential in conforming with Fire Safety Standards. Although this antique horsehair chair is exempt from this legislation as it is pre-1950s, where possible we prefer to use fire retardant materials anyway.
Creating the back panel
We re-created the back panel using stiffened card and covered it with woollen felt for a soft feel. Subsequently, we recover this with a layer of fire retardant calico.
Fitting the top cover and adding finishing touches
Lastly, complete the job on this antique horsehair chair, we cover the seat and the back panel with the selected top fabric. It is hand tacked in place in the traditional style. It’s a lovely shimmering silver and blue fabric. We finished the chair with an attractive matching silver braiding which we tacked and glued firmly in place.
Have you a chair like this which you would like to be re-upholstered? Then call us today on 07565 183938.