Victorian Iron Back Chair
As purchased. The filling had collapsed at the front. The back and arms had been poorly re-upholstered. The proportions were not correct - the seat being too bulky for the back.
The Chair stripped and repaired
After stripping the chair - it was obvious that at some point two horizontal bars, linking the arms to the spine of the back, had been cut-off. I had the chair repaired by my local blacksmith. The half-oval flat metal bar originally followed all the way round the top back, this was also cut-off. However, the repair was not needed in order to re-upholster the chair.
1. The back
Inspired by the shape of the chair, I drew different sketches with numerous treatments before deciding on a specific design. The hessian was sown onto the back and chalk lines were made to denote the shape.
2. Working on the shape
A piece of scrim was sewn to the central circle, with enough scrim left loose in order to stuff the edge with horsehair. Then two edge rolls were created, one on the inside (to retain the shape) and another one on the outside back.
3. Further re-shaping and edge roll
Further reshaping was carried out. A third rolled edge was created in order to retain the horsehair and also to refine the oval shape.
4. Skin Wadding and Top Cover
The tutor advised not to put a skim of horsehair on the top hessian. Only skin wadding was added, otherwise it would have bulked out the shape. Then the top cover was eased and pinned into place. The centre of the oval was then sewn with wax twine.
5. Creating the Oval shape
I created an oval shape out of cardboard to use as a guide whilst working the centre rolled-edges.
The fabric used is Northcroft Seville an antique linen velvet embossed with their Sans Gene design in colour: Navy 64
6. Applying the Horsehair
The process started over again, applying a good layer of horsehair, then inserting a top scrim (see 2.) and then rolled edges (see 3.) - here only one outter rolled edge was needed.
7. Positioning the oval top fabric
Again prior to the top cover going on, only skin wadding was applied to the scrim and no additional horsehair. The top cover was positioned to retain the pattern horizontal and vertically the whole way through.
8. Sewing the Oval top fabric
This was a major feat and took more than 6 hours to accomplish. Two different types of needles needed to be used, an upholstery curved needle and an upholstery double-ended straight needle, one to grab the fabric and one to sew through to the back. This had to be done for each stitch by alternating the needles. Each stitch needed to be tighten to ensure the fabric was not pulling and distorting and then loosened again to allow for the next stitch to be done.
The fabric could have been sewn to the outter oval - but I would not have achieved the depth and definition that I wanted.
9. Trying some trims
The back is now complete except for the bullion cords that will be added to the centre of the oval and around the whole of the back. This is not the cord that will be used but something similar.
10. The arms
Again this is proving difficult. Making the rolled edge, which is against the top cover - at the bottom of the back, nearly rendered me histerical - but with the help of the incredibly talented Damian, I managed to finish that part. Again, there has been a lot of regulating and more to come.
10. The arms (continued)
On the seat of the chair, you can see an oval drawing. The piece of fabric on the seat is just used as a template. In order to achieve an identical oval shape as the one on the back, the template was created using a Cassini Oval. Once in situ, I could judge to what extent the arms needed to be rounded, and what form they would take, in order to create an illusion - that the seat is not actually round but oval. This to achieve symmetry between the back and the seat.
The numerous retaining stitches along the length of the arms make it possible to create a shape that slopes inwards, towards the seat, and that curves inwards, towards the front of the chair. Once the stitiching is complete, the oval on the seat will be removed in order to do the bottom rolled edge.
As you can see many things are going on at the same time - retaining stitches - rolled edges - shaping of the right arm.
The shape at the end of the arm was a deliberate decision. I do not like the rounded bulky shapes that we usually see on an iron back chairs. In order to achieve this, Damian showed me how, with the approriate size rolled edge (in this case fairly small compared with other rolls on this chair) we can manipulate the scrim and horsehair more or less into any shape. There are two lines of retaining stitches and a very "mean" rolled edge. With the aid of accurate and meticulious stitching one can go from "a blob" (as seen on the end of the right arm above) to a very defined and more elegant shape as on the left arm. I have not yet considered how I will sew my top cover at the front of the arms - I will cross that hurdle when I get there!
12. The seat... (to come)