Danish dining chairs in cow hide

Three Danish dining chairs reupholstered in a piece of hairy cow hide.

Nice.

This was a commission.

Wing-back Armchair in Welsh Wool

An 1891 wing-back armchair reupholstered in Melin Tregwynt Mondo Sage doublecloth.

This armchair wasn't looking too great when it came into the workshop.

It came from a stately home in Scotland and was manufactured by a company called Morison & Co in Edinburgh in 1891.

I know it was 1891 because there's an inscription in pencil on an inner rail that reads "John Ferguson, Upholsterer, 1891". 

It's a very high quality piece of furniture and had to be reupholstered in the traditional way.

This was a commission.

Cool Commode

Being British, we can't help giggling at anything to do with toilets, but this chair is no laughing matter.

A 1960's commode in full working order, reupholstered in an excellent Bute Fabrics tweed.

This is for a customer for whom I've done quite a few projects. She wanted to keep her commode but update it and make it fit in with everything else. Choosing a very bright tweed has certainly done that. Hand-stitched to a piped edge, this is now looking very smart, even if I say so myself.

And if you do want to go to the toilet in the middle of the night...

(This was a commission)

1880's Nursing Chair

Traditionally reupholstered 1880's nursing chair (small) in Sanderson fabric.

Despite looks, this isn't an iron-back chair, so I didn't have to do all that back-stitching.

 

It is pretty tiny but will certainly accommodate an adult backside.

Quite nice.

This was a commission.

Bus Stop Cushion at Gelli Aur

A 3 metre-long cushion for bus travellers on the A40 at Gelli Aur.

I usedmaterial scraps in red/pink/purple to match the bus shelter - these things are important you know.

Box Cushions

Two sets of box cushions this week - a set of seven piped-edge cushions for a conservatory suite and a set of plain box for a camper van.

 I do enjoy sewing but now I want to stop.

1960's Icelandic Chair in Bute Tweed

A 1960's armchair made by Icefurn reupholstered in Bute Turnberry tweed.

This chair was manufactured by Icefurn and designed by Th. Gudmundsson (see labels below attached to underside rail). The customer remembers this being something to do with a business venture between his father and an Icelandic colleague, probably in the 1960's. If anyone can shed any light on the origin of the chair, please get in touch.

The chair came to me in the worst state imaginable, my customer having found it in his dad's barn where it was being lived in by rats. Before I got my hands on it, it looked like this:

As it was so bad, I made one of my daft little films of the restoration project, here it is for your viewing delight.

This was a commission.

American rocking chair

A (1940's?) American rocking chair in fabric supplied by the customer.

This came to me in pieces and I was very close to just saying 'no', but the customer told me how they'd had it for many years and how much it meant to the family so I agreed to have a go at it. I took it apart and glued it back together, fixed up the inner rails so they could take the upholstery webbing and by the time I'd fully reupholstered it, I'd come to understand why they liked it...

It's quite nice innit?


This was a commission.

Bus Stop Chair at Abercraf

Here's another old dining chair I saved from landfill, now available for bus travellers on the A4067 at Abercraf ((A4221 turnoff).

This blue painted shelter is clearly too Cardiff City for local Swansea fans who have graced it with the direct 'Cardiff Scum' and the classy 'We 8 Cardiff'. As a Luton Town fan, I thought I'd best use an orange fabric to state my own allegiance.

The chair is covered in a ludicrous cheap fur and adorned with some complementary lurid fishing lures on the leg.

And why not?

More dining chairs in Welsh wool

A set of hardwood dining chairs reupholstered in Melin Tregwynt Mondo Sage doublecloth.

The customer liked how the darker shaded spots not only match the wood colour, but mirror the carved circles on the back spindles. I rather like this too. And I love how the spots form nice straight lines - I love straight lines.

This reproduction dining set was of no real quality but now looks better than anything you can buy on the High Street. You can easily pick up a set of dining chairs at auction for under £50 - give them to me and I'll reupholster them for roughly £30 each plus the cost of the fabric. Four upholstered dining chairs in a spectacular fabric for less than £250 - even Ikea can't match that...

These were a commission.

Oak Dining Chairs in Welsh Wool

A set of eight oak dining chairs (6 diners, 2 carvers) reupholstered in Melin Tregwynt Carew Ember.

A very high quality dining set now in a very high quality fabric. It's important to find an accent colour for the wood when selecting a fabric, and the light orange shapes in this one matched the wood perfectly.

This was a commission.

Armchair in Linen

A 1980's High-Wycombe armchair in Tinsmith's Lichen Linen.

As any upholsterer will know, linen is a very unforgiving fabric to work with, it shows any bumps and almost highlights any hand stitching. Nevertheless I was happy with this chair. The wings had to be entirely pre-stitched by machine and slid on - something like a loose cover that is anything but loose. Each wing/arm took five or more attempts, but once they were done the job was all but finished. Thankfully it was a feather cushion, nice and easy.

This was a commission.

(Further apologies for the phone photography, I now have my camera back so things should improve).

Bus Stop Cushion at Crai, Powys.

Here's a huge cushion currently softening-up a wooden bench used by bus travllers on the A4067 at Crai.

This cushion took a long time to make, probably a year's worth of waste material stripped from many reupholstered chairs. At 3.2 metres long and 3 inches thick, stuffing it was like wrestling an alligator. The piping was made from lengths of nylon twine collected from Pendine beach. It is stuffed with pieces of waste foam stripped from other chairs which is why it's so bumpy (if I were making a new bench seat it would certainly not have wrinkly edges), the mis-matched piping added to its wonkiness.

Wonky or not, this is seriously comfortable with plenty of room for a proper sleep, so if you've missed your bus after a few pints at the excellent Tanner's Arms, you know where to sleep it off.

Dolaucothi Arms dining chairs in Welsh wool

A mishmash of different dining chairs reupholstered in a variety of Welsh wool fabrics (including Melin Tregwynt and Melin Trefriw) now in the bar and dining rooms at the Dolaucothi Arms, Pumsaint, Dyfed, Wales.

This pub stood empty for years and I would often lament 'another dead pub' as I passed by when all of a sudden the door was open again. Now owned by the National Trust, the pub has had a major overhaul and is now run by young English couple, David and Esther. I went in for a few pints and suggested that their hotchpotch of dining chairs would look superb in a hotchpotch of Welsh wools, they agreed.

They have a simple and excellent menu and some really good ales - I strongly suggest you get up there and try them out. Live too far away? Don't like driving to pubs? No excuse, rooms also available.

Thanks to Jess Jones for the photos. Dolaucothi Facebook page here.

Wingback Armchairs in Sanderson Wool

A pair of late 19th Century wingback armchairs fully reupholstered and covered in Sanderson Woodford Plaid 100% wool.

Sometimes upholstery is like tailoring, and while chairs are certainly less fidgety than people, they can be just as demanding. Those large checks still have to line up you know.

It's fair to say that this shapely pair took more a fair bit longer than anticipated, but worth it in the end I think.

These are a commission.

Enormous Bean Bag

I made this huge bean bag floor cushion as a prop for Jem Moore for his new photography studio in Aberaeron. It's 5 feet long and three feet wide.

I'd never made one this size before and getting 30 cubic feet of polystyrene beans into it soon became a family matter. 2 adults, one eight year old and a home-made cardboard funnel did the trick. So if you need a vast floor-lounger, it looks like I'm your man.