Two seater sofa in Melin Tregwynt wool

An early 20th Century two-seater settee reupholstered in Melin Tregwynt smei-plain Aqua 100% Welsh wool.

A regular customer brought this scroll-armed, feather-cushioned number into the workshop in pieces, it leaves looking very different.

It's the second time in recent weeks I've been able to use this excellent new fabric by Melin Tregynt.

I wish I owned this.

Very tasty.


This was a commission.

Footstool in Welsh wool

Here's a neat little footstool covered in a smart Jacob's wool fabric woven at Cambrian Mill Llanwrtyd Wells.

As a self-confessed Welsh wool nut, this fabric was a very exciting find for me. It was made as a labour of love by Kay Coldrick who keeps a flock of Jacob sheep  at her farm in Tirabad and wanted to make some fabric from their wool. Due to the way wool is processed (collected, sold, washed, spun, woven all by different people) this is a task that you have to be very determined to carry through, not least the tricky business of shaving one of these:

Although quite thin and not suitable for upholstery of large items, the fabric is very rich in texture and comes in five monochrome designs based on traditional patterns from the mill.

This is a short run edition, so if you'd like some of this get in touch quickly, it won't be around for long.

This stool is £75

Milking Stools

Milking stool in Bute Ramshead fabric - £45

Milking stool in Melin Tregwynt Luna fabric - £65

The term 'three-legged elegance' might be applied to these, but more likely 'cute' or 'adorable' - all attributes regularly bestowed upon my dog Lewis:

Equally applicable to each would be 'bordering on daft.'


(Actual cow-milking on these stools not recommended)

Piano stool in Welsh wool

Late 19th Century (?) turned beech piano stool reupholstered in Melin Tregwynt Luna Plum 100% lambswool.

I've had this in my showroom for a couple of weeks waiting for a customer to pick it up and had three offers on it from other customers. So if you see one, buy it - they're obviously in demand.

Something of the Welsh stick chair about it I think - great curve on the legs and great spindle rack to hold sheet music.

This was a commission.

Benches in Welsh wool

Two oak benches reupholstered in Melin Tregwynt St. David's Cross 100% wool

An early 20th Century stained oak bench traditionally reupholstered with real horse hair.

This may have been a table once, it's certainly been cut down at some point, so what else it could have been I really don't know. Could now be a very handsome double piano stool.

If you've seen me at any fairs this summer, this is the bench I was making. Can now be yours for £295.

A smaller stool/bench in natural oak, reupholstered in St.David's Cross spice Welsh wool.

Yours for £150

Bus Stop Chair at Slack Bottom, Heptonstall

A chair donated by the Farmer family after I upgraded their dining chairs. Now available for weary bus travellers on Smithwell Lane at Slack Bottom.

The chair has been reupholstered in a piece of a discarded painting by my excellent wife, Julie Ann Sheridan.  It's acrylic on canvas, so fully waterproof - a good job because the bus stop looks far from water tight.

The painting was an unused study for a series of paintings of fungi. This one was of  Marching Soldier fungus, so what better to accompany them than a plastic (Kelloggs 1970's) marching band guardsman?

Many thanks to young Annie Farmer for your help with design and reupholstery of this chair.

Victorian Campaign Chair in Vintage Moquette

A Victorian ash reclining and folding Campaign chair reupholstered in a vintage moquette.

A tricky job this - this is basically a deckchair with extra positions so it's not easy to give it a padded, upholstered seat without it getting wrinkled when in the upright position.

With lots of hand-stitching and adjustments it is possible though. And now I know how to do it, it will take me half the time in future.

Great fabric.

This was a commission.

Wingback Armchair in Welsh Wool

A 1970's 'High Wycombe' armchair reupholstered in Melin Tregwynt Mondo Aqua 100% wool.

This fabric is very well known in Wales and is referred to by most people as 'the spots'. It's quite a challenge to get everything to line up on a chair with so many curves but it's worth it, don't you think?

This was a commission

Edwardian Inlaid Armchair in Welsh wool

An early 20th Century open armchair in rosewood - reupholstered in Melin Tregwynt St. David's Cross 100% lambswool.

I use this fabric often as it's very complimentary with any darker wood furniture, even very busy chairs like this one. It's not strictly an upholstery weight fabric but it's fine for smaller items that are not in everyday use. This customer had this one done to accompany a similar chair she bought from me in the same fabric (seen here) so has created something of a mismatched pair. With a couple of cushions in the same fabric the room looks quite splendid.

Why not do something similar yourself?

This was a commission.

Bus Stop Chair at Houghton, Pembrokeshire.

A chair I saved from the local tip, now available for bus travellers on the A477 at Houghton, Pembs.

I fixed the back spindles and added a cushion to, you know, add comfort.

I modified a cushion that I stripped from another chair and tried to jazz it up a bit with some stitching, a button and a red marker pen. I'd say this was about 5% successful - let's face it, it isn't very exciting is it? (In my defence I was somewhat inebriated while doing this).

So I added a fantastic Mr. Strawberry Pencil-top to make up for the blandness.

Great shoes he's got eh? Really good shoes.

Armchair in Welsh wool

Here's a neat little 1940's armchair reupholstered in a brand new semi-plain weave fabric by the ever wonderful Melin Tregwynt

I think this is the first time in a long time that Melin Tregwynt have produced a non-patterned cloth and jolly smart it is too. And it makes a change for me not having to pattern-match. Still 100% wool and still 100% Made in Wales.

The colours in the threads are very strong, so what looks at first like a nice rich single colour separates into three clear colours as you look closer. Quite brilliant.

A new customer saw this on the bench last week and said "That's what I want, I want my sofa covered in that fabric."


Can't say fairer than that.

This was a commission.

LLoyd Loom chairs and ottomans in Welsh wool

Here are a succession of Lloyd Loom items reupholstered in Melin Tregwynt wool fabrics.

These are for sale at The Red Giraffe Studio in Llandovery - get in quick if you're interested, they won't be around for long.

Art Deco sofa in Welsh wool

A 1940's late Art Deco sofa reupholstered in Melin Tregwynt Luna (apple) 100% wool.

Traditionally reupholstered and with a reinforced wood frame, this beast weighs in pretty hefty. If you ask me, the end of the Art Deco period produced very stylish, simple furniture - gone is the decoration and decadence of the early years, replaced by a solidity and seriousness reflecting the times.

The familiar sloping angles are here but there's more than a hint of modernity creeping in. I love this furniture - if I were to manufacture furniture, it would be in this style. Once again the customers were brave enough to choose a fabric that does justice to the great shape.

My daughter saw this and said "Wow, it looks like it should be in a forest."  We talked about Yetis and Abominable Snowmen and agreed this would make an ideal armchair for them and that the forest would be a very fitting place for it.

But as the customers live right next to the forest we felt it would live happily in their front room.

Until Bigfoot wants it back...


This was a commission.

LLandovery Sheep Festival

I took a stand at this year's Sheep Festival in Llandovery. It's a brilliant event, very close to where I live and very relevant to what I do - particularly now that I'm billing myself as a Welsh Wool Specialist.

I was very pleased to be supported by Melin Tregwynt whose products I use and specify wherever possible. Thanks to Eifion for supplying the banners - I clearly didn't make the Balzac chair in the picture but I guess it's only a matter of time before one comes my way. And when it does, maybe I'l cover it in one of these terrific fabrics that I was promoting.

I decided to do some 'live upholstery' to create a bit of interest. It's not exactly the Greatest Show on Earth and I certainly couldn't compete with Sheeptacular with it's dancing sheep, but then, who could?

But I did get plenty of interest and comments about the traditional method in which I was stitching and stuffing this bench.

People are quite fascinated by the magnetic tack hammer, particularly kids - get them one of these mums and dads, they'll soon put down those Nintendos.

Probably best not to teach them to 'spit tacks' though eh?

Many thanks to everyone I met for showing interest in this great old profession and don't forget to bring your chairs into my workshop like you all promised...

(Many thanks to Fiona for organising another brilliant event - onwards and upwards).

Painted Dining Chairs

A set of painted dining chairs in plaid wool.

Most of my customers come into the workshop with an idea of what they want but also seeking some advice. Usually they're not that interested in what goes on underneath but keen to ensure they get fabric that is appropriate for the furniture both in the way it looks and how long it will last. Occasionally someone comes in saying 'please re-do these chairs in this fabric'. In this instance, a customer came in with a set of chairs they'd already painted, bringing with them both the fabric and braid for the job. As it turned out it was a very good fit - it isn't always...

Don't ask me to like it - I'm really not into ch*bby ch*c, so painting such well-made, hand carved beech chairs would never be my choice, but I have to concede, these were probably heading for landfill and are now looking like a set of desirable country-kitchen chairs. So fair play to this customer, and they got the colour scheme spot-on.

 And who am I to say what anyone should do to their furniture? I am very happy to do whatever you want me to do - you're paying the money and you shall have what you want. I will insist you get a solid, lasting job and of course I will stitch a toy soldier on the inside, but otherwise, you call the shots.

I never forget that.

Bus Stop Chair at Cresselly, Pembrokeshire.

This is a smart yellow 1950's dining chair made by Ben Chairs, Frome that I wombled out of a skip, now available for bus travellers on the A4075 at Cresselly.

Yes, this is the chair I tried and failed to drop in Castlemartin (see previous blog entry) - this is a much nicer bus stop though don't you think?

The chair was in good condition in its original yellow vinyl so rather than reupholster it, I adorned it with drawings from the 1980's arcade game 'Asteroids', remember that?

They used to have these chairs in the sports centre where I grew up and where I used to hang out and play arcade machines.

Hence, 'Asteroids', a childhood reference you see.

And why not eh?

It's not visible in the first photo, but this is also the first chair to display my posh new labels, kindly printed for me free of charge by Roger at the excellent and wonderful  Papercut Bindery