Guerrilla Upholstery - Pump House Cushion, Bosherston, Pembrokeshire

Somewhere soft to sit down while sheltering from the rain in the old pump house at Bosherston lily ponds.

I'm not sure what this concrete structure is but it had a perfect recess for sitting in so I measured it up and made this cushion for it.

The cushion is made from strips of fabric offcuts - all sorts in there, brocade, silk damask, printed linen all different weights and textures.*

And all very traditional (and of course colour coordinated) to reflect the age of the building and to contrast with the graffiti.

The sort of place where you may want to sit and perhaps smoke a fag and have a can of Special Brew.

* All my guerrilla upholstery projects are made quickly without too much attention to detail and often, you know, after the pub. It's an antidote to the day job. This cushion is quite wonky, if I made you a proper one it would be much neater than this.

Victorian Prayer Chair

An 1860's (?) rosewood prayer chair with ornate woodwork covered in antique tapestry.

I didn't fully reupholster this, it was more a case of finishing off someone else's restoration project. It had a rotten skirt on the seat, no fabric in the picture-back and the braid had been stripped so it was just a case of finding a suitable fabric for the skirt (seat edge) and back and some suitable braid.

Looks alright now eh?

This was a commission.

Drop-Arm Sofa

Early 20th Century drop-arm sofa reupholstered in fabric supplied by the customer.

The sofa back is wider than the fabric width so I did what I often do and turned the fabric on its side allowing the width to be taken out of the length of the fabric. Of course this only works if there's no pattern or nap to the fabric. The alternative is to join the fabric, always a consideration on a project like this.

Anyway, nice sofa eh?

This was a commission.

Wingback Armchair in cut velvet

An early 20th Century wing-back armchair reupholstered in Designer's Guild Calaggio cut velvet.

This 'leaf and bud' cut velvet in such a bright colour seemed quite appropriate for the chair - somehow traditional and contemporary at the same time.

How can it possibly be traditional and contemporary at the same time?

I don't know, but somehow.

This was a commission.

Canal Arch Chair - Gas Street Canal Basin, Birmingham

This chair now available to those in need of a rest from walking along the Birmingham canal

As ever the chair was destined for landfill but now looks rather nice covered in some sewn-together waste offcuts of the fabulous Eleanor Pritchard Totley fabric

And, mainly because he's wearing orange to compliment the fabric, but also because he's wearing a gas station outfit (the chair is on Gas St.), there's Cookie Monster on the foot stretcher.

And why not eh?

Plastic Chair Toys

I like to leave a plastic toy inside each chair I reupholster.

I've being doing it for years. I do it for, you know, philosophical reasons.

I like the idea that the next person to reupholster the chair will find it and crack a smile.

Because quite apart from the glamour of the finished product, upholstery is a tough and lonely trade. It's work. And although (at least in my case) you can play loud, ugly music all day, or listen to the test match, I imagine finding a plastic toy in the chair you're stripping will help make it a better day than otherwise.

Particularly if it's an amputee Mexican bandit like the one above - due to be found in about 20 years.

So why not, eh?


Anyway, here's some more what I done:

 

Iron Back Chair in Bute tweed

An 1880's iron back armchair reupholstered in Bute tweed 2726.

Iron back chairs have to be reupholstered in the traditional way and take ages to complete but what a pleasure when they're finished. Because each stage of the back and arms have to be stitched to the next (hessian, hair, calico, topcover) and nothing can be tacked to the frame (back panel included) there is always a certain looseness and hand-stitched aspect to the finish - I love this. I don't think traditional reupholstery should be perfect - of course it should be done with great care and as much skill as is available and it should be done properly, with quality materials - but it should look handmade, because, well, it is.

As armchairs go this is a real beauty. Just look at the angle of the back legs, I can't take my eyes off it.

Once again the Bute tweed suits it perfectly - no pattern to interrupt the curves and buttoning but plenty of strong colours to keep things interesting and luxurious. Once again I have to thank my customer for choosing the right fabric, it makes it such a pleasure to do the work.
I just wish I knew how to take photographs...

...because this is the actual colour of the fabric.

Good job I chose upholstery and not photography eh?


This was a commission.

Ercol Settee in Melin Tregwynt Welsh wool

A 1960's Ercol 403 Settee with redesigned upholstery covered in Melin Tregwynt MiniMadison 100% wool

The settee had four shabby loose cushions and rotten webbing throughout, nothing was usable so it was a chance to redesign the upholstery. After consulting the Ercol archives the customer and I decided to go for a single bench seat but keep the original ‘floating back’ cushion design.

Originally the back cushions went behind the seat cushions but we switched this to stop then slipping. We also agreed on thicker back cushions for comfort. The back cushions are hand-stitched around the webbing and finished with a neat hand-stitched bottom edge. 

The fabric was chosen for its period geometry and the colour worked very well with the wood.

 Well smart.

This was a commission.

Wingback Armchair in Bute Tweed

A 1950's wingback armchair and footstool reupholstered in Bute tweed.

This customer has just moved into a nursing home and wanted to update her chintzy chair - now certainly the coolest piece of furniture in the place.

When I started this business I had ridiculous preconceptions about what type of fabric people would want, particularly elderly people. In truth it tends to be the younger generation who are the most conservative.

Well cool Mrs. Fox.

This was a commission.

Huge Footstool in Bute Tweed

A HUGE footstool redesigned and reupholstered in Bute tweed.

This was a big floppy thing from John Lewis called a daybed that wasn't big enough to sleep on but too high and floppy just to put your feet on. Now it's a massive footstool. Is that clear? It's a footstool, for your feet. Not for dogs or cups of tea, for feet, OK? Feet only.

Good. I'm glad we've got that sorted out.

This was a commission.

Bus Stop Chair at Banwen Pyrrdin

A reupholstered chair now available for bus travellers on the A4109 Inter-Valley Rd near Glynneath.

I swiped the chair from the local tip and recovered it in some vintage velvet damask (stripped from another chair) and edged in some Bute dogtooth offcuts.

One added toy goat and 'voila'.