Upholsterer

“ If we except a few of the best cabinet-makers’ shops, where in the present day some furniture of good design is made, the majority of such work is now made by machinery, or is often too much the work of the upholsterer, and is consequently less artistic and more mechanical both in design and construction. ”

“ Black walnut, white oak, rose, and several other woods, are likewise used for veneering, although not so much as mahogany. Our native woods will be hereafter more used in this way, since mahogany is becoming scarce.
19. In Europe, particularly in England, the business of the cabinet-maker is commonly united with that of the upholsterer; and this is sometimes the case in the United States. All, however, who make sofas and chairs, intrude enough upon the latter business to cover and stuff them; or they employ a journeyman upholsterer to perform this part of the work. ”

“ You notice a rigid symmetry and an indescribable bareness which inevitably suggest that the original arrangements of the upholsterer have never been modified or supplemented. The truth is that by far the greater part of the house is used only on state occasions. ”

“ Large, oval-headed upholsterers’ tacks painted black will appear to good advantage if driven about two inches apart along the edge of the goods. If they cannot be had, or are too expensive, a very good substitute may be made from sheet-lead or an old piece of lead pipe split open and beaten out flat. ”

“ The upholsterers, for instance, generally selected pieces of furniture. At the end of the last century The Royal Bed was a great favourite, as may be seen from engravings on several of the shop bills in the Banks collection; the bed in olden times was a very important article in a household, and was always particularly named in the will. Upholsterers in those days were also frequently called bed-joiners. Next we have the Board or Table, still a great favourite in the north—in Durham alone at least sixty public-houses with that sign could be named. ”

“ In your tool box have partitions for all sizes of screws, nails and tacks, and keep each size separate.
For upholstery work, such as pleating, puffing, draping and covering the frame with cloth, you will need a large pair of shears and an upholsterer’s hammer, which has a long, extended head. Also provide yourself with a small pincushion, 3 or 4 inches square, and put a loop of tape on opposite corners. These loops can be placed over two buttons of your vest, to hold it firmly in place, or you can pin the cushion by the loops to any part of your person. Don’t loan your tools to anyone. ”

“ It is a waste of strength and material to put handsome new covers over musty padding or to botch and pucker hopelessly through inexperience. 65In the courage of her economies a clever woman learns quickly the knack of upholstery. Minute directions are impossible—each sofa or couch or easy chair is so much a law unto itself. In a general way, have all necessary things handy—as covering muslin, webbing, springs, tacks, twine, upholsterer’s needles, moss or curled hair, brads in variety, sharp shears, and stout pliers for dragging through reluctant needles. ”

“ Use your pillows, and Ruth and I will make frilled covers out of art-muslin, at threepence a yard. They will look charming, and lighten up the dark corners. We are used to that sort of work at home. We made a cosy corner for the drawing-room out of old packing-cases and a Liberty curtain, and it is easier and more comfortable than any professional one I ever saw. The silly upholsterers always make the seats too high and narrow. ”

“ Use six ounce Swede upholsterers' tacks, placing one in the centre of the outside edge of one side and another directly opposite, stretching the muslin as firmly as possible with the fingers. Then place a third tack in the centre of the outside edge of the top, and a fourth in the centre of the bottom of the frame, stretching as before. In finishing, use the pliers in addition to the fingers, and remember that you must always stretch from the centre towards the corner or you will have wrinkles in the muslin. ”

“ Upholsterers generally will not be troubled with such jobs of caning for the work does not pay unless there is an amount sufficient to keep them steadily employed. Usually they are not adept enough to do such odd jobs as may come to them, even tho willing to do the work, within a time consistent with sufficient money returns. ”

“ A piece of copper band, 1 in. wide, is fastened to the body with large upholsterers' tacks, to give it a finished appearance. The base is 7/8 in. thick and in order to prevent tilting is provided with four square feet, 1/4 in. ”

“ The added beauty and comfort given to furniture by upholstery makes work of this character worth while. If period furniture is to be reproduced or modified, the worker must understand the art of upholstering.
The tendency to reproduce or copy good old pieces of furniture should be encouraged, for only in this way may a student obtain a proper background, from which may be developed a new style. New ideas, derived from the best of the old, are likely to serve humanity in the best way. ”

“ The seat is built up with webbing, canvas and stuffing, and covered with a needlework tapestry. It is finished with a fringed gimp with brass headed nails.
[Pg 10]
Not only does upholstery add comfort to furniture, but it reflects the conditions in the life of a people. Alice F. Schmall said recently: “With the accession of James I to the throne of England the style of dress changed to trunk hose and padded doublet, and the carven forms of furniture gave place to upholstery. There is a sense of dignity and refinement about a really fine chair ”

“ Nailing a piece of leather or strips of leather across a frame cannot be dignified by the term upholstery. Therefore, such work is not to be considered under this head. The structure, in addition to the simple upholstery processes involved, requires but elementary bench work in wood in its construction.
After staining the stool take a small amount of tow, pull it out thoroly with the hands until all uneven bunches are eliminated; then spread it out evenly on the top of the stool as illustrated in Fig. 6. Then place a piece of muslin over this, tacking it with 4-oz. ”

“ Linsey woolsey dyed in fast and attractive colour would undoubtedly be a good material for upholstery of simple furniture, because of its strength and durability, but it seems to me its chief mission and probable future is to supply an exceptional art textile; one which has the firmness and flexibility belonging to hand-woven stuffs, and can be at the same time beautiful in colour, capable of hard wear and reasonably inexpensive. ”

“ A spick-and-span new furniture and upholstery establishment has no more fascination for me than a black-and-white undertaker’s. But out of the bustle of the street and the broiling heat of the mid-day sun—which is my favourite time of indulgence—and in the dusty and shadowy corners, festooned with cobwebs, of a broker’s shop or old furniture saleroom, I forget how the time goes, as I join over again the sundered human relationships to the pieces of furniture at which I stand staring in half-reverie. ”

“ Upholstery fabrics were exceedingly rich and gorgeous, Gobelin and Aubusson tapestries, silk velvets, damasks, and brocades being chiefly used. Furniture was upholstered en suite, a common arrangement including one sofa, two arm chairs, and nine stools or tabourets. Etiquette prescribed the use of stools by most members of the court, and prudence demanded it of the ladies, who at this time wore hoop-skirts, so enormous that they couldn't sit in an arm chair. All furniture was placed against the wall, with the center of the room left clear. ”

“ For furniture which was to be painted and gilded common deal was used. In America hickory (nut-wood, as it was called) , was very popular among the native workers, and all the other woods were gradually imported, except those used for inlaying, an art never much practiced by American cabinet makers.
After the first leather coverings of cured bull-hide there followed Spanish or Cordova leather, Turkey-work, cane, rush, tapestry, brocade, woollen plush, etc., as styles altered from time to time and luxury increased. ”

“ A roller supporter, a, Fig. 20, is placed in each end of the chase and pieces of furniture are built out solidly from the type form to one side and one end of the chase.
Fig. 21.
Furniture, Fig. 21, and b, c, Fig. 20, is the name given to pieces of wood and metal, which are used to build around the forms in the process of locking them into the chase. Furniture varies by the em in width and by 5 to 10 ems in length when cut labor saving. Metal furniture is more modern and makes possible more accurate work; but for beginners, it has its disadvantages. ”

“ A most necessary piece of furniture which every housekeeper endeavoured to own was some form of "highboy," as it has come to be called, or a chest-on chest of drawers. Figure 64 depicts a fair example of the highest style of perfection to which these articles reached. Few are found more ornate than this. The wood is mahogany, and is richly carved on the knees, with the upper and lower drawers ornamented with shell and scrolls. The escutcheons and handles are original, and the only defect is the loss of the two ornaments which decorated either side of the top. ”

“ For the upholstery material the dry-goods stores offer quite a variety of stuffs from which to choose. The least expensive are burlap, denim, cretonne, and some of the heavy, cotton, printed goods. Other fabrics, richer in appearance and more lasting, are velour, tapestry-cloth, rep, and brocade. Goods of this class will cost from fifty cents to several dollars a yard.
Fig. 9. Fig. 10. Fig. 11. Fig. 12.
To upholster this seat, obtain some curled hair from an [339] old mattress, and spread it over the top board, having first tacked a piece of unbleached muslin along one edge of the seat. ”

“ To [Pg 25] a new house, furnished according to the present rage for old-fashioned decoration, our modern sombre apparel is no help. We do not lighten up our rooms a bit now by our dress, except perhaps in summer, but generally we sit, clad in dingiest tints of woollen material, or in very inartistic black silk, amid furniture which was originally designed as a sort of background to much gay and gallant clothing, to flowered sacques and powdered heads, to bright steel buttons and buckles and a thousand points of colour and light. ”

“ Besides designing the woodwork of his furniture he also drew the patterns for the stuffs to cover them; even the little silk cushions on the arms of the chairs had the same care bestowed on them as the backs and seat. When he designed a bed, the counterpane to go on it was also made under his direction or designed by him. A little bag to hang on a lady's arm was not too slight an object to be made beautiful by his artistic hand. ”

“ Country Chippendale, Hepplewhite, and Sheraton.—A word in passing may be said in regard to the unique character of furniture of these types. It is obvious that factory-made furniture turned out by the hundred pieces can offer nothing personal, whatever its merits 222 or demerits of design or workmanship. It is this personal note, the love of a craftsman in his creation, that appeals to the collector, whether it be of Persian rugs or of old brass candlesticks. It is absent in art produced in a wholesale manner. ”

“ The parlor furniture of the wealthy is extremely handsome: upholstered in damask, either pure white, or in shades of blue, pink, or crimson, supported by stately frames of gold or silver; with carpet corresponding in style. But the furniture in more general use has wooden frames covered with bright reps; the cushion of each, with its dainty, home-wrought lace cover, tables with the same, all fitting to a nicety make a unique and harmonious effect. Plainer houses have the same unbroken lines of home-made chairs (the sofacita before described) , with the same tables and arrangement. ”

“ Leather substitutes, or so-called artificial leather, is well adapted for beginners in upholstery, and is inexpensive. It is manufactured in 50 and 54-inch widths, and costs from 60 cents to $1.75 per yard. Trade names of leather substitute are Marokene, Chase Leather, Hercules, Victor Leather, Pantasote, Mole Skin, Mule Skin, etc. The better varieties are very durable and very closely resemble leather. Genuine leather costs from 16 to 36 cents per square foot in the whole hide or full skin, and up to 75 cents per foot cut to size. ”

“ It is popular, and if we proceed from the workshops of Messrs. Graham, Holland, and others, to their showrooms and warehouses, we shall find this deal furniture for sale, though they do not profess to make any of it. Less costly pine-wood furniture is painted green, or white, or in imitation of other woods.
The surface of woodwork, if the woods are valuable, is finished by French polishing. A solution of shell-lac is put on a rolled woollen rubber, which is then covered with a linen rag, on which the polisher puts a drop of linseed oil. ”

“ Since the revived interest in the making of furniture, we find an occasional and marked recurrence to primitive form—on each occasion the apparently new style taking on the name of the man who produced it.
In our own day we have seen the "Eastlake furniture" appear and disappear, succeeded by the "Morris furniture," which is undoubtedly better adapted to our varied wants. At present, mortising and dowelling have come to the front as proper processes, especially for table-building; and this time the style appears under the name of "Mission furniture." ”

“ There are various small details which are of assistance in determining the approximate period of a piece of furniture, and none of greater value than the handles. The different styles of these, particularly of brass, are quite definite. The earliest of them is the drop handle, shown in Figure 99, and also on the old oak chest depicted in Figure 5. The escutcheons were similar, and the material of the drops on some chests of drawers was iron, but brass was more commonly seen, and was either hollow or solid. ”