Reviving an antique leather chair

A doctor’s chairs become this upholsterer’s patient

Upholstery Journal | April 2008

by Kelly Frush

Cheryl Valleroy of Cheryl’s Custom Upholstery tightly filled the front pleated band with loose-fill Dacron. She finished the chairs with self-gimp and stained edges under the decorative nails.
Cheryl Valleroy of Cheryl’s Custom Upholstery tightly filled the front pleated band with loose-fill Dacron. She finished the chairs with self-gimp and stained edges under the decorative nails.
  • Help was on the way for this antique chair, c. 1915. “This date was used after consulting with a noted authority on Old World and traditional upholstery methods,” says Valleroy.

Share This Article

  • Del.icio.us
  • Digg
  • Facebook
  • Google Bookmark
  • StumbleUpon
  • Technorati
  • Twitter

Tags

When Cheryl Valleroy of Cheryl’s Custom Upholstery in Benton, Ill., received a call from dermatologist Dr. Ted Van Acker, she didn’t know she would play the part of doctor to six leather antique chairs.

The chairs looked sickly, but Valleroy had a cure. She used a combination of Old World and modern methods to rejuvenate them. Valleroy started off by cleaning, lightly scuffing and refinishing the wood. She needed three shades of lacquer before matching the original finish.

“Networking at the Professional Upholstery & Soft Furnishing Group provided valuable tips and techniques for this part of the job,” Valleroy says. But that wasn’t the only technique she needed to remedy the furniture.

Valleroy overhauled the seats with three new rows of 8-way tied, 9-inch coils, since replacement bar springs were not an option. She topped the coils with burlap, 1/2-inch-thick insulpad and 1-inch-thick, medium-firm foam. She applied and shaped the padding with muslin, and finished it with a leather cover.

Tufting the seat back prompted Valleroy to research several fills and techniques.

“I didn’t want to use cotton because it is so uncomfortable, so I experimented with Dacron fill and found out that it could work,” Valleroy says. “I couldn’t do the button tufting in the usual way because of the Dacron fill, so I had to experiment with it.”

Experimentation led to a solution, and Valleroy simply tied in the buttons and individually filled the tufts with Dacron fill.

And what was the doctor’s prognosis?

“He’s very happy with it, and so am I!”

Do you have a project you'd like us to feature in Save My Seat? Send details of your project, along with before-and-after pictures in the form of print photos or electronic images (tif, eps or jpeg of 300 dpi or greater) to Kelly Frush, Editor, Upholstery Journal, 1801 County Road B West, Roseville, MN 55113, or e-mail them to krfrush@ifai.com. All images become the property of Upholstery Journal and cannot be returned.

  • Cheryl Valleroy of Cheryl’s Custom Upholstery tightly filled the front pleated band with loose-fill Dacron. She finished the chairs with self-gimp and stained edges under the decorative nails.
    Cheryl Valleroy of Cheryl’s Custom Upholstery tightly filled the front pleated band with loose-fill Dacron. She finished the chairs with self-gimp and stained edges under the decorative nails.
  • Help was on the way for this antique chair, c. 1915. “This date was used after consulting with a noted authority on Old World and traditional upholstery methods,” says Valleroy.
    Help was on the way for this antique chair, c. 1915. “This date was used after consulting with a noted authority on Old World and traditional upholstery methods,” says Valleroy.

Comments

There are not yet any comments.
You can submit a comment using the form below.

Submit a Comment

Required. Will appear next to your comment.
Required. Will not be displayed on site or used to send unsolicited messages.
If applicable. A link to your site will appear with your comment.
Optional. Will appear in bold type above your comment.