By EMIL A. JOHNSON, B.S., A.M. Assistant Professor of Manual Arts. Bradley Polytechnic Institute, Peoria, Illinois THE MANUAL ARTS PRESS PEORIA, ILLINOIS 1919 Copyright, 1919, by Emil A. Johnson...

The purpose of this book is to give information concerning the methods by which upholstery work may be successfully carried on in school shops. 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,

Upholstering in its broadest sense means the furnishing of a house with draperies, curtains and other hangings; bedding; coverings for couches, chairs and stools; and coverings for carriages and automobiles. The word upholster, or upholsterer, designates the workman who hangs the draperies and attaches textiles or leather to furniture. In the early days of the craft, as well as today, draperies had to be hung in a manner that assured retention of their shape, and textiles required stuffing and s

TOOLS.—The only tools needed in simple upholstery, besides those in the average manual training shop, are a gimp hammer, a webbing stretcher, a pair of scissors, a regulator and straight and curved needles. In Fig. 5 , from left to right are illustrated: webbing stretcher, regulator, gimp hammer and a pair of scissors. The webbing stretcher may be made by driving nails into a formed piece of wood as shown, 3½ inches wide by 7 inches long. Then cut or file off the heads and file each to a sharp p

A LOW FOOTSTOOL.—This project is chosen for the first work in upholstery for the reason that it involves the simplest processes possible. 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

FIG. 14 FIG. 15 A CHAIR SEAT.—The typical upholstered seat is undoubtedly that of the dining chair. The processes involved are very simple. A shallow rabbet should be run along the inside edges of the seat frame, say about ⅛ inch deep and ¾ inch wide. This will permit the gimp to run flush with the top of the seat frame when all work is completed. FIG. 16 First decide on the number of lengths of webbing that will be required for the given area. Then, using the best of webbing, take one end and t

FOOTSTOOL.—A stool which makes a very interesting problem for simple upholstery is shown in Fig. 20 . This is typical of that class of structures on which the coverings completely hide the rails, leaving only the legs exposed. The rails should be placed ⅜ inch below the rounded part of the legs, and be at least ⅞ inch thick. Inside arrises of the rails should be rounded with a rasp to prevent the webbing from eventually being cut thru. The framework of such a structure is shown in Fig. 21 . Atta

The hard-edge seat as it is technically termed is relatively simple when compared with other kinds of upholstering, but it is probably the most important of the group. The edge of the seat needs to be stuffed and sewed in a manner that makes it hard and firm, while the center is springy. With a working knowledge of this class of upholstery one may make some of the finest pieces of furniture without difficulty. The directions to be given may be modified to suit any particular piece of work in thi

FIG. 45 The first evidence of deterioration in much old spring upholstered furniture is a sagging seat. If attended to at the first indication of sag the fault may be remedied by simply retacking the webbing which most likely has pulled away from the rails. If the sag is not remedied shortly the stuffing begins to shift, and the exposed springs will soon cut or wear a hole thru the cover. Then the seat is practically beyond repair, with the exception of the utilization of the springs. Should the

The two examples of furniture illustrated in Fig. 49 are two types which are upholstered in a very different manner from any of the processes described thus far. This is spring-edge work, and is very generally employed on sofas, lounges and settees. In upholstery of this kind the springs must be placed flush with the outside of the frame. This necessitates bending the springs out somewhat. Fig. 50 shows a chair of this type with webbing attached and the method of stitching the springs to the web