Comments for Upholstery Blog from Cape Cod

Comment on Ask an upholsterer by Joe Gramm

Joe Gramm — Mon, 14 May 2012 11:51:58 +0000

Hi Texas Teacher- Most likely you will need to seem the backs to allow for the curve. The exception may be a super stretchy fabric. A vinyl can be heated with a blow dryer and stretched quite a bit. Without seeing the chairs, that’s the best advice I can give. Good Luck

Comment on Ask an upholsterer by Joe Gramm

Joe Gramm — Mon, 14 May 2012 11:48:20 +0000

Hi Elise- To be honest it’s been a while since I’ve used Jute webbing. I only use polypropylene now. it’s lighter, stronger doesn’t stretch or have an odor. I do know with Jute, there is a heavier seating weight and a lighter weight for arms and backs. If I remember correctly, the the red was for seats and the black for backs.

Comment on Ask an upholsterer by Texas teacher

Texas teacher — Mon, 14 May 2012 05:42:12 +0000

I wish your site had a search feature because you might have answered my question befaore…I have 3 captain’s guest chairs that we have had in storage for a decade or more… I want to recover these chairs with some indoor/outdoor fabric and repaint them white for a coastal/beach theme…they are very comfortable chairs…and use in our new vacation home.

two of the chairs are vinyl covered and two are lind of nubby fabric covered…the arms and back are covered and the back is curveed…some of the seats need to be tightened too,,,
can I recover them w/o making patterns and sewing seams to allow for the curving of the arms and back?

I have done some simple upholstery before–and was hoping I could just wrap the back/arms and use upholstery tacks to hold the material on the underside of the back/arms…
does it depend on the suppleness of the fabric–I might try to find some linen remnant or heavy cotton/rayon–not vinyl…something w/o much pattern…

Comment on Ask an upholsterer by Elise

Elise — Sun, 13 May 2012 15:02:10 +0000

I have a question regarding jute webbing….does the color line in the webbing correlate to anything? Like tension strength or weave? I have a specific project in mind and will be using the jute webbing on its own and wondered if one color line was stronger than another??? Thanks for any advice you can offer…
Elise

Comment on Ask an upholsterer by Joe Gramm

Joe Gramm — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 13:22:21 +0000

Hi J – Since the fabric is dry clean only, I can’t recommend that you wash it. You could try airing it out, but since we don’t know what the smell actually is, airing may or may not work. I personally would buy new fabric. You could try returning the fabric with the complaint that it has a strong chemical odor.

Comment on Ask an upholsterer by Julie

Julie — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 17:45:54 +0000

Hi, I just purchased some upholstery fabric, and it has a chemical smell to it, and feels a little rough. Should I was the fabric, and then spray scotchguard? Or, should I air it out, and see if that gets rid of the smell. It is a dry clean only fabric, but it is going on my kitchen chairs. My concern is that it will smell when I put it on the chairs, and when sitting on it with shorts on, it will feel rough & scratchy. Thanks for any help. J

Comment on Ask an upholsterer by Joe Gramm

Joe Gramm — Fri, 13 Apr 2012 12:20:43 +0000

Coil Springs are more comfortable the zig-zag springs. So it is a better way to go if the frame will take it. It’s also more work because you have to web the bottom of the frame, etc. I don’t have any good links to share on how to tie coil springs. It’s first a matter of getting the correct size and tension coil spring to properly fit your frame. In general I think you’d be talking about a #2 spring for a chair. Besides getting the correct size spring, tying springs is also about feeling the tension as you tie the spring and that comes with experience. The main goal is to get the springs tight and standing up straight. Don’t forget to weave the webbing on the bottom, as weaving increases the strength of the webbing. Lastly use Syntwine and not Jute to tie the springs. Syntwine is more forgiving on your fingers. Jute will give you blisters. You can buy Syntwine in 1 Lb. spools which is plenty to tie a set of chair springs.

Comment on Ask an upholsterer by Joe Gramm

Joe Gramm — Fri, 13 Apr 2012 12:01:20 +0000

Casey – The arms most likely were sewn and slipped over the frame. That would not be a normal application for Curve Ease or Ply Grip. You can email a photo to to the address under my name.

Comment on Ask an upholsterer by Kay

Kay — Fri, 13 Apr 2012 04:22:22 +0000

Thank you for your help. However, the more I have looked into using the zig zag spring the more I think I should use the coil. Do you know of any good websites that give a step by step instructions for tying the springs?

Comment on Ask an upholsterer by Casey

Casey — Sun, 01 Apr 2012 23:08:18 +0000

In a fit of madness I purchased a camel back sofa that had already been stripped of it’s fabric. It was so cheap! I couldn’t resist! Anyway… This isn’t my first reupholstery project, but I haven’t done anything with arms like this. It’s pretty common, inside arm piece, outside piece, and a front? piece that would have piping around it. My question is, are these pieces sewn and slipped over the arm frame or are they attached with some crazy combination of curve ease and…. ? I did not see a place to attach a picture but I do have one that I could email if it would be helpful. Thank you!!