Chair Upholstery Tips
At Beyond France we sell a lot of vintage linen and linen sack cloth for upholstery projects so here are some things to consider if you are embarking on a upholstering a chair:
A full reupholster or loose covers?
Loose covers can make sense if it is just the arms that need repairing or if you have animals or small people - so that you can wash the covers.
(image from lisjeastrid.blogspot.no)
What type of vintage fabric is suitable?
For a full re-upholster it needs to be something that has a reasonable weight to it, so not a fine French linen sheet.
The Hungarian handspun linen is great because of it's strength and durability.
Vintage grain sacks are great for upholstery and these come in a range of weights thicknesses, and the stripes and monograms can be used for detail.
Is Indigo-dyed linen fabric safe to use for upholstery?
We have upholstered many a chair with indigo dyed sack cloth fabric.
There are just a couple of things to remember:
- Hand-dyed indigo is a natural process and is therefore sensitive to sun-light.
- Also be careful putting anything wet on to an indigo upholstered chair.
How much vintage fabric is required to upholster a chair?
From our experience we suggest four vintage linen grain sacks or two Hungarian vintage linen sheets to fully upholster an arm chair.
