Morris Chair Upholstery

[Sonny]

There was probably jute webbing on the bottom, only. Burlap above the spri ngs.

Stretch your jute webbing, as tight as you can, across the span of the fram e, say front to back. Don't be affraid to stretch it really tight, as tig ht as you can. For left to right strands, weave the strands over & under t he front to back strands; Again, stretch the Lt to Rt webbing as tight as y ou can and attach to the frame.

You're going to have lots of difficulty attaching the springs with hog ring ers. You might want to use small paper clips (wires), hooked/looped throug h the jute webbing, over the spring coil, then back through the jute webbin g. Twist tie them. Tie each spring, to the jute webbing, at four points. Your coil springs likely has a large coil at the top and bottom of the spr ing unit. The pics I'll show has a large coil at the top and a small coil at the bottom.

My pics show 2 methods of tying: The 8 point tying method (preferred) and the 4 point method (not the preferred method, but works in a pinch). Also note, in the pics, between the coils, the twine is tied to crossing strands of twine, part of the fully tied configuration, fully 8 point tying at all possible tying points. Re: the first 4 pics on the opening page. The fi rst pic shows pretty much what your seat should look like before covering y our springs.

When tying your springs, tie them so that they are in a slightly compressed posture (slightly spring loaded). You don't want them to be fully extend ed and tied in that fully extended position.... but make sure they are not compressed too much, not compressed such that the seat contour looks disfig ured when it is upholstered. Does this make sense?

Cover the top of the springs with burlap and attached the burlap edges to t he seat frame. *If it were my chairs, I would next add a layer of 1/4" fel t, just on the topside of the springs (not along the sides, if applicable), and hand stitch it (along the edges) to the burlap. Add cotton padding un til you can't feel the individual springs, then a layer of fiberfill (quilt type batting). Then you are ready for your upholstery.

Tying the springs: Pic 2 shows one end of the twine attached to the ply/fr ame, then it is draped over the springs, then there is 2' length of twine b eyond the edge of the spring unit. You'll need about 2 extra feet of twine for all the knots you tie, so that, after tying all the knots, you'll have a tag of twine for attaching to the other side of the wood/seat frame.

Any questions? Concerns?

Sonny

[dadiOH]

Sonny admonished you to stretch the jute webbing tightly. The easiest way to do that is with stretching pliers...they have jaws about the width of the jute and a projection that serves a fulcrum to give leverage. Pix...

[Sonny]

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I had assumed she didn't have a dedicated stretching tool. The gooseneck tool has a rubber padding, to prevent wood damage/marring. I use the gooseneck most often.

She also has a husband. He can pull it plenty tight enough, manually, that way. **It's probably time she put him to work, anyway! : )

Sonny

[Sonny]

dbj, one thing I forgot to comment on:

I suppose your cushion's spring unit is intact, in that, it has an edge wir e perimeter around the springs. I suppose your whole seat unit is not lik e the chair pic (first pic) on my Flickr page. That chair does not have an edge wire perimeter around the springs. The "plywood" pics have an edge wire around the springs.

Make sure your edge wiring is in good shape, to hold the individual springs securely and for good tying. I suppose your whole spring unit is a squari sh or rectangle box configuration, to fit your Morris chair seat shape. Wh en tying things together, make sure you don't distort the "box" or "rectang le" form. Keep all angles and corners squared up. This should apply to y our backrest cushion, also, if your backrest cushion has coil springs, has coil springs "wrapped" with an edge wire, also.

Sonny

[Sonny]

Continuing with the upholstering procedure:

My box seat spring unit has sides.... or front, back and side faces. These faces don't need to be padded or padded as much as the top of the seat. I would think your seat would be padded similarly as I've padded this outdo or seating.

Referring to the additional pics: The spring/seat unit is covered with (synthetic, white) burlap. This burla p layer doesn't need to be tight, just snuggly fitted and attached/stapled in place. The very top surface of the seat is padded with 2 layers of cotton, which b arely overlaps the edge wire. The edge wire needs to be padded, so that it isn't felt, when sitting on the seat. A third layer of cotton is applied, not only on the top surface, but it also droops down the sides, covering t he sides/faces. You might prefer 4 layers of cotton padding, for your high er-end Morris chairs. As mention before, for a good quality chair, I would n't skimp on the interior paddings and a layer of 1/4" felt, on top of the burlap, prior to the cotton, would be my choice, if they were my Morris cha irs.

Next pic shows a layer of fiberfill/batting, covering all the previous padd ing. The edges of the fiberfill are attached to the edges of the ply base. The seat is ready for the upholstery fabric.

Sonny