One I'd finished the animal print sofa I mentioned to my father that I was looking for another project, and ended up with two. He would donate an Edwardian sofa bench he happened to have lying around if I would re-upholster a prie-dieu of his. Deal done. As he wanted to do some work on his item before letting me loose on it, I got to do the sofa first.
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| Starting to strip |
The frame was sound but the wood needed to be cleaned and re-stained and some of the stringing replaced. Fortunately it had never been re-covered so there was only one set of tack holes to deal with.
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| Rusty tacks |
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| Stripped & ready for staining |
Because it had an old shellac finish I used methylated spirits to remove this and then an oak stain to even the colour out, followed by a quick French polish. Once this was done I was able to start webbing and building up the layers. Some of the webbing was quite tricky to do as the vertical struts were in the way plus the wood is curved.
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| Webbed, stained & polished |
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| Ready for the fabric |
Choosing the fabric for this piece was quite easy as I knew exactly the look I wanted and had fallen for this design. It's not my usual thing as it's quite feminine but perfect for the sofa.
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| Fabric choice |
The downside was I had to make more double piping! I've only myself to blame as I find a lot of the ready made trims too shiny or if not extortionate prices. But after much battling with the sewing machine I'd finished. The sofa is now in our temporary bedroom and will be the focal point when the room is eventually decorated.
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| Finished |
