The Upholstery Forum

My friend asked me to recover two kids chairs he has for his grandkids. As shown in the pics it's some type of plastic as it was obviously heated to wrap it around the corners. I would like to keep it as original as possible. Any recommendations on what to use to cover it. Obviously I can get vinyl but that is way off from what was on there originally. Thanks for your help and suggestions. Ron

My god that looks like it matches a stool my grandmother had. Talk about memories.

Sorry, no help on the material though. Possibly a marbled?

Does not even look like an upholstery vinyl

Yes I agree it's not vinyl. The way it folded when heated to go around the corners and the very rigid feel of it make it some type of plastic. You can almost break it off with your finger in the overhang of the stapled area.

I would disagree about it not being vinyl, my great uncle & great aunt had similar chairs, that was about 50 years ago. I would bet that the vinyl from that time has hardened up to feel look plastic. The pattern on the underside looks like it was regular vinyl pulled tight leaving raised edges. I know marine vinyl that I had on one of my boats felt like hard plastic too, that was after 30+ years.

Two folks have not commented that it is most likely just really old vinyl so I'm going to get some 4-way stretch vinyl and go to work. Thanks for the comments. I did not know that vinyl after 40-50 years would get hard and look like it was plastic. I learn something new every day. Thanks, Ron

I have work on vinyl from the 60s or earlier and this looks similar. They did not need the cloth backing on vinyl back then.

Currently working on an ottoman with the same old material. It is still quite flexible if you warm it up. I typically only work with the material in the summer when it is easier to keep it warmed.

Backside:


Front side: note most of the red coloring that was originally on the surface is gone.

Thanks for the info. What type or how was the stitching done on the piping? It looks far too consistent to have been hand sewn. I normally am not involved with non-automotive upholstery so I have never seen anything like this. What is the name of this procedure. It looks interesting and I would like to learn more about it.
Again, thanks for responding.

The stitch must have been done by a special machine. The topstitch is a monofilament which must have been done with a twin needle. The bobbin stitch is a zigzag between the 2 topstitches with the piping caught under the zigzag.

I am plan on using a twin needle to stitch the topstitch, but will hand sew the bobbin stitches together by hand to encapsulate the piping where I have to do the repair.

It has been a journey figuring this one out, never knew monofilament thread came in so many sizes and a lot of trial and error figuring out the correct size to match the existing monofilament.

It almost looks like a serger stitch.

I can only comment from a general sewing point of view as I've only just purchased a Seiko walking foot machine and new to the forum. With regards to the decorative stitching. It reminds me of Cornelli work which is used in dressmaking but a decorative element where the cording is applied to the surface of the garment rather than from the underside as in the case of this orange/red cushion. This effect looks a bit llike cornelli work in reverse and with a more basic pattern of a flower instead of traditional scroll work associated with cornelli. We used to make decorative cords using strips of fabric and thread or wool to use as elements in fabric book/journal covers. We had a particular foot with holes that you could thread the cords through and then we used to just zig zag over the top of everything. You could zig zag the combined threads together and attach it to a journal cover all in one stitch run but zig zag the cords on their own to make a more substantial decorative cord to use as a bookmark or to tie a journal shut. I also used to make dance costumes where we made a full, circle and a half chiffon skirt and roll hemmed the bottom hem edge and we ran fishing line through as we rolled and zigzagged the hem to give a fluted effect. A Cornely machine also came up when I searched online for Cornelli but it seems to be something different again.