Making a chaise lounge

[Arron]

I spent some time working on the upholstery today and yesterday.

I showed above that I was using a white upholstery fabric. Turned out to be a bad idea. I think upholstering something in white is Ok if you have a clean, dedicated studio but when the only place you have to work is a grubby garage then it's impossible to keep it clean.

So I changed to a red fabric. That will mean the woodwork will need to be repainted as well.

This is progress so far
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I don't really like this fabric either. The colour is OK but the style is dated. Shame. Too late to change now.

Doing the base was pretty straightforward. Just 'cut and staple', pushing the edges under the sharktrim.

The backrest was done, again, by fixing 25mm foam and 200gsm wadding to thin plywood, and then folding the fabric over and gluing down. Just like lining a jewellery box.

The armrest was also just cut and staple, no sewing required. Getting the pleats right and all held in place by the sharktrim was amazingly frustrating. Or perhaps there is a better way to do it that I don't know about - maybe sewing the pleats first somehow before fitting the fabric. I just can't visualise in 3D strongly enough to know how that would work.

Ultimately the pleats rather loose their shape anyway being over soft foam and wadding.

The successful strategy was to put permanent staples in the concealed portion of the pleat, fold the fabric over and then hold in place with temporary staples. Try to get them all balanced and held down securely, then remove temp staples. On the bottom side of the scroll there is no timber to staple the sharktrim to, so it's held in place by hot-melt glue.

Anyway, the job is sound even if not as pretty as I had hoped.

Doing the bed part will take some time.

Cheers
Arron

Ps, this is how you fix sloppy woodworking in upholstery - just chop up some cardboard and staple it on. No sophistication needed.
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[Arron]

Finished.

Well finished for now but because we don’t like the fabric much so I am aiming to recover it. This is normal for us. Because we are poor at choosing colours we almost always end up painting a room (or whatever it is we are doing) several times till we get the colour right.

I think it would take about 12 hours to recover - less if I can learn how to do the pleats properly. I think it’s worth that to get it right.

Anyway, here it is.

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Finishing just required sewing up the fabric to cover the bed, with 4 box corners. I’m not a great sewer so I just prototype things first then take my time. Then stretching the cover over, with 200gsm wadding underneath to fill and smooth, and stapling down around the bottom. Then bolting the 4 components together.

Thank you for your kind comments and likes along the way.

On to the next project now. I’m thinking a shagreen-covered console table.

Cheers
Arron

Ps. Also, I was wrong about chaises being uncomfortable. It needs a bolster type pillow but is very comfortable.feels very luxurious.

[Xanthorrhoeas]

Yes, those decorative bolsters are actually very useful. My antique bolsters are from 190 mm to 240 mm in diameter in case that helps.

I like the colour of your chaise, though would not have chosen those stripes. To each their own.

it looks like a great job.

David

[Simplicity]

Arron,
I haven't said much because you have done such a great job of describing your work along the way.
But I have been following it looks fantastic.
I one day hope to make one similar.
Well done

Cheers Matt
Ps is it comfy

[Arron]

Cheers Matt
Ps is it comfy

Yes and no.
The base is really nice. 100mm of medium density foam over 9 guage springs is probably the perfect combination for comfort and support. Likewise the arm rest is pretty good too - at its max it’s about 75mm of foam over premium webbing. In neither case do you feel the structure underneath, in fact you are a long way from feeling it. This is all interesting stuff to know for future jobs.

Using the 200gsm wadding was pretty good too. I was full of questions like - the main one being whether you need to allow for it when sizing the covers for sewing. The answer is you don’t, just work off the size of the foam structure, but slip the wadding under and let it do it’s magic of filling and smoothing, and making ordinary things look luxurious.

However, I still don’t find the whole chaise lounge semi-reclining thing very comfortable. Maybe I have too many back problems, or maybe Victorians were just different. Not worried, I’ll stick to my recliner.

Arron

[Enfield Guy]

Excellent work. Thanks for sharing.