Victorian Nursing Chair - Stage 3

Hello.... Yes, here we are again.. doesn't seam that long ago that I was last blogging??

The chair has progressed loads over the past few days. Last time I blogged I was sewing down the springs to the webbing, with a spring needle (special blog coming soon all about tools!) and I was going to attempt to lash them all down.

Before I could do the lashing, I had to strengthen the back tacking rail with Hessian and Wood glue (PVA). I used some Super PVA from my Dad, but not realising the woodglue was not the same as standard PVA, so I now have a few white marks on the frame, but I don't suppose that matters too much as you will never see them... I'm just a little annoyed though!!!

Well... anyway, I lashed front to back and put in the tacks ready for todays class, the last one this term :( Jans off to Australia!

I lashed the springs side to side, and got them all standing right and correct - they now no longer have any movement except up and down! yey... was a bit of hard work because you have to hold them all down and then tie in place! so feeling a little weak now.

I was then ready to cover all this beautiful workmanship with Hessian. I used a 12oz Hessian to cover over the seat area. I tacked front and back pulling in both directions - So I tack at the back (only temporary) and I pull to the front, but I also pull between the tacks on the front because I want to get good tension through all the fabric with no ripples.

Around the back and the arms you have to snip into the fabric, taking your line of cutting from the centre of the chair so that it all sits correctly.

I then hammered all the temporary tacks down and folded the Hessian back on itself and tacked around the entire chair. I then took a curved needle and sewed down the Hessian to the springs, three stitches to each spring. This then means that the spring section is now finished! - yey!

I then put some more webbing onto the back, just to fill the gap and for a little support of the stuffing. Because the back tacking rail is not very strong, I had to staple the webbing down and not over stretch it.

I then covered the back section with Hessian and I will do the same for the arm section soon...

Last weekend, I spent quite some time sorting through the original stuffing and removed all the crap, but I and have kept all the Horse hair which I have the wonderful task of washing soon.... eww!

But once it is all washed and clean, I can then start applying it to the chair - I have already put in the bridal stitches. These are slightly baggy back stitches that are for stuffing the seat section.

I'm really looking forwards to seeing this chair grow a bit more over the next few weeks. The processing is already speeding up... It's starting to look like a chair already...

If you want to see more pictures - of me, my chair or anything else that is going on in my life check out www.flickr.com/photos/abstar

See you all soon I hope???