CHAPTER II
Tools and Materials
TOOLS.—The only tools needed in simple upholstery, besides those in the average manual training shop, are a gimp hammer, a webbing stretcher, a pair of scissors, a regulator and straight and curved needles. In Fig. 5, from left to right are illustrated: webbing stretcher, regulator, gimp hammer and a pair of scissors.
The webbing stretcher may be made by driving nails into a formed piece of wood as shown, 3½ inches wide by 7 inches long. Then cut or file off the heads and file each to a sharp point.
The regulator is a long wire sharpened at one end and used for sticking thru the muslin cover to rearrange the stuffing, to insure evenness. This tool may be made from a heavy wire bent in the form of a ring at one end, and sharpened at the other. Scissors 8 inches or more in length are more convenient than smaller ones.
Two needles are required, a straight double pointed one 12 inches long, and a curved single pointed one 6 inches long. Several other kinds will facilitate work, however. A straight, double pointed 6-inch needle is convenient for sewing springs to webbing and triangular pointed needles are best adapted for sewing leather.
Skewers are upholstery pins, usually 3 or 3½ inches long. They are pointed on one end and bent in a circle on the other. These are used in doing welt-edged work, or wherever it is necessary to hold goods temporarily while adjusting the work.
All these tools may be purchased from any firm dealing in upholstery supplies.
MATERIALS.—Webbing is our first consideration in the matter of materials. The two best kinds are L. M. C. and B. F. M. The former has a closer weave and is of better quality than the latter. It will withstand great strain before its elasticity gives out. It is good policy to purchase the better grade inasmuch as it costs but 30 cents more for a 72-yard piece. L. M. C. comes in two widths, 3½ inch and 4½ inch, with the former width in more general use. The 3½ inch variety may be purchased for about $1.65 per 72-yard roll.
Burlap is the best material to use over webbing and over springs. It will not rip and tear as readily as most textiles and it is therefore a preferred material. Burlap comes in three weights: light (8 oz.), medium (10 oz.), and heavy (12 oz.). The medium weight is best adapted for our work. This may be purchased for 9 cents a yard. It is 40 inches wide. Used burlap may ordinarily be purchased at local dry-goods stores for about 5 cents per pound. Even considering waste, this is much cheaper and quite as good as new burlap for the work intended.
FIG. 5
Several kinds of material may be employed for stuffing. The very best material available is curled horse hair. It is also the most expensive, costing from 30 to 65 cents per pound depending upon quality. The stuffing recommended for such work as ours is tow. This may be purchased by the 100-pound bale at a cost of 2 cents per pound. There are three grades of tow: fine, medium and coarse. The fine variety should be used, for the coarser kinds are hard to manipulate and result in uneven surfaces after a period of use. Even with the medium grade of tow it is necessary to use a layer of wadding over it to prevent ridges showing thru the cover. Other stuffing materials are moss, kapok, alva, and excelsior. Cork shavings are generally used for boat cushions.
When cloth is desired between the stuffing and cover, unbleached muslin should be used. In cheaper work this is eliminated. In our work we will find it advantageous, for it gives to the seat the proper shape, and permits better and smoother work on the final covering. After the application of the muslin, if it is found that the seat is not of the desired shape, more stuffing may be added or the stuffing may be distributed by the regulator. Muslin 36 inches wide may be obtained for 7 cents a yard from any local dry-goods store.
Wadding is a kind of stuffing arranged in sheets. It is used over other stuffing. Its function is to give a smooth, even appearance to the seat or cushion. Wadding is invariably used over curled hair to prevent the ends of the hair from penetrating the cover. It may be purchased in sheets 30 × 36 inches; the one pound quality at 35 cents per dozen sheets.
It is generally desirable to place cloth under the seat to prevent dust from falling to the floor from the seat, and to exclude moths from the stuffing. Cambric is desirable for this purpose. It has a finish which makes it dust-proof, but it tears easily and cannot supplant the muslin used over stuffing. Cambric comes in a 24-inch width and costs about 5½ cents per yard.
There are innumerable varieties of fabrics adapted for outside coverings, and good taste and judgment must be used in selecting proper kinds for certain jobs. It is obvious that office and library furniture require coverings of a different quality and kind from that of the living room; and dining room furniture from that of the bedroom. A footstool may properly be given a covering of different character from a chair seat. In the selection of figured goods great discretion is necessary. The figures on fabrics for a chair seat or back should manifestly be smaller and more subdued than those for a sofa or davenport. A sense of good design needs to be developed here, for proper selection is essential, both as regards color, figure, and adaptability to the particular structure, and its placement.
The first piece of tapestry woven in this country was completed in 1893. It was for a chair seat. The second was a counterpart of the first and is now in the Field Museum of Chicago.
Tapestry may be defined as printing in colored threads. The most perfect work in tapestry is produced on vertical looms, but one-third more work may be accomplished on horizontal looms in the same length of time. A Gobelin workman on a vertical loom produces on an average, one square yard of tapestry in 300 working days. The art in this work is the graduation of shades. In the best days of tapestry weaving, between 1450 and 1550, but twenty to sixty shades were known, while today we have knowledge of over 14,000.
“Brocade” is the term applied to any material having a raised pattern. Formerly the name referred to materials with embroidered patterns upon colored fabrics. “Chintz” is the term applied to cotton cloth printed with a floral or bird design. “Denim” is a strong, twilled cotton fabric. “Gunny” is jute-cloth. “Burlap” is a substitute for gunny cloth.
There are three classes of coverings in upholstery: genuine leather, textiles, and leather substitutes. Leather substitutes, or so-called artificial leather, is well adapted for beginners in upholstery, and is inexpensive. It is manufactured in 50 and 54-inch widths, and costs from 60 cents to $1.75 per yard. Trade names of leather substitute are Marokene, Chase Leather, Hercules, Victor Leather, Pantasote, Mole Skin, Mule Skin, etc. The better varieties are very durable and very closely resemble leather. Genuine leather costs from 16 to 36 cents per square foot in the whole hide or full skin, and up to 75 cents per foot cut to size. Cloth or textiles cost from $1.00 to $3.00 per yard in the general run of grades. They may cost as high as $10.00 per yard. Tapestry may run into prohibitive costs. Some of the best textiles are tapestries, brocades, velvets, plushes, satins and hair cloth; cheaper ones are velours, chintz, reps, and denims.
Gimp is a narrow edging used for covering raw edges of the cover and heads of common tacks which secure the cover. It comes in rolls of 25 to 36 yards. Black imitation leather gimp costs 20 cents a roll of 25 yards, and brown or Spanish, 35 cents. Cloth gimp costs from 2 to 3 cents a yard.
Three kinds of nails may be used in the work outlined: solid leather, Perfection and Metalene. Metalene is perhaps the most satisfactory. These come in the following numbers with attendant sizes; No. 230—½-inch head; No. 240—⅜-inch head; No. 250—7/16-inch head; No. 260—9/16-inch head, and No. 270—¾-inch head. No. 250 is used in our work. They cost 80 cents per thousand in the plain, and 90 cents in Spanish effect.
Upholstery springs may be purchased from 3 to 16 inches in height. They cost 6 cents a pound and weigh from 22 to 100 pounds per gross. On this basis the cost of the large ones approximates 4 cents apiece. The 9-inch springs are most frequently used, and their cost is a trifle over 2 cents apiece. It is better to purchase springs longer than necessary than to obtain them too short, for they may easily be tied down. They should be twice as long as the width of the rails into which they are placed.
Spring twine is needed for tying the springs. No. 60 four-ply Italian hemp serves this purpose very well. This can be purchased for 27 cents a pound in one-pound balls.
Stitching twine is also needed for spring and stitched edge work. For this purpose No. 252 elm flax stitching is used. This costs 30 cents per half-pound ball.
The prices quoted are wholesale. Retail prices vary so much in different communities, and even in different places in the same community that they cannot be given with any fair degree of accuracy. The wholesale prices quoted will, however, give some idea of the cost of materials to the workman. At present, however, even wholesale prices are very unstable. All prices above are pre-war prices.