I recently purchused a Papa Bear Chair and its currently at the upholsterer getting recovered with Kvadrat Hallingdal fabric which it is my understading that it is a correct fabric to use.
I therefore have a couple of questions to make sure that the chair will be properly upholstered:
How much in inches should the buttons be in circunference; should it have a welt under the arm starting at the end of the weld that is under the paw or just an invisible seem;
What should the upholsterer use for the seat, dacron filled seat, dacron with feahers, or?
Any other suggestions would be appreciated.
Lastly my chair has a number stamped in the wood frame, what does it mean. The chair also is stuffed with horse hair which will remain as part of the chair. I could not find other stamps but maybe I am not looking in the rithg place. Should the chair have other stamos in the frame besides the number to make sure its an original papa bear chair from the 50's?
Thanks
seat cushion
Hi there and congrats on your chair.
The Pappa bear is one of my favorites and will be arriving soon for me to enjoy.
firstly let me say that you MUST not use dacron for the seat cushion as this has no life span worth speaking of. The fibre will compact and the cushion loose all resemblance of the real thing.
The best option for the cushion would be to order a new latex moulded cushion direct from PP moebler.
www.pp.dk
If you do not want to go that way you need to have the cushion built by several layers of foam in various density and then finished with a soft layer of memory foam for added comfort.
The buttons used are standard upholstery buttons aprox 1.5cm Ø or 1/4 inch.
The important issue with the upholstery on the back is that your upholstrer makes the squares and not simply uses a single large piece of fabric.
The reason for the squares method is that you get the perfect position for the buttons.
If you have the time then go and view a new chair which has the correct upholstery.
The seam under the arm is corect. The paws will lift out for access and to hide staples and for the cord edging to be fitted.
http://www.pp.dk/index.php?page=collection&cat=2&id=10
Thanks for the information Simon,
I will contact PP Mobler to see about the cushion. I just have a point of clarification. Is it just a seam or a welt that goes under the the arm. To me it looks like an invisable seam.
Also any idea why the chair has a number and not a stamp.
Thanks,
DCDC
Hi everybody! I've been lurk...
Hi everybody! I've been lurking around this site for a while but don't post too often. There are so many people here that are far more knowledgeable than I am.
I have an old AP Stolen Papa Bear chair that I'm having reupholstered. I had a question about two specific things. I believe mine has original upholstery on it. Underneath the little v shape of the "paws" there are two side by side strips of cording running under the length of the arms. Is this correct?
Also, the back does not have the pleated(or squares or whatever method it is) look to it. It just 9 buttons without the pleat. Is this correct? I'm just looking for some advice to tell the person upholstering it so they can get it right. I've been very nervous about it.
I would really appreciate any advice.
The upholstery is probably...
The upholstery is probably not original. The cording under the arms is incorrect. Also, it appears to have a seam near the back of the arms where they meet the back of the chair. The missing "squares" is also incorrect, these should be made so you get perfect placement of the buttons.
Check out the PP Mobler website so you get an idea of what i'm talking about.
http://www.pp.dk/index.php?page=collection&cat=2&id=10
I've heard the papa bear is very difficult to upholster, so you might want to make sure the person doing the upholstery has done a few of these!
Hope this helps.
Mike
Thanks for your reply Mike! ...
Thanks for your reply Mike! I was looking on the PP Mobler site earlier and I wasn't sure if they changed the way they upholstered the chair over the years or not.
So the correct way is to have no cording under the arms, no seam on the side which is just stitched in the same place as mine, and then the square shapes on the back must be cut and sewn together?
The back part is not "tufting" correct? It's a different technique?
Thanks again for your input! I really appreciate it!
It has a button tufted back.
Tufting is when the top fabric is sewn at points through to the back with a hidden stitch. There's usually a button to add strength to the stitch and keep it from pulling through the fabric over time, but it doesn't have to be there.
So yes, the back of the Papa Bear chair is button tufted. It should also be pieced (separate pieces of fabric sewn together to make one big piece).
Thank you spanky! That was r...
Thank you spanky! That was really helpful!
Do you guys know what size the squares are to be cut?
Is there a cord on the underside of the arm or is it just stitched?
Also, that side seam towards the back, is it just stitched together there or is it a folded seam. I can't see the pictures that clearly on the PP Mobler site.
Is there anything else I need to focus on in great detail and relay to my upholsterer?
Thanks again for all of the help. I just want to make sure I get this right. I don't have the luxury of finding an upholsterer who has done these around here, so I have to go with a skilled upholster and dictate everything to him.
I would just
pop the existing buttons off the chair and mark the placement of the new buttons based on this photo from the PP Mobler site (below). You can key the bottom row off the top of the arm and go from there. There's another photo on the PP Mobler site that is a top view of the top of the chair, showing very clearly the seams of the piecing.
By "cord" under the arm you mean welt? You can see also in that photo that there is none under the arm, the welt just follows the edge of the wood paw. Someone in an earlier post above explains that this seam is hand stitched.
I'm not sure what you mean by a "folded" seam on the arm or side of the chair (inside or outside?).
I guess I did mean welt. ...
I guess I did mean welt. I'm not that familiar with upholstery terms.
The folded seam I'm referring to is on the outside, side of the chair. It basically follows the bottom edge of the arms natural line to the bottom of the chair. Mine seems to be one layer of fabric sewn on top of another piece rather than two pieces sitting flush together.
Thanks again for sharing your knowledge with me!
If anybody else has anything...
If anybody else has anything to contribute I would be very thankful for the input. I have to give all of my instructions to the upholsterer today and would hate to leave something out and have my chair come out poorly.
Thanks again Mike and Spanky for all of your help!
I noticed
in the description on the PP Mobler site linked above that no foam is used on this chair other than the seat cushion. They use only cotton batting for padding. A lot of upholsterers these days will use foam or even just polyester batting as padding. Cotton batting was used before foam or polyester were invented. It doesn't the springiness of foam or the fluffiness of poly batting, but it also doesn't wear down the way the other two do. It lasts way longer.
Anyway, it looks like this (sometimes whiter--this is unbleached cotton). If your upholsterer has been around awhile, he will know about it. It's very thick but can be peeled apart to use thinner layers, or built up as thick as you need.
http://www.vandykes.com/product.aspx?p=205993&CAWELAID=1309430140&%22cag...
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