Oleg Klimko ·
First published on meb.ucoz.ru. Republished on Klim-Lux with light stylistic editing; translated from Russian.
What a customer can see when work is done at home
I will try to answer the question in the title. These observations come from my own experience: I have worked with furniture upholstery and reupholstery since the summer of 2002.
The main advantage of work at the customer’s home is being able to see what the craftsperson actually does. Misleading a customer is harder when the work happens in front of them. Here are a few examples.
If you have paid for replacement foam, you can see whether it is actually replaced. You can compare the condition and resilience of the old and new foam.
The same applies to replacing a spring unit, in both Soviet-era furniture and newer designs. You can check that the replacement you paid for has taken place.
A new spring or old metal stretched upwards
Instead of replacing a whole spring unit, someone may suggest replacing individual springs, levelling them or stretching them. It matters which work is actually being proposed.
Replacing a broken spring in an older sofa’s spring unit involves taking the unit apart. The replacement may be a new spring from a new unit taken apart for parts, or a used spring from an old sofa. Those are different repairs, and the customer should know which has been chosen.
Another expression is “stretching the springs”. Pulling them upwards makes the unit look taller, but it does not remove metal fatigue. The springs may sag again after a week or two.
Why the old upholstery should be removed
Sometimes new fabric is fitted directly over the old covering. When reupholstering, however, the old upholstery should be removed.
First, the old upholstery cover usually provides the basis for making patterns and sewing the replacement.
Second, removing the fabric makes it possible to inspect the inside: foam, springs, batting, fibreboard, plywood and the timber frame. A damaged support panel or broken frame does not repair itself beneath new fabric.
I have encountered the argument, “We will leave the old fabric on; it will be softer.” Customers often accepted this. It makes it harder, though, to inspect the furniture properly and understand which repairs it needs.
Checking fabric tension
When the work is done at home, you can see how the upholstery is tensioned. There should not be folds unless they are part of the original design or were agreed in advance.
Small wrinkles can be acceptable if they disappear with one smoothing movement of the hand.
This advice mainly concerns furniture with a wooden frame. On frameless furniture and foam cushions, folds may be an intentional part of the design.
Why sewing needs a workshop
This does not mean every part of the work must take place in the customer’s home. Apart from some simple designs, sewing a modern upholstery cover requires an industrial sewing machine.
Batting and thin foam may be sewn to the fabric, along with decorative finishing seams. Doing this properly on an ordinary domestic machine is very difficult. Sewing the cover and fitting it to the furniture may therefore happen in different places.
The craftsperson matters most
These are the points I believe are worth considering when commissioning upholstery or reupholstery.
I am not saying that work without constant customer supervision means dishonesty. Much depends on the craftsperson. Understanding what is actually being done to your furniture is useful in any case.