Two hand carved, French walnut, French or Belgian Third Republic/Louis XVI Bergères are our topic for this blog.  Our client contacted us about the bottom literally dropping out of their two bergères, shown above, Bergère #1, left, and Bergère #2, right.

A bergère historically is a French enclosed upholstered armchair, unlike the fauteuil, an example shown left, documented in Louis XIV Revival Fauteuil.  It appeared in Paris during the Régence (Regency) period, circa 1715-1725, but evolved in the Louis XVI period (1754-1793) and Directoire period (1795-1800)

The back, sides, and (sometimes) armrests are upholstered.  The seat cushion is tailored, and usually is deeper and wider, designed for comfort.  The exposed wooden frames are carved: mahogany, walnut, fruitwood or beech.  Traditionally the exposed frame is shellacked, or might be gilded or painted.

After assessing the two bergères, MPFC advised our clients to take advantage of the pieces being in the studio, and repair the inside/outside backs and arms as well, because they were collapsing, shown above.  They decided not to have us repair the back and arms.   This is why, in images below, you may seen straggling threads and lifting trims; it was not part of our scope of work.

Note 1: We will be documenting the process using both
bergères, and not differentiating, because both had the same treatment;
images were based on the best image for the task.

CRITIQUE

Before we begin, while we don’t usually negatively critique other upholsterers, there is a lot to learn about what NOT to do in these chairs, some of which lead to their demise, and if not their demise, set up a situation whereby saving the show cover was almost impossible. Following is a list, and we are placing it here so that you can remember this when we refer to it during the blog post.

1. They used hide glue on the fabric, which made working on the bergère difficult.  One should not use hide glue on fabric (no image).
2. They trimmed the showcover to the trim edge; a good upholsterer will leave an edge and turn the showcover under instead of cutting it to the quick (image #1 above).
3. They did not stagger the upholstery tacks for the webbing (image #2 above).  When you place tacks in one line you raise the chances of the frames splitting along an edge where multiple tacks in a row have begun a possible split.
4. They pulled the original pod hessian over the historic tacking margin, peppering the tacking margin with unnecessary holes and splits while creating bulk beneath the showcover (image three above).
5. They did #4 with the inside back and arms also, which is causing the inside back and arms to rot earlier than it should, and causing the inside back and arms to fail (we were not contracted to repair this area, and so advised our client to be careful when using the bergères).
6. The interior arm structural tacking blocks also had structural issues due to indiscriminate tacking, causing them to break (image #4 above).
7. They did not place the pattern in alignment, did not even consider, it appears, how they wanted the viewer to see the pattern, shown right.  It seems they threw the fabric on almost as if they simply wanted to save yardage.  Follow the seat pattern up into the back; a good upholsterer will do their best to have the pattern continue uninterrupted visually.  That sense of continual pattern matching should continue into the arms on both sides. and the upholsterer has to decide whether to choose to continue the seat pattern UP, or to continue the inside back AROUND the interior back and arms.  A good upholsterer will take the time to match the patterns.

ASSESSMENT

There were white rubber protectors glued to the front feet.

It is easy to see the drop; this seat should crown slightly.

Tipping her over….

the loose webbing…

the springs dropped from above.

Our client contacted us about the bottom literally dropping out of their two bergères, shown above.  Our client wanted to preserve the decorative showcover, a lovely burgundy sculpted floral motif by William Morris.  As we progressed, this became a terribly difficult treatment, due to a previous upholsterer trimming the showcover at the tacking margin, discussed under CRITIQUE.

The drop on the seats due to this issue could easily be seen in both bergères, shown center above.  Dangling webbing and springs trailed out of the bottom of the seats, images above.

This occurred because the upholstered seats were compromised by rotting webbing and abraded spring twine, shown in the detail right. 
 The original fiber-filled seat pods dropped onto the damaged seat deck threatening the efficacy of the 
historic seat form and showcover.

Further, the hessian (burlap) spring topper was damaged by fumes from oil heat.   
MPFC proposed replacing and amending some of the fiber internals, always being mindful that any new internal stuffings must fit into the seat as it was built.

EXCAVATION

Excavations are an important process because they tell us the bergère’s story.  This excavation began with the bergères on their back.

The cream-colored rubber floor guards may have been glued to the legs; they had to be cut off the feet, shown left, to expose the feet, image above.

The webbing was carefully removed and discarded, shown above, exposing the springs.

The trim and showcover were released to be removed.

After lifting we could get a peek at the innards, above.

Note that Bergère #2 has a break in the wood trim, shown right.

Showcovers folded and set aside.

The top layer of hemp fiber was lifted and set aside, exposing the pod.

The pod was ready to be lifted on bergère #1.

The showcover was folded and set aside to be cleaned for the re-upholstery, image #1 above.  A top layer of hemp fiber was exposed.  The original had hair, and this was removed at some point and the hemp fiber was substituted.

Left, the pod ready to be removed on Bergère #2.

Tacking margins riddled with holes r-facing side…

… back…

… and l-facing side.

The pod removed for cleaning.

The pod set upside down intact to be cleaned.

Detail of the underside of the pod: not old fabric scraps were thrown into the stuffing.

The tacking margins exposed (*shown above image #1-3, and right), showing the huge holes left by indiscriminate tacking and no reparation between upholsterings.

The pod was exposed, released, and gently lifted upside down to be cleaned for reuse, images 4-5 above.  The bit of fabric shown in the last image above may be from a previous showcover.

Hessian exposed, before vacuuming.

After vacuuming.

Above, the hessian exposed.

The hessian was vacuumed to remove the debris.  It is noted that while we will replace it for historic purposes, a new layer will be added to create a strong spring topper.

This exposed the springs tied, and dangling.

Looking down into the dangling springs and the tie pattern.

Showing only the front row of tacking margins: L-facing…

… front center…

… and right-facing.

The last upholsterer sloppily tacked into the tacking margins, did not fill previous holes, and frequently hit the exposed carved frame, shown above #2-4, and right.  This is unfortunate as there is no way to repair the carved frame but to replace it, which is unlikely, ever.

The excavation is complete.

Above, the corner blocks exposed, and these also show sloppy repair work which caused breaks in the corner blocks.  Large construction nails were used in some areas, which are also not appropriate.

UPHOLSTERY

Bergères were pinned for two weeks to begin to relax.

Bergères were thoroughly vacuumed.

Bergère #2 showcover with trim removed before treatment.

The showcover was prepared for reupholstering.  The two showcovers were pinned flat to a board for two weeks to begin to allow the showcover the relax, image 1 above.

The showcovers were thoroughly vacuumed in lieu of having them cleaned, image 2 above.  We were concerned with the tight fit due to the showcovers being trimmed tightly to the tacking edge.

Trims were removed from the showcover, image 3 above.  This was difficult because the last upholsterer used hide glue which is completely inappropriate for fabric.

Bergères’ edges were stitched for reinforcement, and pinned to a black backing to stabilize.

Bergères’ showcover is stitched to the backing.

Finally, the frayed edges were sewn to strengthen and stabilize them for reupholstering, left.

After the edges were stabilized, the showcovers were pinned  then sewn to a 7 oz polyester twill, shown above.  This allowed us to pull the showcover down over the buildup.

The bergères were ready for buildup.  We turned the bergères over and began our re-upholstery work from the bottom up, above.

We chose a hemp herringbone 2-inch webbing, which is more appropriate for the bergères, and tacked it vertically in a staggered pattern, then wove the horizontal webbing pattern.

The bergères were turned right-side up again, right.

Above, the existing tie is show on the left.  Mitchell decided to let this remain, and add to it, partly because of the instability of the original springs, which the client wanted to keep.

We then tied over the top of it in 8-way diagonal tie, shown above right and left.

Holbein pattern from above…

… and when the bergère was turned on its back, from the bottom.

The muslin topper was stitched using a Holbein pattern, above and right.

Buildup began with the layer of hemp fiber which was removed from the buildup. teased, shown in the first image above.

The cleaned pod was laid over the appropriate bergère, image 2 above, and and stitched into place.  Bergère #1 is shown above in image #3, and Bergère #2 is shown left.  Neither pod was strong enough, and so a muslin topper was also applied.

Additional stuffing was carefully inserted…

… in both bergères.

The new muslin topper was pinned into place.

Muslin topper was tacked.

Center area was stitched…

… and front edge roll was created.

Additional algerian stuffing was carefully inserted, images 1-2.

A new muslin topper was placed on top, pinned into place, and tacked, images 3-4.

The center area was stitched, then the front edge was created, above images number 5-6.

Right, the buildup was complete, right, and the final stuffings could be added.

Hair topper….

… organic quilters cotton…

… cotton batting.

Horsehair topper stitched into place on the muslin pod, image 1 above.

Because of the issues of the tight tacking margins, we used an organic cotton quilter’s batting which is dense, shown image 2.  It had the added benefit of being able to be stitched onto the seat apron top.  The dense quilter’s cotton also will keep the horsehair from working up through the showcover.

Fluffy organic cotton batting was the last stuffing before the showcover was applied.

The showcover was pulled over the buildup and tacked into place.

The original trim was gluedover the tacking margin.

Showcover and trim applied, almost finished.

The showcover was able to be pulled over the repaired buildup, because of our work to save the showcover despite the previous upholsterer trimming the fabric instead of turning it under, images 1-2.

The black twill was trimmed.  The original trim was replaced using Aleene’s white glue, image 3.

The showcover and buildup was completed, shown image 4 above and left.

Finally, a black 7oz black polyester twill also serves as a dustcover.  The bergères were waxed before being returned.

AFTER

Below, two slideshows of Bergère #1, and Bergère #2, before and after treatment.

1 / 10

Above is the slideshow showing before and after images for Bergère #1;
below is the slideshow showing before and after images for Bergère #2.

2 / 14

☾

 dkatiepowell  @  aol.com / mitchellrpowell  @  aol.com
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