INCLUDING THE STUFFING AND COVERING OF COMMON SUITES, PLAIN SUITES, TUFTED SUITES, PIPED-BACK SUITES, CRINOLINE AND CABRIOLE SUITES, ETC. THE MANUFACTURE OF ALL KINDS OF BEDDING AND COMPLETE DIRECTIONS FOR PLANNING CARPET8 TOGETHER WITH INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE CUTTING-OUT AND ARRANGEMENT 0F CURTAINS, VALANCES, DECORATIVE HANGINGS WITH PRACTICAL ILLUSTRATIONS AND TABULAR SCALE SHOWING THE PROPORTION FOR CUTTING ONE HUNDRED AND THIRTY FESTOONS OF VARIOUS SIZES BY RICHARD BITMEAD Prizeman at the Tandon Exhibitions Allthor of Cabinet-making and French Polishing and Enamelling want of a trade manual on Upholstery has long been felt by young workmen. This fact, judging from the number of applications to the writer for such a work, has induced him to produce this present handbook as a companion to his other works on Cabinet-making and French Polishing. The following pages commence with a description of the tools and appliances used in the trade, followed by directions for the manufacture of all Kinds of bedding, etc., together with instructions for the stuffing and covering of suites in all styles of work. Also the planning of carpets. By the rules here laid down the workman will be enabled to undertake and execute with facility, the cutting-out and arrangement of the most complicated draperies, as the work contains a development of the principles upon which all are governed the plan being arranged in a manner so as to meet any change of fashion which may occur. For new designs, however complicated, are only variations of the same parts in different proportions, either in regard to size or repetition. In conclusion, the writer begs to acknowledge the use he has made of several articles published in the Fzcnitzcre Gazette and also from Rules for Cutting Draperies, etc., by Thomas King and from The Analysis of Drapery, by James Arrowsmith the two latter works being very rare and out of print, EDITORS NOTE. AT the request of Messrs. Crosby Lockwood and Son I have had great pleasure in carefully revising the late Mr. R. Bitmeads excellent treatise on Upholstery, and I think it will be found tbrtt the work is an adequate resznz6 of the subject. W. J. E. CRANE. CONTENTS . . . . . . . . 1 . . . . . . . . 4 CHAPTER PAGE INTRODUCTION I . HISTORICAL X . REMARKS ON COVERINGS. ETC . . . . . . . . . . . . XI . CARPETPLANNING XI1 . VALANCES XI11 . CURAINS 85 87 90 . . 95 XIV . SWAG DRAPERIES . . . . . . A FINAL WORD UPON BOTHS AND COVERINGS 107 IXDEX . . . . . . . . . 98 110 THE PRACTICAL UPHOLSTEREY AND CUTTER OUT INTRODUCTION. THE art of Upholstery is said to have originated in the East, and according to Sir Gardner Wilkinson, the Egyptians from the earliest times used upholstered couches, chairs, and footstools. It is known, too, that their neighbours the Assyrians excelled in weaving, and practised the art of decorating draperies by the introduction of gold in the woof. The rich carpets of Persia and the muslins of India were in use for ages before the Romans set foot in Britain, and there can be littlo doubt but that the Oriental people raised the art of Upholstery to a very high standard long before the trade was known in Europe. But at the present time, much more so than formerly, the progress of the arts, the refinements of taste, the caprice of fashion, and the habits and requirements of luxurious ease, which have extended to B 2 PRACTICAL UPHOLSTERY. all classes of society, have given a greater impetus to the trade and a far higher importance to the art of Upholstery than it has ever before attained, and accordingly the workman, if he wishes to justify his pretensions to competency in his profession, should have an intimate knowledge of everything connected with his work...