Nanny was not a person I ever met. She was employed as a nanny for my grandfather when he was a small boy in the late 40s and 50s. Eventually he grew up and she went to work for another family but once she retired, she came back to live with him and his own family. She had a suite of two armchairs and a sofa in her little cottage. Continue reading
Somewhere between finishing Laura’s maternity chair and starting on Nanny’s armchair, I started to think about doing paid reupholstery commissions. I mentioned this to a few people and was offered an old stuffover chair to have a go at. I call it the doll’s house chair because of its interesting back story. It was designed and built by William Lendon Prosser. He worked for Maples in London and was asked to make some chairs for Queen Mary’s Doll’s House. I had a look at the website and found some chairs in the king’s bedroom that look very similar.
When I started upholstery, I didn’t think I would be doing this for very long so I kept purchases to a minimum. Because I learn at a college, I could get away with having no tools at all and borrow everything during my lessons. However this is definitely not an option as I am horribly competitive with myself and need the resources to carry on my projects at home.
As I got closer to finishing the piano stool, my mind started to wander to my next project. Eventually, moaning vocally to enough people paid off and I was offered a maternity chair by a friend in my dance class. I’d never heard of a maternity chair before and when I first saw it I actually laughed out loud. It is so tiny! I can’t imagine any pregnant woman managing to get into the chair, and if she did, would definitely never get out again. Apparently it’s from days gone by when people had nurseries and nannies. The chair was for the nanny to sit in so that she was at the same level as the children.
Having signed up to classes quite late and with no prior thought, I found myself without a project to take with me. As luck would have it I was going to an engagement/house warming party the week before term began. It was the last month I was still being paid from my teaching job but it was the end of the summer holidays and I had far too much time on my hands, so I baked a cake and set off for the party.