Furniture Upholstery
A Service of Winters Sewing
Stephen & Emmy
Winters Sewing
1111 Elm Street N.W.
Salem, Oregon 97304-4107
Phone 503-375-9266
Email: sewsj@peoplepc.com
“In this fast paced world we take the time to
give you friendly personal service.”
We can recover or rebuild your old
furniture to give it new life.
Shown at the right is
a Antique “throne
like” chair covered in
blue and beige woven
damask type material.
Owner’s
Background
and Experience
I have worked in the
upholstery trade since 1966. After
learning the trade while working with
my father, I’ve refined my skill through the
following years and eventually began working as
a partner with my sister in our own business. In
1994 I moved to Salem with my wife and
daughter and started my own business working
from our home.
Contents
Owner’s Background and Experience .... 1
Our Mission ............................................ 2
Our Policies ............................................. 2
Kinds of upholstery projects ................... 2
Upholstery Services ................................ 3
Your Choices .......................................... 5
Upholstery Prices .................................... 6
Figure 1: Stephen & Emmy, with their 2
children, Sarah & Joseph.
My experience and skills include:
 Woodworking (building and altering frames),
 Mechanics (furniture mechanisms)
Winters Sewing – Here to Serve You
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No costs will be
added without your
prior approval.
Similarly, if the you
request changes,
before proceeding
with the work, we
will assess what
additional work or
supplies that may be
needed and then
discuss any price
changes with you.
Inspection (condition of furniture)
Artistry (creating beauty from distress)
Design and layout (planning jobs)
Sewing (all types of the home)
Spring retying
Padding – cushioning application &
construction
Fabric application
Record-keeping
Problem solving
Attention to details
Our Mission
Our mission is to give you friendly personal
service, to discover your unique needs, and to
provide professional quality craftsmanship. Our
ambition is to do the job right the first time.
Your satisfaction is important to us.
Our Policies
Quality Workmanship.
Since I started into the upholstery business
many years ago, I have sought to improve the
quality of my craftsmanship. I have searched for
better materials, tools, and methods of
performing high quality work. When I find better
materials I make them available to my clients.
When I discover better tools or methods, I
implement them.
Pricing: Estimate and Work Order
We strive to give an accurate price quote
before we start any job. Prior to writing an
estimate, we carefully inspect the condition of
the furniture, assess the suitability and affects of
the chosen fabric, present our findings, suggest
possible choices, and ask about your concerns
and expectations. Based upon this interaction, we
try to clearly specify, on our estimate or work
order, the services and materials that we will
supply, and the associated charges for each of
these. If we suspect that extra work or additional
materials may be necessary, we also note this on
the work order.
Before we begin your job, we write out a
detailed work order, specifying what we will do,
and the associated charges for each item, as
shown in Figure 2.
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Figure 2: work order
Kinds of upholstery projects
We recover:
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Sofas
Loveseats
Chairs
Recliners
Dining room chairs
Furniture cushions
Throw pillows
Footstools, ottomans
Window seat cushions
Patio Furniture
Cornices
Headboards
Office furniture
Church pews
Boat seats
Breakfast booths
Sewing projects
Repairs
We can also make new:
 Sofas and Chairs
(using pre-built furniture frames)
 Footstools
 Throw pillows
 All types of Cushions
 Window seat cushions
 Furniture cushions
 Fireplace cushions
 RV cushions
 Custom sewing jobs (upholstery related)
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Upholstery Services
Several upholstery options are available:
 Pre-Upholstery Inspection Report
 Basic Upholstery
 Deluxe Upholstery
 Major Alterations or Rebuilding
 Custom fitting to your size
 Repairs & Alterations without
Reupholstery
 Partial Upholstery
 Do-It-Yourself Advice
The best option depends upon the condition
of the furniture, the chosen fabric and the
preferences of the client.
Pre-Upholstery Evaluation Report
Two pre-upholstery evaluation reports will
soon be available, a free report and a paid report.
The free evaluation involves externally
examining the condition, quality, type of your
springs, frame, and padding. Unnecessary for
many jobs, the more thorough paid internal
evaluation includes the same as the free
evaluation, but also involves us opening different
sections of the furniture just enough so that we
can see the actual condition of your furniture.
The cost for this latter evaluation varies
according to the amount of work we do. Using
either evaluation report, you will be able to make
more informed choices about your furniture
needs.
Basic Upholstery
The basic cost upholstery service is a good
choice for most simple furniture that is in good
condition and just needs the cover changed. This
service involves taking the old cover off the
furniture, adding padding as needed, and putting
on the new cover. If you desire more than a
cover change, or if your furniture is more
complicated, other options are also available.
Deluxe Upholstery
The many options of the Deluxe Upholstery
can be customized to your needs and desires.
After the cover is off, we do an inspection of the
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condition, quality, type of your frame, springs,
and padding. We notify you if find that
additional work needs to be done.
The cost varies according to several factors,
including how many extra options and supplies
are ordered, and how much work needs to be
done. Choose from among the various options:
 Retie or replace seat springs
 Tighten joints
 Replace all support linings.
 Use same padding, but add more
 Replace all padding
 Match patterns
 Alter or repair the frame
 Custom fit to your size
We Can Make It More Comfortable
We can change many things to make it more
comfortable for you. As an example of just a few
of the available choices, we can:
 Change cushion foam to firmer or softer
 Use thicker or thinner foam
 Add seat springs to make the seat firmer
 Make your seat higher or lower
 Using taller or shorter legs
 Adding lumber to the frame
We can custom fit your furniture to
your size
In addition to the other types of alterations
available, we can alter the size, shape, and
padding of your furniture to make it better fit
you. This involves us measuring you as you sit in
your chair, where to place the buttons, adding
padding and shaping it to fit your back. This can
also involve other alterations to the frame or
springs, as listed elsewhere in this brochure.
Repair Frame or Springs
In addition to re-gluing, repairing or
replacing any broken or weak sections, we can
repair or replace most broken or damaged
springs. Figure 3 shows a set of springs that
needs to be retied; the jute spring-twine and the
jute webbing are worn out causing the springs to
be unusable.
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show the size and condition
before, the frame before and after
it was rebuilt, and the finished
recliner.
We can:
 Make the furniture:
 Higher or lower
Figure 7: after
 Shorter or deeper
 Smaller or bigger
 Change seat cushions
 Change size or thickness
 Firmer or softer
 Make more or less cushions
 Make the arms:
 Firmer or Softer
 Wider or Narrower
 Round or Square
 Flat or Slanted
 Make the back
 Higher or Lower
 Softer or firmer
 Have more cushioning, or less
 Add or Remove wings
 Perform other customer work or
alterations
Figure 3: springs need retying
Figure 4, shows the same springs after they
have been retied. The springs in the back were
also retied, as the picture shows.
Figure 4: after springs retied
Alterations: Change Style or Size
We can alter the
frame, springs and
padding of your
furniture to make it
more comfortable or
to give it a different
shape or appearance.
Figures 5, 6, & 7
Show a large recliner
that we rebuilt to a
smaller size. Pictures
Repairs & Alterations without
Reupholstery
Is your furniture in good shape, except it just
needs a few repairs or changes? Without
replacing the fabric cover we can:
 Add or Replace Padding
 Repair or replace cushions or springs
 Repair or alter the wood frames
 Sew up loose seams
 Do miscellaneous repairs
Figure 5: before
Partial Upholstery
If you want to recover your furniture
yourself, but don’t want to do the whole job, we
can do part of it for you. We can do the
challenging of difficult parts for you, such as
retying the springs or sewing the cushions. To
prevent unnecessary problems, we strongly
suggest that you contact us before you get
started.
Figure 6: frame, Before & after
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Do-It-Yourself Advice
If you’d prefer to completely recover your
own furniture, but just need a little advice, give
us a call or drop by. We can be most helpful if
you contact us before you get started, so that we
can give you some advice and help avoid
unnecessary mistakes. If you are already in the
middle of a project and need some guidance,
give us a call or drop by. We’ll cheerfully give
you advice or help you work out solutions.
Slip Covers
We make custom
fitted slipcovers,
see figure 8. The
cost of these
slipcovers is very
similar to the cost
of reupholstery. We
recommend having
slip covers
professionally
cleaned.
Our slipcovers:
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Your Choices
Fabric
Pattern Match Options
Figure 8 - With
slipcover on
chair
A note about matching patterns. We take
great care to match the patterns as best as
possible. However, because not all furniture …
some areas may not match exactly.
Are individually custom fitted
Have individually covered cushions
Have zippers where needed
Can be made in your choice of fabrics
Give the appearance of newly upholstered
We make slipcovers to fit:
 Sofas
 Loveseats
 Cushions
shredded rags and
even dried grass.
Figure 9:
Some modern day
Purple
upholsterers attempt Antique
to restore antiques
Rocker
using those original
materials. By
contrast, we operate
under the premise of
those previous
generations of
upholsterers; we use
the excellent
materials that are
readily available today, such as high quality
foam, cotton, spring twine, staples, and webbing.
When wood refinishing is desired or needed,
we send those pieces to a professional wood
refinishing shop or you can refinish it yourself.
• Chairs
• Hide-a-beds
• Side chairs
Antiques
The amount of work needed and the cost to
reupholster antiques vary according to age,
condition and style of each antique. For antiques
that are in good condition, we may only take off
the old cover, add padding as needed, and then
the new cover, as shown in Figure 9. Conversely,
if a antique needs major repairs, we can strip it as
much as necessary, even to the bare wood frame.
The upholsterers of yesteryear used the
supplies and materials that they had readily
available, such as horsehair, wood shavings,
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Centered Pattern
The pattern is
centered on the
top of the
cushions,
the inside
back, the
Figure 10: Pattern Centered
arms, the
outside
back and any other large areas of the furniture.
As an example, figure 10 shows a large flower
centered on the top of a cushion and on the front
runner.
Matched Stripes
The stripes or patterns are matched vertically
only. They are matched from the front bottom of
the furniture up and over the cushions, the inside
back and down the outside back. The inside arms
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match the outside
arms. The
welts
are
made
out of
Figure 11, Stripes Matched
a solid
strip, or
diagonally, or made out of another fabric. Figure
11 shows a cushion with the top and front
stripes matched, and a solid color-matched welt.
Plaids
Plaids can be matched
front to back and side to
side, as much as
possible. Matching
plaids requires a
substantial increase in
labor and fabric. Figure
12 shows a swivel
rocker covered in a
Figure 12, Plaid Chair
plaid fabric.
Skirt Choices
Tailored (straight) Skirt
Perhaps the most common and most popular
today, a Tailored Skirt, figure 14, hangs flat and
straight across the bottom, with a pleat at each
corner. Sofas and
loveseats also have one or
more extra pleats across
the front. It is a good
Figure 14: Tailored Skirt
choice for most modern
furniture styles.
Box Pleated Skirt
The box pleated skirt, figure 15, was very
popular during the ‘70s. Although not as
common today, it is still a good choice for Early
American furniture, and
where you want a less
formal appearance than
the tailored skirt.
Ruffled Skirt
Waterfall (or flow match)
The Dashed lines at A, B, & C of Figure 13
show the seams, notice how the pattern continues
through each seam from the bottom of the
furniture to the top.
A
Figure 15: Box Pleat
Skirt
A ruffled skirt, see
figure 16, also called a
gathered skirt, gives a soft
finish to delicate furniture.
The Padding We Use
Figure 16: Ruffled Skirt
 Cotton
 Polyester
 Polyfoam
Cushioning
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B
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C
Foam: Different grades available, We use
the high quality grade.
Latex foam also available.
Spring cushions are another option.
Upholstery Prices
Figure 13: Waterfall Matching
This type of pattern match greatly increases
the amount of labor and yardage needed.
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The Cost is determined by:
 Furniture style
 Simple styles cost less
 Fancy or complicated styles cost more
 Condition
 Padding
 Springs
 Frame
 Amount of work needed or requested
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