Needle vs Thread

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Lawson, NSW
Needle vs Thread

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Professional custom furniture upholstery Blue Mountains and Sydney http://www.needlevsthread.com

Needle vs Thread is a multidisciplinary design studio and upholstery workshop based in Hazelbrook NSW. For 16 years, Kirrily Walker has built a brand and reputation based around handmade vegan bags and accessories. In 2022, upholstery and furniture restoration joins the list of what we do. Our upholstery services include:

Full reupholstery of dining chairs, armchairs, sofas, ottomans and outdoor furniture
New cushions including bench/window seat cushions and outdoor cushions
Replacement cushion covers or foam inserts
Zipper, webbing and frame repairs and timber restoration. For more information and to obtain a quote please check the website www.needlevsthread.com Bags, homewares and furniture are also available to purchase under the Shop Online link and from the Needle vs Thread stall at selected markets.

12/10/2026

This chair came to me with a sagging seat, stretched and torn leather and worn legs. Typical of modern furniture, the frame was decent but it was let down by cheap upholstery materials. The original elastic webbing was sagging, the foam was poor quality and the leather very thin and easily torn.

The main request from my client was to make the seat much more supportive so I used plenty of firm elastic webbing, covered this to protect the foam from being cut by it, then added a premium medium firm foam for support, with a top layer of soft foam for comfort. I also replaced the webbing and foam in the backrest and arms. I modified the design slightly so the seat and inside back/arms weren't all sewn together. This allows a nicer shape for the seat. The whole thing is covered in Warwick Fabrics Australia Lustrell Charisma Tan and finished off with brass decorative nails. I refinished the timber legs with stain and osmo_australia hardwax oil so it all looks better than new!

02/10/2026

Having spent time living outside, this pair of art deco chairs came into the studio faded, worn, dusty, and mossy but full of potential! They're leaving with newly refinished timber, frames repaired, seats rewebbed, seat springs tied, new seat foam and all new fabric and decorative nails!

Fabric: Warwick Fabrics Australia Emir Forest
Timber refinished with osmo_australia Polyx hardwax oil (terra and clear satin)

08/09/2026

Not a staple in sight! This Louis XIII style chair has had a full traditional upholstery rebuild. It was in quite good condition but needed some internal work and the original needlepoint had not been well applied to the chair.

I took all the upholstery off. For the seat I added new webbing, stitched in the springs, tied them the way they were originally done (French method), covered them with hessian, stitched them to that, washed amd dried the horse hair, secured it to the seat with bridle ties, teased it to make it all even, covered it with more hessian and then stitched the shape of the seat in. It's a long process but so satisfying to do! Once that's all done, the hessian is covered with a thinner layer of horse hair, cotton fabric, wool wadding and finally the vintage needlepoint that my client sourced.

The backrest is also filled with horsehair but that process is much simpler!

I used tacks rather than staples to secure all of the upholstery to maintain the traditional approach.

This chair lives with the linen chaise I completed recently so to tie the two piece together, I made trim for the chair from the linen from the chaise.

A beautiful result!

22/08/2026

This set of 8 Macrob dining chairs from 1984 have been kept in excellent condition but it was time for a refresh! The seat webbing had stretched and broken and the foam was deteriorating so they were no longer very comfortable. These chairs live with the bridge chair I reupholstered last year (last photo) so my clients chose this lovely green chunky woven fabric to complement it, rather than trying to match with a velvet. They now have all new seat webbing, new premium foams, wadding and fabric. As good as new!

Fabric Zepel Fabrics Mingle Mangle Turtle

02/08/2026

Isn't this a stunner? This is one of my favourite transformations ever! From discarded, dirty and with crunchy foam, to a comfortable showstopper!

Work included refinishing the coachwood frame and complete reupholstery in Utopia Goods Waratah Sage performance fabric which is a beautiful woven pattern in the perfect scale for this chair. I pattern matched the fabric from top to bottom and also made a pattern matched lumbar cushion to go with it (which is hard to see in the photos!).

Thanks to my client for choosing such a beautiful fabric. Photos don't really do this one justice.

22/07/2026

I feel like it's rare in this trade to get a job that comes with no surprises but this is one! A nice pair of chairs that just needed new seat webbing and foam and a fresh new fabric!

Fabric: Warwick Fabrics Australia Sylvester Forest

10/07/2026

If you know me, you know I love a challenge. This chaise lounge might not look like one from the photos but the brief was to reupholster it with all natural materials. In Australia it's not particularly easy to source those and unfortunately they don't come cheap.

Latex foam was sourced to replace the usual polyurethane foam and wool wadding was sourced to replace polyester dacron. My client also chose a 100% linen fabric.

With no adhesives to be used, I had to borrow some ideas from traditional upholstery techniques.

The elastic webbing was swapped to jute. This was covered with hessian. On the deck I used jute webbing to create a small edge roll and then stitched wool felt and wool wadding to the hessian and edge roll to secure it and prevent it from bunching up before covering it with the linen.

The inside arm and back had jute webbing and hessian applied, and then 50mm of latex foam stapled rather than glued. This was covered with wool wadding, then a "muslin" layer of cotton japara fabric and then the linen. The japara was used to take some tension off the linen fabric for longevity and also to help preserve the washed linen look that my client wanted..

The cushion was a particular challenge! The idea was to make 100mm thick latex foam look like a feather/down cushion. Wool wadding was selected instead of feathers and had to be layered to create a dome shape. That was sandwiched between two layers of cotton and channels stitched in to hold all the layers in place. This was made into a removable cover for the foam so my client can wash/air/plump it was necessary. The final linen cover was made to fit but not be too tight to maintain the "fluffy" look of the cushion and the washed look of the linen.

The finshing touch was a bolster cushion with pleated ends and piping, filled with shredded up leftover wool wadding.

The only synthetics used were nylon zippers, polyester sewing thread and a length of nylon button twine.

I loved having to think outside the box! Very pleased with the outcome of this one!

Fabric: Design of the Times Lando
Wool wadding: Wool Valley
100mm latex foam: Ross Hanna

13/06/2026

The third job in a row where we didn't do a drastic colour change! These mid century modern style chairs had been loved pretty hard by my client's dog, plus had had some DIY fixes to the seats when the original pirelli webbing had failed. They've gone home with all new webbing and premium foam, covered with Jasper Ochre fabric from Wortley Textiles

06/06/2026

Finally posting some new work! These are the second of three consecutive jobs where there isn't a drastic colour change from before and after. Sometimes you just like what you like!

Work on these included: clean and polish chrome to remove pitting; make new plywood seat bases to replace broken chipboard ones and then add new premium foam, wadding and fabric; make new metal tab and weld it to the frame to replace a broken/missing one (thanks to my neighbour for the welding); make new plastic spacers to replace missing ones; replace seat screws; reglue one leg; and lightly refinish plywood backrests.

If you ever wonder how upholstery timelines blow out, jobs like this are it! The recent cold/humid weather extended dry times on the backrests significantly, and all the additional work took extra time too.

All the work was worth it though and these chairs have gone home better than new and should last another 20+ years.

Fabric: Cleo Cobalt

13/05/2026

A long but very worthwhile job! This beautiful set (4 chairs and a loveseat) is good for another lifetime. My client opted to keep the timber similar to it's original colour, and chose a fabric similar to the previous one as well with an update from scroll braid trim to double piping. The end result isn't a dramatic change but sometimes sticking to the classics is just right!

The seats and backs were originally handwoven cane but that was replaced with foam and fabric many years ago.

My work included timber refinish (stain and Osmo polyx hardwax oil), steam bending broken joints back into place, cleaning out and filling the old cane holes, replacing sagging seat bases and reupholstery.

Fabric: Outlander Greige

Address

Lawson, NSW

Website

http://www.needlevsthread.com/

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