Antique Baby Buggy

[Peppy]

I'm about to start reupholstering one of those old thymie prams (you listening Rich?) including building a new hood. It's the kind with the hinged spreader bars that keep the canvas taught. Anybody ever done one? The upholstery is straight forward but the hood scares me a bit. Especially the lining. It'll be sunbrella and thats all I know. I haven't even taken it apart yet. I'll have some pictures next week. 

[kodydog]

Good luck Peppy. Two Week ago my neighbor showed me one and asked if I could recover it. I chickened out and said no. I told her it looks more like something an auto upholsterer could do. 

[Peppy]

I would have chickened out too kody. Alas I'm just a unit, and do what I'm told. The boss has recovered some buggies in the past and so took this on. I'm not really scared of the job, it's the client that freaks me out. I mean, who puts thousand(s) of dollars into a buggy? To say the lady is 'particular' is like saying water is damp. 

[DBR1957]

It's hard to judge a "particular" customer. Some will think your work is spectacular
and some will make a big deal if one stitch is out of place.

Had a customer last month who complained about the zipper pulls "jingling" and
the black Sunbrella not being as black as the other black Sunbrella cockpit covers
in the marina.

[Peppy]

Oy. I had a customer complain that the end cap set screws were on diferent sides of the hinge. I left her an alan key. I'm going to have the lady come in on Monday and go over with me exactly what she wants. Hopefully I can shmooze her over.

Thing is, as far as I can tell these things weren't built by artisans. To me it looks banged out in a factory a long time ago to far less exacting standards than I will be held to.

*sigh* I was hoping someone had a source for new antique buggy interiors I guess. Wouldn't be so bad but this is the last week before 2 weeks holidays and the baby is due soon, so....   

[Peppy]

will make a big deal if one stitch is out of place.

[Peppy]

As needles might say, Quid est (it is what it is, well maybe, needles probably wouldn't use Google translate.)








Turned out pretty good. It's got a wrinkle or two in the hood. Not much room for adjustment. Oh wells...

We'll see what she says. Nostalgia is a delicate thing. Gives me hives.

[kodydog]

We did some work for the client of a designer. A week after the delivery the designer called and was all PO that the color of the zipper didn't match the blue fabric. I told her our supplier only has two choices, white or black. I told her I'd check around and see if I could find upholstery weight zippers in different colors. I told her in the mean time look at all her cushions in her house and see if any match the fabric.

She called an hour later and said she never noticed all her zippers are white.

I went to the customers house and steamed the zippers flat and she was happy with that. Two months later she called with more work, bypassing the designer.

The buggy looks like it should be in a showroom or museum. Can't see why there would be any complaints.

[Peppy]

This job never really scared me. It's just a wee bit of vinyl and a little stitching. Only tricky cause it's small. What freaked me was the customers expectations and emotional attachment to this thing. She has every right to be particular and precise in her wants, but in the end it's just a baby buggy and I'm just a boat topper.

I think she thinks this thing was made at the north pole by elves with magic dust. Maybe it did happen like that, but having taken it apart it seems the elves were cutting corners. For example they stuffed the thing with cardboard. I think it was made on an assembly line by some burly dudes with smokes hanging out of their mouths.

I couldn't have done any better, I hope she sees that and can apreciate the magic sprinkles I put into the job.
Funny how after a goodnight sleep horrible wrinkles can fade out into little puckers. 

[bobbin]

I, personally, think it looks smashing!  You did a nice job on it, Peppy and the owner ought to be well pleased with your effort. 

Bottom line:  does it look better now than it did when she brought it in?

[Mike8560]

Ooks good to me pep.
Just wondering did you do the work on it ?
Sounds like you like to patten and install.

[Peppy]

Who-rah! It got picked up this weekend, and she almost cried when she saw it! Thanks for the kind words folks. On high pressure jobs I tend to go blind when I look at it. I would have been happy with it, it looked a billion times better then when she brought it in. But what do I know, I haven't been researching baby buggies for the last 6 months. I figured she'd like it but you never know.

I do everything but sew Mike. Very little sewing on this except the hood. We patterned from the old one but had to come up with a new way to attach to the frame, which was a mushroom velcro sandwich.

Now on to bigger and better things, like a tractor enclosure. Unless anyone's got a buggy needing upholstered?

[Rich]

I've done two of these ONLY because I find it hard to resist a challenge, but if your willpower is stronger than mine, you'll think twice
I used sunbrella and it ended up looking pretty good (the customer was very happy). It needed some frame repairs (broken rivets, bent frame etc.) and the whole thing took me just under 6 hrs. I have a picture somewhere and if you'd like to see it, I'll look for it.
Rich