Pssst...It's called a stretcher.

In case you ever need to know what that piece of wood is called that runs horizontally between the legs of a chair, sofa or table, you've come to the right place. It's called a stretcher.

A stretcher connects, braces, and strengthens the legs of tables, chairs, chests and sofas. Box stretchers connect all four legs of a piece, forming a box around it. X-stretchers (also known as cross stretchers or saltiers) form an X underneath the piece of furniture. H-stretchers have side pieces that connect front legs with the ones directly behind them and then have a cross piece that runs from one side stretcher to the other.

Paul McCobb Directional chair with box stretchers
modernlivingsupplies.com

T. H. Robsjohn-Gibbings for Widdicomb
with X-stretchers
1stdibs.com

Finn Juhl library table with H-stretchers
1stdibs.com

Tommi Parzinger table with X-stretchers
1stdibs.com

Hans Wegner Peacock chair
with H-stretchers
1stdibs.com

Pssst...it's called a manchette

It's been a while since I posted about obscure furniture terms...but this term makes up for it, because it's about as obscure as they get. Raise your hand if you know what a manchette is.

In furniture-making, a manchette is a small upholstered pad on the open arm of a chair. The term is borrowed from the sport of fencing, where a sabreur/sabreuse wears a special glove on the weapon arm.

I'm assuming that the arm treatment on the black strap chair is considered a manchette, even though the covering is rattan rather than fabric. But I need to figure out what the small wooden piece is called that's frequently applied to a metal arm, like on the orange chair below. I'm not sure if it's considered a manchette or not. If you know, tell us!

Of course, that raises another valid question. What do you call the wooden pieces on open upholstered arms, like the ones on the Wegner Papa Bear?

vandm.com

nyshowplace.com

ebay.com - 69-daytona

cityissue.com

ebay.com - dos bananos

So what are wood pieces on metal arms called?
wanelo.com

Or wood pieces on the open upholstered arms of this Wegner Papa Bear?
The questions are pointless endless.
christies.com

This is exactly how research spirals out of control, and I find myself in front of the computer for hours when I should be doing something constructive.

Pssst...It's called a slip seat.

It's time for another installment of furniture term trivia you'll probably never need to know...but, boy, will it make you feel smart to be carrying all this knowledge around in your head!

A slip seat is an upholstered "loose seat" insert that is dropped into the frame of a dining chair and can be removed for reupholstery. It sits inside and somewhat flush with the frame, rather than sitting atop the frame.  While many mid-century chairs, especially Danish Modern designs, have seats that extend beyond the frame, slip seats are not uncommon.

Arne Vodder chairs
rubylane.com

Chairs by Anderstrup Møbelfabrik
ebay.com - thekeyantiques

Johannes Andersen chairs
danishgallery.com

Here's an example of a chair that does not have a slip seat. Rather, the seat sits on top of the frame and extends several inches beyond it. 

Vilhelm Wohlert chairs - NOT slip seats
bondandbowery.com

Pssst...It's called an arm stump.

I'm not sure why it's called that...or when you'd need to know it...but an arm stump is the vertical front of an arm which you see when looking straight on at a sofa or chair.

If you were talking to your upholsterer about that particular part of your chair or sofa, I'm not sure why you couldn't just point to it or call it "that thing," but I committed months ago to posting about the most obscure furniture terms (or the ones with the strangest names) that I could find. So there you have it. An arm stump.

knoll.com

The other day, I was talking to our upholsterer about an unusually long Jens Risom sofa my SIL left for him to recover. He was explaining to me that I need to buy fabric that can run lengthwise across the seat. Having written a post on that very topic not too long ago, I thought I'd dazzle him with my upholstery vocabulary, so I said, "Oh, you mean I need to choose something that can be railroaded?" He didn't bat an eye and kept right on explaining. I guess my term-dropping wasn't as impressive as I thought it would be. Next time, I'll try to work "arm stump" into the conversation.

***************

My SIL is doing another big giveaway on our Facebook page. 
This time it's a cool gray Womb style chair.

The lucky winner will be announced on Sunday, April 15.

Pssst...It's called railroading.

Closely related to the last fabric term I posted about, "railroading" refers to the direction of a fabric nap or design as it was woven at the mill.  Usually the nap or pattern of a piece of fabric runs up the roll (toward the cut edge). A "railroaded" piece has a pattern or nap that runs from one side of the fabric to the other. To you fabric-conscious folks, we're talking from selvedge to selvedge. (And to you fabric-unconscious people, the selvedge is the woven edge on each side that keeps fabric from fraying.) Maybe this diagram will make things clearer.

OK, I can hear the wheels turning. Some of you are thinking, "What's the purpose of railroading?" The answer is simple. Most upholstery fabric is 54" wide. If you are using an upholstery fabric with an obvious pattern or nap and have a cushion or back that's wider than 54" you may want a continuous piece of fabric covering it, rather than having a seam where two pieces of fabric were sewn together. That's where railroaded fabric comes in handy.

A solid-color cotton or vinyl, a plain tweed or a leather doesn't have an up or a down, so it generally can be railroaded. Even some fabrics with patterns, such as a square or a diamond pattern, can be railroaded, as long as the pattern looks the same in each direction.

Fabrics with a nap, like velvet, chenille, velour, corduroy or a hide with hair, obviously cannot be railroaded. However, some napped fabrics are woven that way so they can be used on large items.

From interiormall.com

Fabrics such as these look the same either direction, whether applied regularly or railroaded.

Knoll vinyl
modern-fabrics.com

Carnegie Pebble
modern-fabrics.com

Momentum Boom
modern-fabrics.com

Maharam Checker
by Alexander Girard
jandofabric.com

A fabric that might look at first glance that it could be turned either way is this Maharam Pavement by Irving Harper for George Nelson, but even though the circles are identical, if railroaded, the "arrows" would be going the wrong direction, at least to a person who is familiar with the design. The same is true of the Alexander Girard Quatrefoil, since there is more space between the lines of  Xs one way than the other. While it might work from an upholstery standpoint, it would be a little like hanging a famous painting sideways.

Maharam Pavement
by Irving Harper for George Nelson
jandofabric.com

Maharam Quatrefoil
by Alexander Girard
jandofabrics.com

Railroaded bench
marcofabrics.com.au

Railroaded drapes
tonicliving.com

Pssst...It's called the nap.

My SIL just bought some gorgeous mohair velvet in chocolate brown to recover some chairs, so nap is on our minds right now. (You'll be seeing those chairs soon, I promise!)

The term "nap" as it applies to fabric generally refers to the direction in which the open ends of the fibers naturally lie, such as in a velvet piece. Normally, the fabric nap would be in the down direction. However, to achieve a darker, richer color, sometimes these fabrics are used with the nap in the up direction. This darker color is the result of the reduced reflection of light off the fibers.

To determine whether or not a piece of upholstery fabric has a nap, run your hand in both directions up and down the length of the fabric. If you can see a change in the color or if you can tell that it feels softer or smoother one direction than the other, the fabric has a nap.

You have to be certain that all attached upholstery pieces and all loose cushions with a nap are turned the same direction. Likewise, ottomans should be turned with the nap facing the same direction as the chairs. If the fabric is on a piece of furniture that is used often, sitting or touching can produce areas that appear darker or lighter than the rest of the piece, since it can permanently change the lay of the nap. Folds and tufting can also produce variations in color.

From garmento.org

Paolo Buffa sofa
jessgrahamvintagedesigns.com

Crimson mohair velvet
ebay.com - chezchazz

Finn Juhl Diplomat armchairs
treadwaygallery.com

Orange mohair velvet
stagevelvets.com

Knoll velvet upholstery fabric
archiexpo.com

Navy mohair velvet
ebay.com (walshdesigns)

Wrought iron and upholstered chair by Augusto Bozzi for Saporiti
1stdibs.com

Brown mohair velvet
walshdesignsinc.com

Tufted velvet upholstery
howtocleanstuff.net

Pssst...It's called gimp.

And if you see it on your piece of mid-century furniture, it has probably been recovered at some time in the past.

Gimp is a flat decorative trim or braid that conceals upholstery fastening points, such as staples or tacks, and it was almost never the trim chosen by mid-century designers. Instead, they favored less fussy piping, double welt cord or no trim at all.

Scroll gimp
fabricfarms.com

French gimp
bandmupholstery.com

Gimp application
modhomeec.com

Piping
flickr.com - Michael's Upholstery

Double welt cord
flickr.com - Michael's Upholstery

Pssst...they're called antimacassars.

My mother loved them. Whenever she had a piece of furniture reupholstered, she'd have several spares made, so she'd always have some to use when she sent a pair to be dry cleaned. We either were really messy kids, or she was unnaturally worried about soil. At any rate, we simply called them "arm and headrest covers," but the correct name is antimacassar.

Originally they were crocheted or knitted, but in the twentieth century, furniture manufacturers began offering them in matching upholstery fabric. They come in a fitted style, which goes around the end of the arm, or a napkin style, which lies across the arm or the back.

The name derives from the use of macassar oil in hair dressings during the Victorian era. Women wanted to protect their furniture from this oil, so the antimacassar was born. You could say that the antimacassar was the forerunner of Scotchgard™ and other chemical fabric treatments, which hadn't yet been developed.

I suppose the use of antimacassars is better than leaving your furniture encased in plastic, but having grown up with my mother's almost obsessive attachment to them, I now prefer to just lay in a good supply of foam upholstery cleaner and take my chances.

From onlinefurnituredesign.com

Antimacassars
aspireauctions.com

aspireauctions.com

Milo Baughman sofa
ebay.com - webstersattic

Edward Wormley sofa
uship.com (shipped by webstersattic)

aspireauctions.com

Pssst...They're called squabs.

Squab cushions were originally used centuries ago to protect expensive hand-carved or caned seats, but over the years they have evolved into what we now refer to as the box cushion or chair pad and are used to provide padding or depth to a hard chair, ottoman or bench. These cushions are covered with fabric on both sides and are usually loose, although they may be partially attached and easily removed for cleaning or recovering. In the case of chairs with open frames, such as dining chairs, they may have ties along the back edge to secure them. Today they're also being made with Velcro fasteners, hooks or rubber bottoms to prevent slipping.

From ehow.com

Squab in a Saarinen Tulip Chair
1stdidbs.com

Squabs on both the Saarinen Womb Chair and matching ottoman
1stdibs.com

Squabs (box cushions) on a Scandinavian bench
bondandbowery.com

Squab on a Bertoia Diamond Chair
julesseltzer.com