Upholstery Supplies — Provincial Upholstery

Doing traditional upholstery requires a lot more than just knowing how to use traditional materials and techniques! One must know about the origin and characteristics of the right upholstery supplies and where to source them.Provincial Upholstery was opened in the Southern Highlands of NSW in 1994 by Carlos Rodrigues, however his experience dates back to his childhood in Portugal. Carlos has come to know the upholstery trade inside out and has exclusive contacts worldwide. His experience and knowledge has allowed him to source and import the highest quality upholstery supplies and materials from around the world, to ensure his traditional upholstery is the best in Australia. Together with his wife Fernanda, Carlos has worked closely with the Australian Government of New South Wales since early 2006 in his ongoing restoration project of Government House. Carlos’ work has included other heritage work within Sydney Living Museum such as the project on Vaucluse House.

We are proud to offer trade access to our unique industry supplies including Mongolian Horsehair, European Flax Stitching Twine and Lacing cord and Jute Scrim.

Let us explain a little more about our unique and traditional upholstery supplies

Horsehair

Horsehair was used in upholstery centuries ago, well before springs were produced. Climactic conditions have huge effect on natural products. For upholstery purposes of stuffing/padding or bed making, the ideal horsehair needs to be thick. Thick horse hair can be found in parts of the world where climates are hard, cold and windy (so animals must develop a thick fur/coat for protection); places like Mongolia.

The Horse hair we supply is Mongolian horse hair, which has been processed in Europe and the UK where traditional knowledge is strong and demand is still fairly high. Processing of the hair involves combing and careful cleaning from grasses and insects, and washing it at high temperatures (120 degrees Celsius). It is then plaited, and steamed in order to permanently keep the curls – which is what gives the spring effect to the padding.

Stitching Twine – Linen Flax

Flax is a natural fibre that is used to create the highest quality stitching twine and lacing cord (much thicker) on the market. As discussed in our blog post about European Linen, Western Europe’s unique climactic conditions produce long, strong fibres which in turn produce high quality strong twine with a very high breakage point.

Lacing Twine – Linen Flax

This lacing twine is used to lace the springs as suited to traditional upholstery. Further discussed in the our blog about European Linen, Linen/flax producers in other parts of the world are effected by different climactic conditions which are not as favorable to the growth of flax fibres. For example, flax plants that are grown in North Africa where the climactic conditions are dry and hot, produce a shorter fibre. When these fibres are processed into fabrics or twines they have a tendency to break at lower thresholds. This results in a poorer quality finished product leading many to turn away from traditional flax/linen. The alternative is polyester twine, and while there isn’t anything wrong with its use, Provincial Upholstery prefers to use high quality traditional materials wherever we can.

Jute Scrim

Jute Scrim is a derivative of a plant very well cultivated in India and Bangladesh. We use Jute Scrim in our work, as opposed to hessian, simply because its weave is finer. A regular weave will give a better and smoother edge when stitching horsehair.

Webbing – Herringbone Weave Black/White

The herringbone weave and cotton composition makes this webbing extremely robust – one of the reasons it has remained a prominent upholstery material in the United Kingdom and other parts of Europe for centuries. This webbing’s popularity is due to the aesthetic strength it possesses, in addition to the fact that this webbing does not stretch as the common Jute webbing.

Purchase our exclusive upholstery supplies, imported directly from the manufacturers by clicking the link below & visiting our shop. Should you have any questions about these materials, we welcome you to contact us.

To shop our unique upholstery supplies & order online, visit our Shop or Contact Us.