Bookweb > Tools & Equipment > Sewing Frames > Chair Sewing Frame

Chair Sewing Frame

This is the cheapest and fastest form of sewing frame I have encountered.
It took me about 5 minutes to set up, and cost absolutely nothing.

What you will need

1. The right chair (See below)
2. A flat surface, such as a large hardcover book. It should be large enough to rest
across the legs of your chair.
3. A thick book, at least as large as the material you are sewing.
4. Your sewing materials (tapes or cords, thread, the book itself)

Choosing your Chair

There are two things you need to consider in a chair.

Legs
These should not splay too much, if at all.

Ideally, they should all be vertical. Chairs where the legs splay to the
front and back but are parallel at the sides will also work.

Chairs where all four legs splay are not suitable.

Rungs
Many chairs have some sort of rungs or crossbars connecting the legs below the
seat.

Your chair does need rungs, ones that can connect adjacent legs.
 Rungs that form an "H" shape are not suitable.

What to Do
Turn the chair on its side or back, depending on the legs and rungs. You
want it set up so that the parallel legs and connecting rungs are at top
and bottom. If all four legs are parallel and have connecting rungs, select
the sides whose rungs are lowest on the legs to be your top and bottom.

Lay something flat and hard on the lower legs, just back from the edges of
the lowest set of rungs. (If there's only one set of rungs, make sure the base is wide
enough to sit stably on the chair legs.) I used a large green hardcover book in the
photos above.

String the tapes or cords between the rungs at the "top" and
"bottom" of the space, tying or safety-pinning them in place. Try
and get the tension even. It should just "thrum" when plucked.
Note that you can tighten tapes and sunk cords after sewing, but
raised cord tension cannot be increased. This is because the thread
wraps all the way around the cords, but just round one side of
tapes.

Put the signatures to be sewn on top of another book, so that you will have enough
cord or tape left on both sides of the book, even if you can't untie your knots and
have to cut the supports. That's what the greyish-beige mass below the signatures is
in the photo above.

Then just sew.

All images and text © Abi Sutherland 2004