Featured Old Sewing Rocker

Hey, guys. I just recently finished restoring my great grandmother's rocking chair. My great grandmother rocked my great aunt and my grandmother in this rocker when they were babies. If my great aunt were alive, she would be 91 this year so we know the chair is at least that old, but could, obviously, be much older than that. In my brief research, I've determined this was a sewing/nursing rocker. I know it's a long shot to determining the exact age or maker of this as there are many, many types and makers of rocking chairs, but I thought I'd give it a try anyway. The chair was still in one piece but looked terribly rough and dry. There was some damage here and there but nothing too catastrophic. So I dismantled it to the extent of being able to make repairs and then I proceeded to do many, many hours of sanding on this thing. I got 99% of all the old finish(es) off. It appeared that the original color was a fairly dark brown but had been painted over at some point with a mustard-ish color. When my grandma had it, it spent years on a somewhat enclosed porch. So it was protected enough for there to still be a chair left, but not enough to really keep the finish from decaying. It's been in storage for about 8 years until I recently rescued it. Anyway, I'll post some before, during, and after pictures!

I'm super happy with how the chair turned out, especially as it is my first project to restore something like this.

Now that my confidence is built up, there is another rocking chair that I'm going to restore that was my grandmother's when she was a child. My grandmother passed away in November 2018 and I'm going to try and get her rocker restored to be able to present it to my mom in time for Mother's Day 2019. This particular chair, unlike my great grandmas, is in multiple pieces. I haven't had a chance to examine it closely and in good lighting, but I'm sure hoping that it can be resurrected. But I'd say, no more than I've looked at it, that's it's in much worse shape than the one I just finished. But my fingers are crossed for good luck!

Anyway, any clues as to how old or whom may have made the chair?

Thanks!

 

Nice job! A true labor of love. Good luck with your next one.

 

Beautiful job!

 

Amazing. I can't believe you transformed that bedraggled thing into a lovely piece. I hope the furniture people can help you with age.

 

lovely !

 

FABULOUS .. Well Done !!!! ... Joy.

 

Beautiful.

 

You did a lovely job restoring it.

Your chair dates from about 1900 to 1920s. Not an expensive chair and could easily have come from the Sears or Montgomery catalogs. So determining the maker will be very difficult.

Enjoy it and it's memories.

 

Well, I just wanted to give ya'll an update. I have finished the second rocking chair! I'm happy with it, but I don't think it turned out nearly as well as the first chair. I had a lot more challenges with this chair. lol

I've made a couple slideshow videos of both chairs for easier sharing/viewing.

For more details on both chairs, please read the description in the video(s).

Thanks!


Sewing Rocking Chair (first chair):




Childs Rocking Chair (second chair):

 

Big improvement on that second restoration as well.