# Reupholstery Help? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 30, 2009, 10:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reupholstery-help/501461 "2009-06-30T10:43:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 2\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ecmaddocks](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9de053/32.png) [@ecmaddocks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ecmaddocks)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2009, 10:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reupholstery-help/501461/1 "2009-06-30T10:43:55Z")
I was doing a search for reupholstery information and found several threads on “the straightdope,” but none that answered my particular question, so I decided to join and start posting myself. Anywhooooo. . . . I got an old Morris chair from the large item pick-up. The guy who gave it to me said that it was his mother’s and he thought it was over a hundred years old, although my research indicates that it is probably from about 1929. The chair was in horrid condition after sitting for years in an outbuilding, but I cleaned it and refinished it (the original finish had long ago been stripped). I was about to find a stain that was very close to what was originally used. I began taking off the old upholstery and discovered that it had been reupholstered before. the original (I assume leather) had been replaced with an oilcloth type fabric (something like what I would call pleather today). The real question that I have though is what to replace the stuffing with. Under the bottom burlap layer of fabric there is straw (perhaps sea grass) and then horse hair. I want the chair to look as much like it originally did as possible. What should I use to replace the original batting? And where do I get it? ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2009, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reupholstery-help/501461/2 "2009-06-30T13:41:38Z")
I had the same problem with this stool I’m working on - I ended up keeping the horsehair, because I couldn’t find a source (barring an actual horse - I did have access, but it seemed kinf of extreme) and it was in good shape.