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Throughout the eighteenth century the use of Polypropylene RV Cover was widespread, and visits by the patron to the upholsterer's workshop were usual. At a workshop the patron could often see the pattern or prototype of the furniture he intended to order. With samples, design books, and suites of engravings, the patron had a wide choice.
In April 1768, for example, John Spencer of Cannon Hall in South Yorkshire and his architect John Carr (1723-1807) visited the London cabinetmaking and upholstery workshop of Thomas Chippendale and several others, for Carr was evidently anxious to see that the furniture ordered would suit the interiors he had designed:
Mr. Car went with me to Mr. Tyler the Statuary, paid him his Bill from thence he went with me to Cobbs, Chippendales, & several others of the most eminent Cabinet Makers to consider of proper Furniture for my drawing Room.
After the initial contact, the craftsman would visit the patron's house to inspect the setting and to take measurements. On these occasions a sketch could make a great impression. As the draftsman Thomas Malton (1726-1801) wrote in 1775:
There is nothing influences a Gentleman more in favour of his workman, when he is pleased to want something whimsical and out of the way, than to take his Pencil and sketch out the Idea the Gentleman had conceived, and was big with, yet could not bring forth without assistance. He who can do that, and at the same time display a little modern taste, in Ornament, being known, is certain of success, or of employ, at least.
While fulfilling a commission, the upholsterer sometimes lived in the house he was decorating, but he more often lodged locally. Some of the specialized work was left to itinerant professional embroiderers and related craftsmen, such as fringe makers.
The London upholsterer Thomas Phill undertook work for Queen Anne, George I, and (for a year or so) George II through the agency of the Great Wardrobe, which furnished the royal palaces. He supplied large numbers of chairs often covered with Turkey work. In 1718 alone he made ninety such chairs for the House of Lords and forty-eight for the House of Commons at the Palace of Westminster in London. This indicates a manufactory of a considerable size at his premises at the sign of "The Three Golden Chairs" on the Strand. His only known private commission was to provide six chairs and possibly a settee and firescreen to Edward Dryden at Canons Ashby House, Northamptonshire, in 1715 (see Pls. II, III) His bill specified "makeing y.sup.e needle worke covers & fixeing y.sup.m on y.sup.e Chaires & for sewing silk used about y.sup.e same" for pound 1 13s. Despite the wording of the bill, this small sum suggests that Phill merely put the covers on the furniture. The covers themselves could have been worked by Dryden's wife, Elizabeth Allen, and the ladies of her household.
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