Upholstery for Beginners – Sewing Machines Los Angeles

Upholstery is a dying art, a skilled trade that has been devalued by the whole DIY phenomenon. Thanks to cable television, anyone who owns a staple gun thinks they can upholster a sofa. Well, I’m here to tell you, there is a lot more to it than stretching fabric over a four legged frame.

Early upholstery was not much more than saddle webbing stretched across a frame and tacked at the edges, but who really wants to sit for long periods of time, watching a huge screen TV with horsehair poking their tush? The advent of coil springs in the 1800’s allowed deep button tufting to greatly increase comfort and intricate design details. The 20th century introduced rubber webbing, latex, staple guns, and polyurethane foam, all making the job of an upholsterer much more creative, but no less challenging!

Traditionally, upholstery skills have been handed down from master to apprentice, a bit like a secret handshake with how-to instructions kept under wraps. One odd, random tidbit of information, just in case you are ever asked in a Trivia Game, upholsterers were also often undertakers in addition to being called upon for their interior design flair. In this article, I’d like to teach you a little about upholstering and give you a temporary pass into the underground club.

Let’s start with the basics. Is that great vintage frame lurking in your Grandma’s basement worth your time and frustration? Quick answer? Probably. Long answer? Depends on your skill level and tenacity. In my book, any fabulous hardwood frame that has great lines is worthy of being part of my ROADKILL gang (what I lovingly call my abandoned upholstered treasures, great bones, just not something I want sitting in my living room as-is). Each one has a story to tell, and is so much better quality than you will ever find in any Barn, Barrel or Mart retail store. Even if you choose to have a professional do the labor and pick an average priced fabric, your price point is less than half what you would pay for a similar quality piece through interior design professionals! Ask me how I know…

The best first project for a beginner is a drop-in seat, also called a slip seat. This is basically a fabric and foam piece of plywood covered in fabric and sitting in the middle of a dining chair. This a great project because it doesn’t require investing in a bunch of specialized tools. You can get away with using a hand-held staple gun found at most craft and hardware stores. Please be sure to use the right size staples for your gun and fabric thickness. This makes the job so much easier! Two drop-in seat covers will only need about yard of fabric, so this is a budget-friendly project as well. I recommend starting with a single desk chair before embarking on an entire dining set. It’s better to get the kinks out on a single chair than it is to finally figure out what you are doing three chairs into your project!

Most beginners are eager to dive head first into that tufted lounge chair. I don’t mean to dissuade you, but that’s just not a recipe for success, unless of course you want that chair to land on the curb or be your cat’s new best friend! The best way to build your skills is to start small and master each step before moving on to the next layer. We teach upholstery classes at my studio, Sit On It..a chair gallery. These classes are the Mr. Miyagi method of teaching upholstery, “wax-on-wax off”.

Starting with a drop-in seat familiarizes you with basic tools and how fabric should feel when it is pulled properly. The next best project is an oversized boxed floor pillow with zipper, which teaches how to sew a straight seam on a sewing machine and translates into a boxed seat cushion. Using a sewing machine is a large part of creating a professional finished project. Once you feel proficient with that, you play with the big boys… stripping a frame. Stripping is an art not to be rushed through! Taking apart your chair one piece at a time and familiarizing yourself with it is a huge part of rebuilding it. I recommend taking lots of pictures for posterity and reference.

Once you’ve had a few hands on projects with smaller frames, you will realize how important the foundation is to how the chair sits. Tightening the frame, rebuilding the web base, retying the springs, replacing the burlap, and refinishing any exposed wood all has to be done before you can even think about putting new fabric on a vintage upholstered frame. Most vintage frames need at least a bit of tightening. I know the fabric is the fun part, but if you neglect the important structure of the chair, all you will have is an uncomfortable chair that sits alone in a corner… you know the one that no one wants to sit in. I figure that if you are putting in hours of effort into a chair, especially if it is sentimental, you want it to last another fifty years! Once you feel ready, dive into a nice little lounge chair that you plan to give away. Your first project is never as good as your third.

A quick note about tools, they are worth the investment. Long sharp scissors are your friend. So is a big box of band-aids. Upholstery is hard work and murder on a fresh manicure! But once you get going, you will be hooked, and if you decide it’s just too much to do… give me a call.