Tips for the Beginning Upholsterer To Live By

Learning a new hobby can be difficult at first and learning how to upholster isn’t exactly an easy hobby. However, it can be done—especially if you keep these tips for a beginning upholsterer to live by in mind. You’ll be stapling and sewing in no time!

Start With the Basics

Learn the basics of the skill first. Tackle something small, maybe an ottoman, bench seat, or headboard rather than an entire sofa. There’ll be time for that soon enough, but you have to work up to it. Smaller, simpler projects are key before you ramp up the intensity and step into working with newer products. After this, you need to learn how to use your tools to tackle bigger challenges. 

Get Your Tools

Here are a few tools you’ll need to start working with upholstery. 

• You’ll need a staple gun. A staple gun is a necessary tool for any upholsterer. It lets you fix furniture fabric quickly and efficiently. Getting an air stapler, or compressor, that uses air pressure to give it augmented force might be wise. This is great when you’re stapling into wood.
• Shears, or fabric scissors, are also important. They need to be sharp. Just keep in mind that other materials can blunt them, so use them carefully. Reserve them for fabric only. 
• You need a mallet. This can be used to hammer parts into place.
• Staple removers are also important. If it didn’t come with your staple gun, you’ll need to get one since you’ll have to use it to release fabric. 
• Soft measuring tape helps you take the measurements you’ll need to make the fabric fit properly. 

Learn More

Getting the hang of upholstery requires practice, to be sure, but it might also be wise to pick up a book on the topic or watch a tutorial on it. We all learn differently, so there’s bound to be some way you can learn about the craft. Crafting project books are ideal in this sort of situation so that you can learn and practice at the same time. 

In short, these have been just a few tips for the beginning upholsterer to live by in their journey to learn more about their craft. Beginning upholstery work is challenging but fun. We hope that you learned how to become better equipped after reading this.