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Upholstery is the work of providing furniture, especially seats, with padding,
spring Spring(s) may refer to: Common uses * Spring (season), a season of the year * Spring (device), a mechanical device that stores energy * Spring (hydrology), a natural source of water * Spring (mathematics), a geometric surface in the shape of a h ...
s, webbing, and
fabric Textile is an umbrella term that includes various fiber-based materials, including fibers, yarns, filaments, threads, different fabric types, etc. At first, the word "textiles" only referred to woven fabrics. However, weaving is not ...
or leather covers. The word also refers to the materials used to upholster something. ''Upholstery'' comes from the
Middle English Middle English (abbreviated to ME) is a form of the English language that was spoken after the Norman conquest of 1066, until the late 15th century. The English language underwent distinct variations and developments following the Old Englis ...
word ''upholder'', which referred to an artisan who makes fabric furnishings. The term is equally applicable to domestic,
automobile A car or automobile is a motor vehicle with wheels. Most definitions of ''cars'' say that they run primarily on roads, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport people instead of goods. The year 1886 is regarded ...
,
airplane An airplane or aeroplane (informally plane) is a fixed-wing aircraft that is propelled forward by thrust from a jet engine, propeller, or rocket engine. Airplanes come in a variety of sizes, shapes, and wing configurations. The broad ...
and
boat A boat is a watercraft of a large range of types and sizes, but generally smaller than a ship, which is distinguished by its larger size, shape, cargo or passenger capacity, or its ability to carry boats. Small boats are typically found on i ...
furniture, and can be applied to mattresses, particularly the upper layers, though these often differ significantly in design. A person who works with upholstery is called an ''upholsterer''. An apprentice upholsterer is sometimes called an ''outsider'' or ''trimmer''. Traditional upholstery uses materials like
coil springs A selection of conical coil springs The most common type of spring is the coil spring, which is made out of a long piece of metal that is wound around itself. Coil springs were in use in Roman times, evidence of this can be found in bronze Fib ...
(post-1850), animal hair (horse, hog and cow), coir, straw and hay, hessians, linen
scrim Scrim can refer to: * Scrim (material), either of two types of material (a lightweight, translucent fabric or a coarse, heavy material) * Scrim (lighting), a device used in lighting for films * Scrim (internet slang), friendly match between tea ...
s, wadding, etc., and is done by hand, building each layer up. In contrast, today's upholsterers employ synthetic materials like
dacron Polyethylene terephthalate (or poly(ethylene terephthalate), PET, PETE, or the obsolete PETP or PET-P), is the most common thermoplastic polymer resin of the polyester family and is used in fibres for clothing, containers for liquids and fo ...
and vinyl, serpentine springs, and so on.


History

''Upholder'' is an archaic term used for "upholsterer", but it appears to have a connotation of ''repairing'' furniture rather than creating new upholstered pieces from scratch ( cobbler vs. cordwainer). OED In 18th-century London, upholders frequently served as interior decorators responsible for all aspects of a room's decor. James, Upholstery, p.13 These individuals were members of the Worshipful Company of Upholders, whose traditional role, prior to the 18th century, was to provide upholstery and textiles and the fittings for funerals. In the great London furniture-making partnerships of the 18th century, a cabinet-maker usually paired with an upholder: Vile and Cobb, Ince and Mayhew, Chippendale and Rannie or Haig. In the US,
Grand Rapids, Michigan Grand Rapids is a city and county seat of Kent County in the U.S. state of Michigan. At the 2020 census, the city had a population of 198,917 which ranks it as the second most-populated city in the state after Detroit. Grand Rapids is th ...
, and Hickory, North Carolina, are centers for furniture manufacture along with Long Eaton, Nottinghamshire (England) and many of the best upholsterers can still be found there. Nottinghamshire is also home to Webs training Ltd, a furniture training company that specialises in training apprentices in the furniture manufacturing industry. These artisans continue to create or recreate many antique and modern pieces of furniture. Furniture reupholstery continues to thrive in the UK with several businesses small and large providing these services.


Types


Traditional

Traditional upholstery is a craft which evolved over centuries for padding and covering chairs, seats and sofas, before the development of sewing machines, synthetic fabrics and
plastic foam A polymeric foam is a foam, in liquid or solidified form, formed from polymers. Examples include: * Ethylene-vinyl acetate (EVA) foam, the copolymers of ethylene and vinyl acetate; also referred to as polyethylene-vinyl acetate (PEVA) * Low-dens ...
. Using a solid wood or webbed platform, it can involve the use of springs, lashings, stuffings of animal hair, grasses and coir, wools, hessians, scrims, bridle ties, stuffing ties, blind stitching, top stitching, flocks and wadding all built up by hand. In the Middle Ages, domestic interiors were becoming more comfortable and upholstery was playing an important part in interior decoration. The decorations consisted mainly of what we would now consider as "soft furnishings", though there were simple platforms of webbing, canvas or leather for stools, chairs and elaborately decorated coverings that already demonstrated the rudimentary beginnings of upholstered furniture. By the beginning of the 17th century chair seats were being padded, but this form of upholstery was still fairly basic. All sorts of stuffings from sawdust, grass, feathers, to deer, goat or horsehair were used, although in England the Livery Company forbade the use of goat and deer hair and imposed fines for misdemeanors. The stuffing was heaped on a wooden platform and held in place with a decorative top fabric and nails. This produced a simple dome shape sloping towards the seat. Only towards the end of the 17th century did upholsterers start to develop the techniques that would distribute and shape the stuffing into more controlled shapes. Curled horsehair was being used more consistently for stuffing that was easier to hold in place with stitches in twine that were developed from saddlery techniques. Thus layers of stuffing could be distributed evenly and secured to stay in place. On a basic level, squab cushions were made more stable by using tufting ties. Stuffed edge rolls appeared on seat fronts providing support for cushions to be retained and later for deeper stuffing to be held in place under a fixed top cover.Gates, Dorothy, ''Essential Guide to Upholstery'', Merehurst Press, 2000 What we now think of as "classic" upholstery shapes and techniques flourished in the 18th century. Frames of elegant line and proportion were sympathetically matched by expertly executed upholstery. By now, the upholsterers' technical knowledge meant that stuffing's could be controlled along upright and sloping lines, giving new levels of comfort and a simply stated elegance. Later in the century, the border was replaced by a single piece of linen or
scrim Scrim can refer to: * Scrim (material), either of two types of material (a lightweight, translucent fabric or a coarse, heavy material) * Scrim (lighting), a device used in lighting for films * Scrim (internet slang), friendly match between tea ...
taken over the stuffed seat and tacked to the frame. At the same time the locked blind stitch and top-stitching combination (pulling the side and top surfaces together and bringing the stuffing up to make a firm top edge) had evolved. In the Victorian era, fashions of opulence and comfort gave rise to excesses of stuffing and padding. Mass production techniques made upholstered furniture available in large quantity to all sections of society. The availability of better-quality steel springs and the development of lashing techniques enabled upholstery to be built up on seats, backs and arms quite independently of the frame shape. Stuffings became even more complex, edges became elaborately shaped into rolls and scrolls and fabrics were folded into soft padded shapes by means of buttoning.


Modern

Modern furniture is more likely to be part or wholly made with cellular Polyurethane foam. This provides structure, resilience (recovery from loading) and most importantly light weight. This is then covered with an outer decorative textile. The synthetic polymer will age and lose performance within a “reasonable” time and be significantly lighter than the traditional fillings. (In this context foam is graded by its weight per cubic metre. 50 kg per cubic metre or 5% mass is typical). It is also relevant to include reference to the way furniture has evolved with regard to the recreational use of e.g. television watching and lower cost allows more regular change to take account of such issues as design, moving accommodation and deterioration due to the way it is used. Bed Mattresses may be considered in the same way with appropriate allowance for the different usage although the amount of time in use is probably higher. This brings significant implications for the end of life in time and the end value of the materials used in manufacture. It is also worth noting that all of the above also includes a high availability of air within the article leading to the ignition risk concerns and the introduction of the UK Furniture Fire Regulations (FFR).


Automobile

An automotive upholsterer, also known as a trimmer, coach trimmer or motor trimmer, shares many of the skills required in upholstery, in addition to being able to work with carpet. The term coach trimmer derives from the days when car frames were produced by manufacturers and delivered to coach builders to add a
car body Governments and private organizations have developed car classification schemes that are used for various purposes including regulation, description, and categorization of cars. The International Standard ISO 3833-1977 ''Road vehicles – Types ...
and interior trimmings. Trimmers would produce soft furnishings, carpets,
soft top A convertible or cabriolet () is a passenger car A car or automobile is a motor vehicle with wheels. Most definitions of ''cars'' say that they run primarily on roads, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport p ...
s, and
roof A roof ( : roofs or rooves) is the top covering of a building, including all materials and constructions necessary to support it on the walls of the building or on uprights, providing protection against rain, snow, sunlight, extremes of t ...
linings often to order to customer specifications. Later, trim shops were often an in-house part of the production line as the production process was broken down into smaller parts manageable by semi-skilled labor. Many automotive trimmers now work either in automotive design or with aftermarket trim shops carrying out repairs, restorations or conversions for customers directly. A few high-quality motor car manufacturers still employ trimmers, for example, Aston Martin.


Commercial

This is the type of upholstery work offered to businesses. Examples would be restaurant seating consisting of booth seats, dining room chairs, bar stools, etc. Also churches, including but not limited to pews and chairs for the congregation, hospitals and clinics consisting of medical tables, chiropractic tables, dental chairs, etc. Also common to this type of upholstery would be lobby and waiting-area seating. Upholstered walls are found in some retail premises.


Marine

Upholsterers may be called upon to repair or replace seating, cushions, cabin furnishings, headliners and even carpeting on boats. Marine upholstery differs in that one has to consider dampness, sunlight and hard usage. There are many sources for marine grade vinyls such as Spradling and Morbern and they come in hundreds of colors and styles now. Each style of marine grade vinyl is rated according to cold crack, rub counts, and mold resistance. Stainless-steel hardware such as staples, screws must be used to prevent rust and early break down of hardware and fasteners. The newest products for fastening vinyl in marine applications are Tenara thread and Monel staples. Any wood used must be of marine quality. Usually a high-resiliency, high-density plastic foam with a thin film of plastic over it is used to keep out water that might get by the seams. Closed-cell foam is used on smaller cushions which can, sometimes, double as flotation devices.


See also


Related tools

*
Chalk Chalk is a soft, white, porous, sedimentary carbonate rock. It is a form of limestone composed of the mineral calcite and originally formed deep under the sea by the compression of microscopic plankton that had settled to the sea floor. C ...
(upholsterer's chalk or tailor's chalk) * Goggles * Needle guards * Rubber mallet * Scissors * Sewing machine * Staple gun *
Staple knocker A staple knocker is a tool resembling a screwdriver, used for removing staples and shredded material. It is called a ''knocker'' because a hammer can be used to hit the end of it and remove long lines of shorter staples. See also *Staple remove ...
(staple puller) * Upholstery hammer * Upholstery needles (round point curved needles and button needles) * Upholstery regulator * Webbing stretcher


Materials

* Buttons * Staples *
Tack TACK is a group of archaea acronym for Thaumarchaeota (now Nitrososphaerota), Aigarchaeota, Crenarchaeota (now Thermoproteota), and Korarchaeota, the first groups discovered. They are found in different environments ranging from acidophilic ...
s (upholstery tacks, various sizes) * Zippers


Skills

* Cutting *
Sewing Sewing is the craft of fastening or attaching objects using stitches made with a sewing needle and thread. Sewing is one of the oldest of the textile arts, arising in the Paleolithic era. Before the invention of spinning yarn or weaving ...


See also

*
Canvas work Canvas is an extremely durable plain-woven fabric used for making sails, tents, marquees, backpacks, shelters, as a support for oil painting and for other items for which sturdiness is required, as well as in such fashion objects as handbags, ...
*
Slipcover A slipcover (also called loose cover) is a fitted protective cover that may be slipped off and on a piece of upholstered furniture. Slipcovers are usually made of cloth. Slipcovers slip on and off, they come fresh, and may be removed for seasona ...
*
Throw pillow A throw pillow, or toss pillow, is a small, decorative soft furnishing item made from a wide range of textiles including cotton, linen, silk, leather, microfibre, suede, chenille, and velvet. Throw pillows are a commonly used piece in in ...
* Martindale (unit), measure of wear resistance of textiles used for upholstery * Museo della tappezzeria — Upholstery Museum (in Italian Wikipedia) * Upholstery frame * Turkeywork


References


Bibliography

* {{Authority control Crafts Furniture Furniture-making Textiles