5 Ways You Can Benefit From Hands-on Upholstery Classes

Last month I got to be the student for not one, but two hands-on upholstery classes!!

Whoop ! Whoop!!

In today’s online world there are so many ways to learn new skills, Pinterest posts that take you to blogs, YouTube, Google searches! But can I just say the good old fashioned hands-on upholstery classes are the best way to learn for several reasons. Last month, I traveled to Western North Carolina, one of my favorite areas to visit, to attend two upholstery workshops hosted by The Workroom Tech in Tryon, NC. The first class was a one-day deep tufting class. Next up was a 3-day open skills workshop. Open skills means you work on a project independently of others students to focus on skills you want to learn. Our instructor for both classes was Cynthia Bleckachek of The Funky Little Chair. Assisting Cynthia in our classes was Lindsey Orwig of A Chick and A Chair Upholstery. I want to say a big thank you to Susan Woodcock, her husband, Rodger Walker, owners of the Workroom Tech, for hosting the classes. And of course hugs to Andy Dandy, the sweetest upholstery therapy dog ever!

Wow!! What an AMAZING week!

Hands-on Upholstery Instruction

Well, that’s kind of obvious, I guess! But don’t ever underestimate the value of hands-on upholstery instruction, especially with a really good instructor like Cynthia! So just a bit about Cynthia. Her mother was an upholsterer, so she grew up with upholstery. She is a really really good teacher who is passionate about upholstery education, and the lack of professional education in this industry. She is venturing on a year long journey to explore a means to train future generations of upholsterers. Because upholstery is a skilled trade it sometimes takes years to become an accomplished upholsterer, so training that works for both the student and the industry is hard to find.

But back to the hands-on upholstery instruction. Some upholstery techniques just don’t translate well to pictures or even video. In a class, the instructor can show you how to do it, then watch you, and make adjustments as necessary. Just my opinion, but I think this is the best way to learn! That’s why I was so thrilled to find these classes. Most classes, if you can find them will only cover the basics. Finding hand-on upholstery instruction that could focus on advanced techniques was an opportunity I wasn’t willing to pass up.

Learn From Your Neighbor

In our class of 4 students, we were all working on different projects and had different skill levels. Lisa and Polly both had chairs with wooden frames and upholstered seats and backs.

Both chairs were stripped to the bones and needed to be webbed, springs added and tied and then covered. Lisa had no previous upholstery experience. Polly had some experience. MC was doing a club chair that would require decking, matching a pattern and sewing zippers in cushions.

I was working on a channel back chair. Here’s the before.

Here’s the after.

Different projects meant opportunities to learn from their chairs as well as the skills I wanted to focus on. Just a couple of the skills from the other projects were tying springs and hand stitching. I’ll talk more about tying the springs in a minute, but hand tying was something I had never really considered. Well actually I had wondered why in the world would any one hand stitch something when there were other ways to close a seam. But I learned especially when matching patterns, hand stitching can be the perfect solution. This is how MC closed the back of her chair with her matching patterns. It turned out beautifully.

Different Teachers Means Different Methods for the Same Skills

Now I have tied springs, done chair decking, matched patterns and sewed zippers. In upholstery, there is more than one way to do things, but I find it so helpful to hear different instructors’ methods. You can pick up tips and tricks for doing things easier. This experience was no different. I checked in with Cynthia as she showed Lisa and Polly how to tie springs. Cynthia ties them a little different than I have, but I was self taught on tying springs and books and videos only go so far. Cynthia makes the whole process much easier to align the springs and much easier on your hands too!! Win Win!! Lisa and Polly did amazing jobs on their springs. It hard to believe neither of them had done it before. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen such beautifully tied springs.

For my project, the channel back chair, stuffing the channels seems to be one of the challenges. There are different approaches to tackling this task. I had only heard about using channel tins. But this seem a little off to me. Channel tins come in specific sizes depending on the furniture you are reupholstering. They are not necessarily cheap, so to have to carry multiple size channels for projects that could be few and far between seems wasteful.

I was interested to see what Cynthia would do. Now Cynthia was not in her own workshop and didn’t have available everything she might in her own shop. So she scrounged around Workroom Tech and found the perfect thing, Cushion-eze. Cushion-eze is a thin almost sheer silky fabric that you wrap around cushions to help them slide into their covers. We wrapped the cotton channels with it, and they slid into the channels. Easy Peasy!!

Having an experienced instructor with a good knowledge of skills and how to tackle them in different ways is just magic!

 Tools

The Workroom Tech is primarily focused on drapery and soft furnishings education but has included upholstery education as well. Susan Woodcock, owner of the Workroom Tech has done a terrific job of outfitting the classroom with all the necessary upholstery tools. There were a few cross overs from the workroom side and a few I had never used. It was such a great opportunity to use some new tools that have made my work easier and better.

Susan provided each of us with a Rowley Company catalog, a workroom supplier. I brought my catalog home and was like a kid studying the Sears Christmas catalog. I marked everything I wanted with Post-it tabs, opened an account and placed an order.

(Ok just keeping it real, Post-it tabs didn’t exist when I was ploughing thru the Sears Christmas catalog. Haha!!!) The top two new tools for me are the Tucking Tool and the Disappearing Ink Pen.

Now the tucking tool is designed to help tuck in slipcovers tightly and neatly. But it works amazing for tucking fabric between the rails on furniture. By the time you get a chair all padded and ready to cover there is often very little space for pulling the fabric through. Often these spaces are not very accessible or finger friendly. Tucking tool to the rescue! It works perfect for getting fabric into hard to reach places. I foresee that there will be a lot less scraped knuckles in the future!

The disappearing ink pen allows you to mark on fabric with a pen that is similar to a Sharpie but it disappears over time. I would advise you to always test first, but it has worked perfect for me so far. Although, I usually use it in areas that won’t show, like the back of fabric or in the selvages. This pen has made such a difference for me while doing one particular thing, and this leads me to my next point.

Tips & Tricks

There were so many little tips learned during my four days of classes, but two stand out and have already made a significant difference in my skills.

First is the method of tying springs that Cynthia teaches. It allows you to wrap the spring twine around the springs in a way that you can adjust the springs and get them all positioned correctly before going back with the second twine and tying down the springs. Mind Blown!!!

I just finished my first set of springs since class and let me tell you, I’m pretty pleased. My best springs yet! And remember, I didn’t tie any springs in class, just watched over as Cynthia was teaching Lisa and Polly.

Now back to that disappearing ink pen and a tip for easement cuts that I have to credit to Lindsey Orwig. Easement cuts are the cuts you make to neatly wrap fabric around the frame of a chair or couch. There are posts that attach the arms and backs to the seat and the fabric needs to fit around these posts. They are a little tricky. Cut too short and the fabric won’t lay right. Cut too deep and you have just ruined that piece of fabric because the cut will be visible on the seat of the chair. Opps!! As many times as I have done easement cuts, I still hold my breath and say a little prayer every time. Lindsey saw my grimace as I was studying my next cut and she showed me how to mark the cut with the disappearing ink pen before cutting. Her explanation of how to mark the cut was the best I’ve heard. It was another light bulb moment for me.

Networking

Networking is an important and obvious benefit of attending an event. You meet new people with similar interests/careers and they become a valued part of your network. This is immensely true of all the folks (and dog) I met in Tyron, NC.

But it has gone beyond that in that I found several Facebook upholstery groups to join. Lindsey is the administrator of one of them. It’s wonderful to find your people, the ones that understand what your doing, and can lend a helping hand via a post or cheer on your successes. I am a soloprenuer and honestly, I was working in something of a vacuum. In my blogging and DIY world I have a pretty big network, but none of these folks really do upholstery so to finally have upholstery people to connect with is a wonderful thing!

Excitement hardly describes how I felt when I discovered the upholstery classes that were being taught at the Workroom Tech in Tyron, NC. I was not disappointed one bit by my experience with these hands-on upholstery classes. I gained so much from this experience. The actual hands-on upholstery instruction from a fabulous instructor, to the tools, tips, the opportunity to learn from other students projects, to the amazing people I can now call friends, it was so very worth it! I truly feel my own upholstery skills have take a big forward step.

I am so very pleased with what I accomplished and the new skills I have already put into practice. The second channel back chair is finished and the third one is in the works! And that reminds me, I need to reinforce my new tufting skills, so time to line up a tufting project…