Here is the start of a collection of books on upholstery. These books will provide information and techniques on upholstering.

Book Index Page

Upholstery (Woodworking Class) (by Parramon Studios (Editor), Josep Lopez, Vicenc Gibert)

Color-illustrated "Woodworking Class" books inspire readers to build their own beautiful wooden furniture. Detailed easy-to-follow instructions will transform beginners into capable craftsmen and handy home improvement experts. This manual starts with the wooden frame and takes readers step-by-step through the process of upholstering several items, including a footstool, side chair, armchair, sofa, and more.

I was looking for a book that would show me how to re-upholster antique French Provincial furniture. This book shows you how. It is so well illustrated, that I wouldn't hesitate to tackle the job myself. Complete instruction on how to install padding, liners or fabric, stapling the edge, then trimming the overage, then installing the braiding with brass tacks. To look at the outside, I always thought it was attached with the tacks, when in reality, the material is attached first underneath with staples. That creates an even overall attachment. Then you can concentrate on adding the brass tacks to the brading-cover evenly. That is just one example of the step by step instructions-something unusual in most books. A picture says a thousand words, so it is well illustrated with photographs. It is easy to be disappointed in how to books, this is not one of them. I don't have anything negative to say about this book at all. Buy it, you won't be sorry. --Robert Feeser

Upholstery Techniques Illustrated (by W. Lloyd Gheen)

Gheen presents a wealth of detail on tools, furniture styles, padding materials, fabrics, estimating, cleaning and maintenance, buttons, channeling, tufting, finishing alternatives, working with vinyls, stripping, stuffing, padding, and more.

Simply Upholstery (by Sunset Books)

More involved than constructing a slipcover, upholstering furniture means giving an item a new identity that it will wear like skin. Understanding the layers of fabric, trimming, padding, and webbing that give a chair or a sofa its curves and contours can seem like learning a new language. How do you handle the practicalities of repairing the old innards, calculating new yardage, cutting pieces to fit properly, and achieving smooth coverage, let alone the aesthetic considerations of determining the appropriate fabric and trim choices? Simply Upholstery takes the guesswork out of all these problems and more, in straightforward, thorough, step-by-step instructions, supplemented by excellent color diagrams. Since individual furniture pieces vary so widely in design and dimension, the general directions are geared toward solid basic technique that can be applied to many styles of sofas and chairs. To show the entire process in action, the final section offers detailed color photos tracking all 50 steps of reupholstering a traditional wing chair. Like other volumes in Sunset's winning how-to series format (see also Simply Window Treatments and Simply Slipcovers), this pragmatic, careful approach brings a somewhat complicated subject down to a level that even newcomers can understand. --Amy Handy

Easy Upholstery: Step by Step (by Heather Luke)

If you're serious about learning to upholster like a pro, you can learn quite a lot from Heather Luke's extremely comprehensive guide. Step by step, Luke takes us from the raw beginnings (the stripped-down wooden framework) through the inner workings (webbing, springs, horsehair, and batting) to the selection, handling, cutting, and attachment of fabric, as well as the elegant finishing details. She reupholsters chairs, stools, headboards, cushions, dressing tables, screens, even glorious tented ceilings, all with thorough directions supported by clear color photos. Despite the excellence of this volume, however, it is not for the faint of heart: although there are chapters with easier projects like slipcovers and fabric-lined baskets and boxes, this is mostly a guide for the dedicated upholsterer-in-training. But since hiring a professional reupholsterer gets pretty costly, can take weeks of lead-time, and may not result in exactly the look you want, perhaps it makes sense to try it yourself. And for dedicated students of upholstery arts, this is a fantastic resource--one they shouldn't do without. --Amy Handy

Book Index Page