A Complete Guide to Modern Upholstery

Lesson Plan

68 LESSONs / 7 HOURs

Meet Micaela

A professional upholsterer, interior designer and broadcaster, Micaela Sharp is a firm believer in the transformative power of re-upholstery.

Different Upholstery styles

I have chosen to teach you the modern method of upholstery; however, if you develop a passion for the craft during this course, you may want to challenge your new-found skills and explore traditional techniques.

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How to choose fabric

I really enjoy sourcing the fabrics for an upholstery project – it’s one of the most fun parts, and an opportunity to get really creative. I’ll be running through the practical considerations too.

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Sourcing furniture on location - Atomic

With so much choice out there, it can be difficult to know what sort of furniture to choose for an upholstery project. Join Micaela on a visit to one of her favourite places to see how she chooses furniture for her own projects.

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Sourcing furniture on location - Bright Sparks

Join Micaela as she looks for amazing bargains, and discover how to find cheap furniture ready to transform through upholstery.

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Sourcing fabric on location - Sanderson

Whether you want to explore more traditional options or are looking to go for something contemporary, choosing fabric is a really fun part of any upholstery project.

Part 1 - Where to begin

For your first upholstery project, I’ll be teaching you how to make a headboard. It’s the perfect way to familiarise yourself with the key skills you’ll need to take on the more advanced projects later in this course.

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Part 2 - Designing your headboard

Before beginning your project, it’s well worth taking some time to think about the design of your headboard. Consider the shape and size, as well as the materials, colours and any details you want to introduce.

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Part 3 - The essential toolkit

Before beginning your project, it’s well worth taking some time to really think about the design of your headboard. Consider the shape and size, as well as the materials, colours and any details you want to introduce yourself with the key skills you’ll need to take on the more advanced projects later on in this course.

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Part 4 - Materials

As well as tools, there are certain materials to source before you embark on your project. You may have already chosen your main fabric, but there are additional layers underneath to consider too.

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Part 5 - Create the template

This is the really creative part of the project, where you can experiment with the shape and dimensions of your headboard to get it exactly right.

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Part 6 - Transferring the shape to the wood

Now you can use your fabric template to translate the shape of your headboard over to the plywood.

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Part 7 - Constructing your headboard

With both pieces cut out and the split batten made, you can begin to assemble the headboard and attach your internal layers.

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Part 8 - Cutting the fabric

It’s time for the exciting part – beginning to position and cut your chosen fabric for the face of the headboard.

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Part 9 - Pinning pieces of fabric together

Once you have cut out any required additional sections, you can pin them to the main body of fabric, pattern matching if necessary.

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Part 10 - Cutting the piping

Before doing any sewing, it’s a good idea to get all the elements cut and ready. If you are adding piping to your design, you can join me as I cut out the fabric I’ll be using.

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Part 11 - Cutting the borders

The final element to prepare and cut is your border pieces. These will cover the sides of your headboard where the piping and staples are visible. You can use the same fabric as the front of the headboard, or a third fabric to give a stylish contrast.

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Part 12 - Sewing the fabric and piping

With everything cut and prepared, you can now sew all the elements together.

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Part 13 - Adding your first staples

Now that all the components have been sewn together and your headboard is constructed, you can begin the process of upholstering.

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Part 14 - Top section

When your bottom edge is all secured, you can begin to replace the temporary staples at the top of your headboard with permanent ones.

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Part 15 - Concave section

If your design has any concave curves, you will need to approach these in a slightly different way.

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Part 16 - Side sections

After the top of the headboard is fully secured, you can move to work on the side sections.

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Part 17 - Adding the piping

The next step, if you are including it in your design, is to attach the piping to the edge of your headboard.

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Part 18 - Adding the borders

To hold the piping firmly in place and to finish off the side section of your headboard neatly, you can now add the border pieces of fabric.

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Part 19 - Adding the polyester

To add fullness to your borders, it’s a good idea to add a layer of polyester on top of the back tack card.

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Part 20 - The finished headboard

All that’s left is to finish covering the back, and then you’re ready to enjoy your completed headboard!

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Part 1 - Where to begin

Learning how to make box cushions is a really fundamental and useful skill. Once you master it, you’ll be able to take on a broad range of different upholstery projects.

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Part 2 - The essential toolkit

You will have likely sourced most of these already to make your headboard, but here’s a rundown of what you’ll need for this particular project.

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Part 3 - Materials

Box cushions are great, because they don’t require too many raw materials, and they can all be picked up easily from your local craft shop.

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Part 4 - Disassembling your chair

Don’t worry if the chair you’re using is slightly different to mine – I’ll be showing you how to make a template from the old cushions, so you’ll be able to replicate the exact unique measurements and shape.

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Part 5 - Creating the template

To make the template, you’ll need to remove the existing cushion cover and unpick each seam.

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Part 6 - Using your template to cut the new fabric

You can now use the template you’ve made to cut out the pieces you need from the new fabric.

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Part 7 - Cutting the piping

Piping can be bought pre-made; however, to create something really bespoke, I like to make my own. It’s easy to make, and well worth taking the time to do.

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Part 8 - Sewing the piping

Once you have your cut lengths of piping cut and prepared, you’re ready to start sewing them together and inserting the piping cord.

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Part 9 - Sewing the piping to your cushion cover

Now it’s time to attach the piping to both the top and bottom of your cushion cover.

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Part 10 - Sewing the zip

The next part of the process is to install the zip into your back border piece.

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Part 11 - Sewing the borders

Each border piece can now be attached to the top side of your cushion cover – this step may take a little while if you need to pattern match.

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Part 12 - Bottom section

Once you have sewn all four borders to the top side of the cushion, you’re now ready to attach the bottom side of the cushion.

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Part 13 - Sewing the corners

The final bit of sewing to complete your box cushion cover is to close up the corners.

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Part 14 - Cutting the foam

Your cushion cover is now fully constructed, so it’s time to begin work on the inner padding.

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Part 15 - Wrapping the foam

To complete the inner padding, you’ll need to wrap the foam in a polyester layer – and possibly a fire retardant layer too, depending on your cushion cover fabric.

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Part 16 - The finished box cushion

Your hard work has paid off, and you’re now ready to fill your cushion cover and enjoy your box cushion.

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Part 1 - Where to begin

You’ve now got the skills and experience to move onto our final project: upholstering an armchair, specifically a mid-century style box chair.

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Part 2 - The essential toolkit

For this project, you’ll need a few extra tools to be able to strip down your chair.

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Part 3 - Materials

Every chair is different, and I would always recommend stripping your chair first before buying materials, so that you can see how it was originally made and assess whether you’re going to replicate the same materials.

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Part 4 - Before we start

Cutting your fabric to manipulate it into tricky corners can be the most nerve-racking part of upholstery – to help reduce the chances of mistakes, I’ll often use ‘V cuts’.

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Part 5 - Preparing your chair

Being organised in the first instance will give you the best chance of upholstering your chair successfully.

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Part 6 - Stripping your chair

Once you’ve made all the necessary notes and labelled your chair, you can begin to strip it down.

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Part 7 - Removing the outside back

An outside back can be secured in lots of different ways, so take your time to work out how you can release it.

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Part 8 - The frame of the chair

With the fabric stripped away, you can really begin to see and understand how your chair has been constructed. You’ll also be able to see more clearly what work needs to be done.

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Part 9 - Cutting the fabric

Now you can use your template to cut out all the different pieces of fabric you need.

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Part 10 - Sewing the cover

This stage will vary a little depending on the construction of your chair, but the techniques will be the same.

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Part 11 - Upholstering the frame

You can now refocus your attention on the chair frame and begin to prepare it for upholstery.

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Part 12 - Adding the hessian

I would recommend replacing the hessian to increase the durability and longevity of your chair.

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Part 13 - Adding the foam

This is the layer that will begin to soften the frame of your chair for a comfier shape.

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Part 14 - Attaching your Dacron

For extra comfort and cosiness, a layer of polyester or Dacron will help to smooth over any edges for a softer seat.

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Part 15 - Attaching your seat platform

With the seat and back prepped, you can now begin to upholster the seat platform.

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Part 16 - Adding Dacron to the inside back

Once the seat platform is done, it’s time to move onto the inside back.

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Part 17 - Covering the inside back

The back is now ready to cover with your fabric – and you’ll be able to really see how your chair is coming together.

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Part 18 - Finishing the inside back

How you approach this will depend on the shape and design of your chair, so take some time to figure out the best method.

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Part 19 - Webbing the arms

This stage will provide structure and support within the arms, which is important for both comfort and durability.

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Part 20 - Covering the arms

With the structure of the arms complete, you can move onto covering them with fabric.

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Part 21 - Webbing and covering the outside back

The bulk of our structure is now upholstered. The last thing to do is to work on the outside back.

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Part 22 - Stitching the chair

To neatly finish your outside back, you will need to hand stitch.

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Part 23 - Hand sewing the front

There is also some hand sewing to be done to complete the front of your chair.

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Part 24 - Covering the base

With your chair fully upholstered, the very last thing to do is to neatly finish the underneath of your chair. I’ll be using a plain cotton fabric as a bottom cloth.

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Part 25 - The finished chair

Congratulations! You have now fully upholstered your chair.

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Summary

Micaela will take you back through the skills you've learned on the course, and offer ideas and inspiration for what to do next.

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Frequently Asked Questions

All of our courses are online, meaning that you are able to watch them whenever and wherever suits you best. There is no beginning or finish date and they’re completely self-paced so that you can stop, start and pause each lesson to fit around your own schedule. You can begin watching a course as soon as you purchase it – simply login to your Create Academy account whenever you have a quiet moment to yourself.

Yes! You can rewatch each lesson as many times as you’d like. If you have purchased an individual course, you will have lifetime access to it, so you’ll be able to rewatch and dip in and out of each lesson forever - perfect if you have a busy schedule! If you purchased an annual subscription, you can enjoy full access to all of our lessons until you choose to cancel.

Yes – all our courses are available internationally. Please note, all our courses are taught in English.

If you have purchased an individual course, you will have life time access.

An annual subscription gives you access to all courses for 12 months from the date of purchase, including those released during that period. Our subscriptions are set to automatically renew after 12 months so you have the benefit of uninterrupted access! If you choose to cancel, you will no longer have access to the platform.

Below each video lesson you’ll find the link to download the corresponding workbook pages. If you’d like to download the whole workbook at once, simply navigate to the very first lesson in the course and click 'Download Workbook'.

We’re on a mission to help you build your creative confidence and live a more creatively fulfilled life. Through beautifully curated video courses, we give you unprecedented access to the expertise of today’s best designers, makers, gardeners and chefs - allowing you to unlock your creativity whenever and wherever you want.

If you have purchased an individual course, you will have life time access.

Yes – all our courses are available internationally. Please note, all our courses are taught in English.

A Complete Guide to Modern Upholstery

What's Included

Choosing the right fabric

Sourcing furniture

Micaela’s must-have toolkit

Three step-by step upholstery projects

Learn from Micaela Sharp

Lesson Plan

Meet Micaela

Different Upholstery styles

Hear From Our Community Of Creative Learners

Ready to get started with upholstery?

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