More than 650 color images. Useful skills for a lifetime

Traditional upholstery is a craft that has evolved over centuries for padding and covering chairs, seats, and sofas. Using a solid wood or webbed platform, it can involve the use of springs, lashings, stuffings of animal hair, grasses and coir, wools, hessians, and scrims, as well as bridle or stuffing ties, blind stitching, top stitching, flocks, and wadding.

Projects include various styles of chairs, from a classic dining room table chair to a contemporary armchair, antique sofa, and a bed headboard. A detailed worksheet of the general process takes you through design elements to be considered prior to embarking on your project, introduces types of stitching, and helps you troubleshoot problems. A gallery of completed projects will inspire your own creative ideas.