Upholstery

Upholstery is the work of providing furniture, especially seats, with padding, springs, webbing, and fabric or leather covers. The word "upholstery" comes from the Middle English words up and holden, meaning to hold up. more...

The term is applied to domestic furniture and also to applications in automobiles and boats. A person who works with upholsertery is called an upholsterer; an apprentice upholsterer is sometimes called an outsider or trimmer.

Upholstery of domestic furniture

The materials which are important to the quality of an upholstered product, such as a bed, sofa, chair or ottoman, may be considered in four categories: the frame (usually wooden) on which the upholstery is to be constructed; the spring system; the cushioning or padding; and the final fabric or leather covering.

Frames

The life of a piece of upholstered furniture begins with its frame: although the underlying wooden framework cannot be seen in the finished product, the type of wood used to create it will have a bearing on the quality of the final product.

Some furniture employs softwoods, but may suffer from its difficulty in supporting the joinery that is required for the best quality furniture. The tight graining of hardwoods allows for pegs, screws and nails to be set securely, reducing the likelihood of their becoming loose over time. Hardwoods used in upholstered furniture include oak, alder and other woods with tight graining. Hardwood laminates are often used for blocks and braces because laminates are actually stronger than solid wood in these applications.

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