Notes from the workshop bench: materials, problems, and the questions customers actually ask.
Care & Cleaning
- What you should never use on upholstery
Most upholstery damage is caused by cleaning, not by use. The products that quietly wreck fabric and leather, why the hidden-patch test only half works, and what the W, S and X codes on your label mean.
Learning the Trade
- Do you need formal training to become an upholsterer?
Legally, no — upholstery is unregulated and anyone can trade tomorrow. What training actually buys you, what it does not, and the obligations that apply whether you trained or not.
Problems & Repairs
- Why is my sofa fabric bobbling?
Pilling is loose fibre working to the surface, and it is usually not a fault. Why blends pill worst, why it normally stops on its own, and the separate test standard nobody tells you to ask about. - Why has my sofa gone saggy in the middle?
Something under the cushions has failed, and it is usually not the cushions. How to tell whether it is the foam, the webbing, the springs or the frame — and which of those is worth fixing.
Buying & Costs
- Why do two upholsterers quote such different prices?
Usually because they are not quoting for the same work. The recover-versus-reupholster distinction, what gets replaced underneath, and the five questions that make quotes actually comparable. - Is it cheaper to reupholster or buy new?
Usually not, if you compare it to the cheapest new sofa in the sale — but that is the wrong comparison. What actually decides it is the frame, and how to check yours in two minutes.
Leather & Vinyl
- How to look after a leather sofa
Which finish you have decides everything, and there is a two-minute test that tells you. The routine that keeps leather alive for decades, and the everyday products that quietly destroy it. - Why does leather peel?
Real leather does not peel. What peels is bonded leather or a polyurethane coating — how to tell which you have, why it fails, and what can actually be repaired.
Fabrics
- What's the best upholstery fabric if you have a dog?
The construction matters more than the fibre. Why loops are the thing to avoid, which fabrics genuinely survive claws and hair, and the colour trick nobody mentions. - Why does velvet go patchy?
Velvet does not go patchy — it shades. Why pile fabric changes colour as it is pressed, which velvets recover and which mark permanently, and what pile direction does to your fabric quantity.