How to become Upholsterer in 2024

Upholsterer Make, repair, or replace upholstery for household furniture or transportation vehicles.

Upholsterer is Also Know as

In different settings, Upholsterer is titled as

  • Box Spring Upholsterer
  • Furniture Upholsterer
  • Inside Upholsterer
  • Sofa Back Upholsterer
  • Stapler
  • Trimmer
  • Upholstered Goods Crafter
  • Upholsterer
  • Upholstery Cutter
  • Upholstery Trimmer

Education and Training of Upholsterer

Upholsterer is categorized in Job Zone Two: Some Preparation Needed

Experience Required for Upholsterer

Some previous work-related skill, knowledge, or experience is usually needed. For example, a teller would benefit from experience working directly with the public.

Education Required for Upholsterer

These occupations usually require a high school diploma.

Degrees Related to Upholsterer

Training Required for Upholsterer

Employees in these occupations need anywhere from a few months to one year of working with experienced employees. A recognized apprenticeship program may be associated with these occupations.

Related Ocuupations

Some Ocuupations related to Upholsterer in different industries are

What Do Upholsterer do?

  • Fit, install, and secure material on frames, using hand tools, power tools, glue, cement, or staples.
  • Build furniture up with loose fiber stuffing, cotton, felt, or foam padding to form smooth, rounded surfaces.
  • Examine furniture frames, upholstery, springs, and webbing to locate defects.
  • Attach fasteners, grommets, buttons, buckles, ornamental trim, and other accessories to covers or frames, using hand tools.
  • Remove covering, webbing, padding, or defective springs from workpieces, using hand tools such as hammers and tack pullers.
  • Read work orders, and apply knowledge and experience with materials to determine types and amounts of materials required to cover workpieces.
  • Draw cutting lines on material following patterns, templates, sketches, or blueprints, using chalk, pencils, paint, or other methods.
  • Make, restore, or create custom upholstered furniture, using hand tools and knowledge of fabrics and upholstery methods.
  • Measure and cut new covering materials, using patterns and measuring and cutting instruments, following sketches and design specifications.
  • Maintain records of time required to perform each job.
  • Discuss upholstery fabrics, colors, and styles with customers, and provide cost estimates.
  • Repair furniture frames and refinish exposed wood.
  • Operate sewing machines or sew upholstery by hand to seam cushions and join various sections of covering material.
  • Pick up and deliver furniture.
  • Interweave and fasten strips of webbing to the backs and undersides of furniture, using small hand tools and fasteners.
  • Sew rips or tears in material, or create tufting, using needles and thread.
  • Attach bindings or apply solutions to edges of cut material to prevent raveling.
  • Adjust or replace webbing, padding, or springs, and secure them in place.
  • Stretch webbing and fabric, using webbing stretchers.
  • Design upholstery cover patterns and cutting plans, based on sketches, customer descriptions, or blueprints.
  • Make, repair, or replace automobile upholstery and convertible and vinyl tops, using knowledge of fabric and upholstery methods.
  • Collaborate with interior designers to decorate rooms and coordinate furnishing fabrics.

Qualities of Good Upholsterer

  • Arm-Hand Steadiness: The ability to keep your hand and arm steady while moving your arm or while holding your arm and hand in one position.
  • Manual Dexterity: The ability to quickly move your hand, your hand together with your arm, or your two hands to grasp, manipulate, or assemble objects.
  • Finger Dexterity: The ability to make precisely coordinated movements of the fingers of one or both hands to grasp, manipulate, or assemble very small objects.
  • Near Vision: The ability to see details at close range (within a few feet of the observer).
  • Visual Color Discrimination: The ability to match or detect differences between colors, including shades of color and brightness.
  • Control Precision: The ability to quickly and repeatedly adjust the controls of a machine or a vehicle to exact positions.
  • Multilimb Coordination: The ability to coordinate two or more limbs (for example, two arms, two legs, or one leg and one arm) while sitting, standing, or lying down. It does not involve performing the activities while the whole body is in motion.
  • Visualization: The ability to imagine how something will look after it is moved around or when its parts are moved or rearranged.
  • Written Comprehension: The ability to read and understand information and ideas presented in writing.
  • Problem Sensitivity: The ability to tell when something is wrong or is likely to go wrong. It does not involve solving the problem, only recognizing that there is a problem.
  • Information Ordering: The ability to arrange things or actions in a certain order or pattern according to a specific rule or set of rules (e.g., patterns of numbers, letters, words, pictures, mathematical operations).
  • Trunk Strength: The ability to use your abdominal and lower back muscles to support part of the body repeatedly or continuously over time without "giving out" or fatiguing.
  • Extent Flexibility: The ability to bend, stretch, twist, or reach with your body, arms, and/or legs.
  • Static Strength: The ability to exert maximum muscle force to lift, push, pull, or carry objects.
  • Depth Perception: The ability to judge which of several objects is closer or farther away from you, or to judge the distance between you and an object.
  • Oral Comprehension: The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.
  • Selective Attention: The ability to concentrate on a task over a period of time without being distracted.
  • Speech Clarity: The ability to speak clearly so others can understand you.
  • Oral Expression: The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.
  • Flexibility of Closure: The ability to identify or detect a known pattern (a figure, object, word, or sound) that is hidden in other distracting material.
  • Originality: The ability to come up with unusual or clever ideas about a given topic or situation, or to develop creative ways to solve a problem.
  • Deductive Reasoning: The ability to apply general rules to specific problems to produce answers that make sense.
  • Category Flexibility: The ability to generate or use different sets of rules for combining or grouping things in different ways.
  • Perceptual Speed: The ability to quickly and accurately compare similarities and differences among sets of letters, numbers, objects, pictures, or patterns. The things to be compared may be presented at the same time or one after the other. This ability also includes comparing a presented object with a remembered object.
  • Speech Recognition: The ability to identify and understand the speech of another person.
  • Fluency of Ideas: The ability to come up with a number of ideas about a topic (the number of ideas is important, not their quality, correctness, or creativity).
  • Far Vision: The ability to see details at a distance.
  • Inductive Reasoning: The ability to combine pieces of information to form general rules or conclusions (includes finding a relationship among seemingly unrelated events).
  • Dynamic Strength: The ability to exert muscle force repeatedly or continuously over time. This involves muscular endurance and resistance to muscle fatigue.
  • Gross Body Coordination: The ability to coordinate the movement of your arms, legs, and torso together when the whole body is in motion.
  • Written Expression: The ability to communicate information and ideas in writing so others will understand.
  • Reaction Time: The ability to quickly respond (with the hand, finger, or foot) to a signal (sound, light, picture) when it appears.
  • Auditory Attention: The ability to focus on a single source of sound in the presence of other distracting sounds.
  • Number Facility: The ability to add, subtract, multiply, or divide quickly and correctly.
  • Hearing Sensitivity: The ability to detect or tell the differences between sounds that vary in pitch and loudness.
  • Rate Control: The ability to time your movements or the movement of a piece of equipment in anticipation of changes in the speed and/or direction of a moving object or scene.
  • Response Orientation: The ability to choose quickly between two or more movements in response to two or more different signals (lights, sounds, pictures). It includes the speed with which the correct response is started with the hand, foot, or other body part.
  • Stamina: The ability to exert yourself physically over long periods of time without getting winded or out of breath.
  • Mathematical Reasoning: The ability to choose the right mathematical methods or formulas to solve a problem.
  • Speed of Closure: The ability to quickly make sense of, combine, and organize information into meaningful patterns.
  • Time Sharing: The ability to shift back and forth between two or more activities or sources of information (such as speech, sounds, touch, or other sources).
  • Gross Body Equilibrium: The ability to keep or regain your body balance or stay upright when in an unstable position.
  • Explosive Strength: The ability to use short bursts of muscle force to propel oneself (as in jumping or sprinting), or to throw an object.
  • Wrist-Finger Speed: The ability to make fast, simple, repeated movements of the fingers, hands, and wrists.
  • Sound Localization: The ability to tell the direction from which a sound originated.
  • Spatial Orientation: The ability to know your location in relation to the environment or to know where other objects are in relation to you.
  • Glare Sensitivity: The ability to see objects in the presence of a glare or bright lighting.
  • Memorization: The ability to remember information such as words, numbers, pictures, and procedures.
  • Peripheral Vision: The ability to see objects or movement of objects to one's side when the eyes are looking ahead.
  • Night Vision: The ability to see under low-light conditions.
  • Speed of Limb Movement: The ability to quickly move the arms and legs.
  • Dynamic Flexibility: The ability to quickly and repeatedly bend, stretch, twist, or reach out with your body, arms, and/or legs.

Tools Used by Upholsterer

  • Air compressors
  • Air staple guns
  • Arch punches
  • Button machines
  • Caning nippers
  • Canvas pliers
  • Clip remover tools
  • Combination squares
  • Cutting pads
  • Door trim removers
  • Duck bill pliers
  • Fabric hole cutters
  • Fabric punches
  • Foam rubber cutters
  • Glue guns
  • Grommet inserting dies
  • Heat guns
  • Hex key sets
  • Hog ring pliers
  • Industrial sewing machines
  • Magnetic hammers
  • Multipurpose sewing needles
  • Nail pliers
  • Pinch dogs
  • Rawhide mallets
  • Ripping chisels
  • Ripping hammers
  • Rubber mallets
  • Scratch awls
  • Seam rippers
  • Seam stretchers
  • Siphon guns
  • Snap setters
  • Spray glue guns
  • Spring benders
  • Spring cutters
  • Staple guns
  • Staple pliers
  • Staple pullers
  • Staple removers
  • Straight pins
  • Tack hammers
  • Tack pullers
  • Tack removers
  • Tack spacers
  • Thread nippers
  • Tinners snips
  • Tucking tools
  • Upholstery needles
  • Upholstery pliers
  • Upholstery shears
  • Upholstery tufting needles
  • Utility knives
  • Webbing stretchers

Technology Skills required for Upholsterer

  • Autodesk AutoCAD
  • Enterprise resource planning ERP software
  • Intuit QuickBooks
  • LibreOffice Draw
  • Microsoft Excel
  • Microsoft Office software
  • Microsoft PowerPoint
  • Microsoft Windows
  • Microsoft Word