Upholstery Classes

If you've always wanted to re-upholster a piece of furniture but didn't know where to start, then our upholstery classes could be for you. 

Is learning upholstery hard? Upholstery is a skill, and like any other, it takes time to master properly, so with plenty of patience and practice, you can upholster a loved piece of furniture.
 
The classes are run by Mark who is one half of our business. He trained as a traditional upholsterer in the 1980's, starting as an apprentice and attending college. Mark has been running his own upholstery business for almost 40 years, with the shop in Shrewsbury coming up to its 24th birthday. Time flies!
 
The classes have expert guidance to help you revive your chair, stool or other portable piece of furniture. There will be tools to borrow and a variety of sundry items like webbing and tacks available to buy as you need them. These are enjoyable classes, and small groups ensuring you get the help and tuition you need. The classes take place on Saturdays at our Ellesmere workshop. If you'd like to book, then please do get in touch. We can also cater for small groups who would like to book a full day during the week.
 
 

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Rounding off 2024

Every year is different but I have to admit, 2024 has not been as easy year. The cost of living started to hit us at the end of last year, so much so, I ended up taking part time job to help with finances. To be quite honest, I thoroughly enjoy it. I love being busy, and seeing so many more people. Its given me an extra boost when coming into the shop. In May 2025, we will have been in our shop on Wyle Cop for 24 years. Having a part time job with the extra income has meant we could carry on. Trade has improved over the last three months, but I will continue to work in the other job as I enjoy it and it keeps me sane.

We moved workshops in early summer which has made Mark's life much easier. It's closer to where we live and a great environment, with many positives working in Ellesmere. Our upholstery classes restarted in Ellesmere and we have been overwhelmed with students and the support you have all given us. They restart in January with many students coming back with more projects to work on. We must be doing something right if they want to keep coming back!

One of our proudest moments of 2024 was our eldest son achieving a First Class Honors degree this year. He will be starting his new job in January and I will miss him terribly. He has been an enormous help to us since finishing university, working in the shop, helping with deliveries and helping his dad in the workshop. He's not too far away so no doubt he will be back on a regular basis for Sunday lunch.

Our youngest son is in his last year of A levels and has applied to university to study sculpture and environmental art. He is a budding sculptor and has already sold some of his creations. He loves working with wood so if you are on Instagram, and would like to support a budding artist, then please do follow him @whimsicalwoodworkss (note the two ss on the end) He takes after his dad for art as I can't draw a straight line with a ruler! We love that he has so many ideas buzzing around but he is taking over his dad's workshop.

We are feeling positive about 2025. I think more people are looking for quality and understand that quality isn't cheap, and cheap isn't quality. We will always put quality, sustainability and attention to detail first. Its what we do. So a very Happy New Year to you all and please do get in touch if you have any questions, queries, are looking for new or re-upholstered furniture, or would like one of your pieces re-upholstered.

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1970's inspired fabric, Arts & Crafts chair

When local artist purchased a pair of chairs from us, he asked if we had a chair which we could upholster using the fabric he had designed. When he showed me a photograph of the fabric, an Arts & Crafts chair which we'd had for years, instantly sprung to mind.

We'd had this Art & Crafts chair for years and Mark and I could never agree what fabric to put on it. We didn't want to go down the traditional route, possibly William Morris fabric, so the chair sat in the workshop gathering dust and cob webs. The customer visited our workshop and brought a sample of the fabric for Mark to look at. We all agreed this would look amazing. Mark knew it wouldn't be an easy fabric to work with due to the way it was designed. It was done by computer and was too complex for us to understand how it was designed, so here are a few paragraphs from the artist on how its done.

This the pattern is mainly inspired by the cool funky patterns of the 70s, but it's put together like Islamic tile design. Islamic tiles (which are beautiful) often have mathematical geometric designs on them, that form complex patterns across the floor or wall as you combine the tiles in different ways. There are often rules about how you place the tiles, rotating them, alternating them and so on. As you put the tiles together and follow the rules shapes and patterns emerge.

So, with that in mind. The "tiles" on the fabric, are made of either a set of curves, or straight lines. The "tiles" can then be arranged randomly next to each other, and it'll form a pattern that our eye enjoys following, they all seem to link up in an almost human design way. Because they are tiles, and will always connect to each other, a group of tiles can be repeated like, well, a fabric pattern.

The computer is given a selection of colour palettes to work with, and then after that an infinite number of patterns can be generated. Meaning that each run of fabric is unique, and therefor each furnishing (or set) is a one-off, while sitting within a theme/style.

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