Joanna at the Traditional Upholstery School

18/01/2024

Just saying… 😊 Keeping warm for frilly scatter cushions next Friday 26th. To book a spot visit www.traditionalupholsteryschool.co.uk x

08/12/2023

Bonkers end of the week photo.. this is Rowena, one of Traditional Upholstery School’s tutors, with Dotty the hen. Dotty was being rehomed with student Jane so she spent a happy handover day in the workroom and I imagine is now tucked up with her feathery new buddies. Gotta love a happy animal story 🥹.. Happy weekend folks x

07/12/2023

Ruffles are EVERYWHERE, especially on scatter cushions. We’ve developed a lovely one day workshop at Traditional Upholstery School teaching you how to get this look. You’ll spend a day making a cushion with zip, finished with a beautiful ruffled frill. NEXT DATES: 26th Jan and 2nd March. And if you book before 31st December we give you 10% off the course fee 😊 🎁 Happy Christmas! To book with the discount email [email protected]

24/10/2023

It’s half term at TUS and we’ve just put down our tools after three industrious and creative days of Headboards - a Masterclass in Modern Upholstery Skills. This is the third time we’ve delivered this course, which concentrates on modern methods and materials, and focusses on creative skills.. tapping into the current vogue for theatrical headboards.
To make the most of the time, students work on sample sized headboards, learning to master tricky curves, piped ruched, pleated and studded borders, quick fluting techniques, and the sheer practicalities of making a 6 ft talk kingsized headboard.
As always it was lovely to see so many of our own students on this special course, and welcome new faces too. The fact that students travel from as far as North Yorkshire and the Outer Hebrides (seriously!) is humbling.
Here are some photos of one of our headboards showing off blind buttoning on a very lovely iLiv ( ) Stardust block print style cotton. Yum.
Our next Headboards: a Masterclass in Modern Upholstery Skills course is on 15-17 Feb 2024, bookable at www.traditionalupholsteryschool.co.uk

24/10/2023

07/06/2023

Our AMUSF Stage one students are almost there with their main modern project - a lined and covered box with deep buttoned lid. It’s packed with skills, including some creative fabric manipulation. Here’s Alice’s linen covered box with pattern match stripes AND quilted block print fabric… she’s doing a fab job 😇 Great stuff!

06/06/2023

Look what we did! Here’s the workroom view of this weekend’s deep buttoned footstool workshop… a huge success with wide smiles, and newly learned modern upholstery skills. We love to teach this one as students get stuck in and are genuinely thrilled to take home their own stool after two busy days. It’s a great taster session if you’ve never tried upholstery before. We run this course - which is exclusive to Traditional Upholstery School in Wiltshire - three times a year. You can book a spot on our website. Just bring your fabric… we provide everything else (even cake 😉). www.traditionalupholsteryschool.co.uk

30/05/2023

O my… after many weeks of stuffing and regulating top fabric is going on this lovely huge chair, being reupholstered by student Kirsten. As you can see she opted for sturdier hessian rather than linen scrim for the flutes… sensible choice for a first go. It’s taking shape beautifully and I’m sure Kirsten is working on it right now in the half term sunshine. Go girl go! 👍😆 www.traditionalupholsteryschool.co.uk

26/05/2023

Final week before half term… with final deadlines looming the workroom is gloriously busy. Our AMUSF Stage 1 class has been tackling the modern upholstered box: drilling, stapling, buttoning, measuring, folding, sewing, stitching, tacking, backtacking, tufting, glueing (yes!), imagining, planning… it’s stuffed with skills. Chuffed to say they are looking gorgeous 😇😇 Happy half term folks!

18/05/2023

Climbing up on the workbenches isn’t necessarily super safe workroom practice, but student Lucy needed a birds eye view of her pattern cutting so clambered up anyway.. 🥹😇 Lucy is studying upholstery on our AMUSF Stage One course. Ping us as email if you’d like to pop in to see what it’s all about [email protected]

16/05/2023

Beeswax and shellac have replaced hammers and racks in the workroom today.. AMUSF Stage 3 upholstery students are enjoying the first of two days specialist wood finishing and frame repair skill with Harry of HT Morris Furniture (). It’s an info-packed practical learn and a vital part of upholstery training. Harry will be delivering this part of our AMUSF training every year. For more info, see the Traditional Upholstery School website. Great stuff!

02/05/2023

Post bank holiday and it suddenly feels like springtime in the workroom… Stage 3 student Julia is buttoning her tiny iron frame chair in House of Hackney floral linen. It’s glorious to look at disguising how painstakingly fiddly the upholstery has been so far. Julia’s doing a fab job 😇… brilliant stuff!