Modern upholstered furniture is made of a less substantial wooden frame, which is supplemented and filled in with plywood and cardboard, and padded with man-made foam sheets and edgings of varying thickness, shape and density. If webbing is used, it is made of rubber. Finally, a layer of synthetic fleece is laid over the padding and covered by the top fabric. Glue and staples are used to attach the materials and fabric to each other and the frame.

      Webbing: this comprises a series of tightly woven strips in varying widths – from 5–10 cm (2–4 in) – made of cotton, flax, jute, or a mixture of two.

      Vegetable fibre: this is black or ginger, hairlike fibre made from coconut husks or other vegetable stalks. All vegetable fibre manufactured for use in upholstery will have been treated to make it fire retardant.

      Horsehair: a traditional stuffing, this can be washed and reused if found when stripping old upholstery, though only good-quality, long, curly hair is worth saving. Wild boar hair can be used as a modern substitute.

      Hessian: a thick, strong material that comes in various weights from 200–400 g (7–16 oz). The strongest, or heaviest, is often called tarpaulin. Don’t get too concerned with using different weights for different jobs, just buy a strong, quality hessian that you like working with and stick with it.

      Calico: a strong, cotton cloth, usually bleached, used as a final layer over the top of stuffing before the application of wadding and top fabric. Sometimes a black version is used for bottom cloths. It is available in various weights, and 140 g (5 oz) is fine for most upholstery applications.

      Wadding: this comes in sheets 2.5 cm (1 in) thick, but can be peeled apart to half thickness. It is used as a final, smooth layer on top of the coarser stuffing, underneath the top fabric.

      Synthetic fleece: a fine, light, manmade fleece 12 mm (½ in) thick which comes in huge expanded rolls. It adds nothing to the padding of the upholstery but is used as a thin layer between the cotton wadding and top fabric to stop the wadding from sticking to the back of the fabric.

      Twine: there are various types available. Flax twine comes in different thicknesses, usually denoted by a number. No.1 is the thickest and is used for tying springs to webbing and hessian. Nos. 2 and 3 are thinner and used for stitching edge rolls and stuffing ties. Buttoning twine is made of nylon and can be used as an alternative to flax twine. It’s extremely strong and so best used for buttoning.

      Lay cord: this is a thick cord made from jute or hemp and is used for tying springs together.

      Tacks: upholstery tacks must be used for upholstery; other varieties of tack and nail are not suitable and can damage wooden frames. They come in sizes from 10–20 mm (⅜–¾ in) and two varieties of each: improved tacks have larger heads than fine tacks. As a guide use 20 mm (¾ in) improved tacks for attaching lay cord and webbing, 13 mm (½ in) improved tacks for hessian, calico and top fabric, and 10 mm (⅜ in) fine tacks for scrolls and finer work.

      Netting staples: sometimes used to secure springs to the wood on the top of arms and the front edge of seats. We generally hold springs in place by attaching a length of webbing over their bases, but sometimes it’s easier to use netting staples. Ordinary galvanized netting staples are used; there’s no upholstery equivalent.

      Tacking strip: a 12 mm (½ in) wide strip of strong card that comes in rolls and is used most commonly to invisibly attach the outside arm fabric to the underside of an arm or wherever else an invisible join is required. The tacking strip is laid over the underside of the fabric and tacked in place so that it forms a smooth, straight edge when the fabric is pulled over it. You often find tacking strips improvised from bits of cereal packets.

      Upholstered furniture: what to buy and where

      Being a good upholsterer and buying the right furniture to upholster are two different skills. We have been buying upholstered furniture for many years and yet we still occasionally pay good money for pieces that turn out to be bad buys. There’s an overlap between the two skills: the better you are at buying furniture, the easier it will be to turn it into something you are proud of. Whatever your upholstery ambitions, your best starting point is to get out there and train your eye to spot a bargain.

      Start close to home: if you’re new to upholstery your confidence will be fortified if you start with small, uncomplicated projects: the sorts of pieces you probably have already – dining chairs or a piano stool, for example. If you don’t have anything yourself, the chances are there’ll be auntie’s old chair in a relative’s loft somewhere. Beg, borrow or steal from your family before you go out and buy anything to work on.

      Antiques shops: these are great places for rummaging through, but not necessarily to buy from. There’s nothing wrong with buying the odd dining chair if it costs only a few pounds, but a piece with any value will have been tidied up for the sale and will most likely look better than it actually is. Use these shops with a view to learning and training your eye. Price tickets often carry information regarding the age and style of a piece and will give you an idea of relative value. Spend as much time as possible wandering around musty old buildings, turning over price tags, and pay special attention to pieces that have been newly upholstered. Dealers will get their upholstery done as cheaply as possible and so the result is usually more show than substance – well worth a good look with a critical eye.

      Auctions: house-clearance auctions are the upholsterer’s Aladdin’s cave. Most reasonably sized towns will have at least one auction house – very often run by a local estate agent – where, once or twice a month, sales of house contents and other general items are held. There will be a time, usually the day before or on the morning of the sale, when you can view all the items for sale and decide if there’s anything you might want to buy.

      When you arrive at a viewing you will find an area filled with rows of wardrobes, book shelves, old pianos, dressers, tables and all manner of old and modern household items. In the middle of the room, usually facing the auctioneer’s podium, will be rows and rows of dining chairs, armchairs and sofas. Each piece or set of pieces will be given a lot number. The bigger, more organized, auction houses will issue a catalogue or a printed list of items for sale, giving the lot number and a brief description of what, in the auctioneer’s opinion, it is, and how much they suggest it might sell for. For example: “Lot 269 – a late-Victorian elbow chair with turned legs and bobbin stretchers, £30–£40.” Auctioneers generally have years of