Upholstery is a craft that has existed for millennia, as long as mankind has wished for a padded seat upon which to rest his weary bones.
One person carrying on this historic tradition is Leanne Watts, AKA The Upholstery Lady, who not only undertakes commissioned pieces, but also teaches group workshops, which is where we met as, tucked away in a workshop in Knutsford, Leanne taught Cheshire Life deputy editor Kate Houghton how to upholster a large, deep-buttoned footstool.
"I was working for a media planning and buying company, but after having a family it became increasingly difficult to balance the demands of work and home life," Leanne says.
"That was when I began learning upholstery. At first, it was an escape, but I also felt it could become a new path for me.
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"I completed an upholstery course at night school between 2013 and 2015, then continued developing my skills from there.
"I worked on projects for friends and family, so I always had something practical to bring into class and learn from.
"In 2019, I decided to take the leap and make upholstery my full-time profession.
"Today, I run workshops in people's workplaces, which are particularly popular for team-building days, and I absolutely love delivering them.
"I also work with WI groups, host events across Cheshire and north Manchester, and run private courses from my garden workshop at home in Worsley."
Leanne's group workshops range from crafting larger, deep-buttoned footstools to smaller cylinder stools.
"I rent out spaces and we have numerous people doing it at the same time; it's a lot to get through in a day, but it's great to see their reactions at the end of the day, when they see what they have managed to complete."
Upholstering a footstool, especially one on the larger side, is not for the faint of heart:
Like anything handmade, it's a physical procedure, moving around large objects and standing for long periods are all essential parts of the upholstering process.
"It is really physical." Leanne explains, while aiding Kate with fixing the webbing, staple gun at the ready.
This is a full-day course, giving people a real insight into the skill, patience and craftsmanship that goes into creating a handmade upholstered piece.
It can be physically demanding, especially if you are not used to it, but that is part of what makes it so rewarding.
"In upholstery terms, this is one of the most technical processes you can get involved in, so it gives people a genuine hands-on experience and a real appreciation of the work behind the finished piece."
Watching Kate stretching webbing across the pre-made frame upon which she will place her foam padding, I can see exactly what she means.
Kate is giving her best, but she perhaps needs to spend more time in the gym before she can keep up with Leanne.
The process is arduous but rewarding.
"If I’m doing this in my workshop, it would still take me a good four hours or so. It's a full-day course with beginners, however – but nobody ever leaves without a completed footstool, upholstered in fabric they have chosen themselves – and a huge sense of satisfaction."
Over the course of the day, we watched as Kate's footstool began to take shape, a simple wooden frame transformed with deep padding, buttons and pleats in a bright, floral fabric.
"I never forget how I felt the first time I made a footstool, so I get so much pleasure out of my student’s reactions when they see it all come together at the end.
I can remember it well and it doesn't leave me either: I still get really excited about it," says Leanne.
In a world of mass-produced furniture, keeping the tradition alive is more important than ever before.
"It's the fact you can choose your own fabric for your own interior." Leanne explains, describing how her workshops allow budding DIYers to create bespoke furniture on another level in comparison to mass-produced products.
"It would cost you the same, if not more, to buy something new, and if you're making it yourself, I can guarantee it'll be better made than any factory-bought furniture."
Scrolling through Leanne's Instagram, @the_upholstery_lady, is eye-opening, filled as it is with domestic and commercial projects she has completed.
"As the business has become more established, I've started to specialise more in working alongside joiners on bespoke interiors.
A growing part of my work is creating banquette seating for people's homes, where the upholstery becomes part of the overall design and finish of the space."
Lovers of DIY and upcycling will probably be familiar with BBC daytime TV show, Money for Nothing, in which furniture destined for the tip is saved and reclaimed by an army of craftspeople and artists.
One of these is Leanne, who has filmed several episodes with the TV show.
"The TV work came completely out of the blue.
One day, I received a call from Friel Kean Films in Glasgow, which produces the show.
They were looking for new upholsterers, and one of the other upholsterers on the programme, Simion Hawtin-Smith, who had trained at the same school as me, put my name forward.
I'll always be grateful to him for that.
"I was absolutely petrified the first time I filmed.
Now, before one of my episodes airs, they play a VT of me from that first day, looking like a rabbit in the headlights.
"What I love about the show is that it saves pieces from landfill and gives them a new life.
It inspires people at home to have a go themselves, and when the finished items make money, it often goes to charity.
It also shines a light on small businesses like mine.
As someone who usually works alone, it is lovely to feel part of something bigger."
Leanne has also filmed with architecture whizz George Clarke, in his Channel 4 series, George Clarke's Beautiful Builds.
"He was a lot of fun to work with," she says.
"The show came out in June and I was both excited and nervous to see it."
Words: Kate Houghton
I love the BBC's The Repair Shop, and Money for Nothing too.
Seeing well-loved and unloved pieces rescued and brought back to life – sometimes in the most extraordinary ways – has shown me that the tip isn't always the only solution for old and tired furniture, so when offered the opportunity to undertake an upholstery class with Leanne I leapt at it.
I arrived clutching 2m of fabric, as requested by Leanne, chosen for its bright colour and destined for a newly decorated living room.
We started by placing the fabric over a template, while Leanne marked the material with dots where the buttons would go.
This would later be placed over a pre-drilled foam pad with the dots on the fabric nowhere near the holes in the pad, which puzzles me.
"There's a lot more maths involved in this than you might think," Leanne explains.
"The fabric pushes deep down into the holes for the buttoning, so we need to account for that when measuring up."
Next, we take the pre-made frame and apply webbing – stretching straps from one side to the other and using a hydraulic staple gun to hold them in place.
I am given dire warnings before being allowed to even hold this: make sure the safety is on, don't wave it about, don't point it at anyone – unnervingly reminiscent of the instructions issued when I went clay shooting.
It's hard work, heaving the straps as tight as can be, but Leanne steps in when my breath leaves me.
Next, we cover the webbing with hessian – more stapling – before gluing down two layers of foam, one of which is made of recycled leftover foam from previous projects.
Then it's time to make buttons.
A new bit of kit arrives and I am busy cutting circles of my fabric to fit over metal button caps before fixing them in place with a sharp tug on a large metal arm.
It's frustrating when I don't quite catch the fabric wholly in place but deeply satisfying when I do.
We place a squashy layer of Dacron across the top of the foam, pierce holes where the buttons will go and place my chosen fabric on top.
Starting in the centre, we line up the marks made earlier with the first buttonhole and, using an immense needle known as a bayonet, pierce the fabric, Dacron and foam and push the threaded needle through the entire footstool.
This thread is then pulled to bring the button deep into the foam top and tied off.
It's tough and gloves are needed.
Leanne makes it look easy, of course, but she is hugely encouraging as I heave on my strings and helps when I run out of puff.
When all 24 of the buttons are in place, we can finally see the finished article coming into being.
Leanne shows me how to create the even, elegant pleats that fan out from each button to the next (I am not great at this, I keep forgetting which way they are supposed to fold) and finally we pull the fabric tight as can be down the side and under the frame, ensuring we create neat, even pleats, and staple it in place.
A layer of black fabric gives a tidy finish, hiding the base and the staples – and boom, it's done.
I may be feeling physically tired, my fingers may hurt from tugging on button thread and my feet demanding a cup of tea and a sit down, but my joy overcomes all of this.
I feel a real sense of achievement (if I conveniently overlook those times Leanne stepped in).
My footstool is absolutely perfect.
I have a somewhat tired mid-century chair at home from my grandmother's house - I wonder...
Leanne's next deep buttoned footstool workshop takes place in Altrincham on October 4, theupholsterylady.co.uk
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