Deep Buttoned Storage Stool

Times: 9.00-4.00
Duration: 1 day
Includes: Everything except fabric, a guide will be sent in the booking confirmation

Want to create something different? Not quite a sofa, better than a stool; this unique frame was designed by our Creative Director; Anthony Devine for BBC’s Money for Nothing and quickly nicknamed the #stofa! It became so popular with our regular students, that we introduced it as a one-day course and it has fast become one of our firm favourites due to the creative nature of the design and the variety of different ways it can be approached!

You will start the course by customising your legs to match your fabric choice, from a range of paints and waxes provided by us. You will then be taken through a thorough health & safety induction, during which you will be introduced to the pneumatic staple gun and shown how to safely operate it. After you are up to speed it is on with the upholstery. You will require no previous experience as our tutors will guide you, step by step, through the exact process Anthony used to make the TV ‘Stofa’!

You will learn a lot of techniques, from webbing, applying hessian, working with foam, cutting and applying fabric and, depending on how you choose to upholster it, some basic sewing! It is a very creative course as it can be upholstered in lots of different ways and using different methods and skills. Please have a look at the pictures to see how other students have approached the design for some inspiration. Full guidance on fabric will be sent in the booking confirmation.

The #stofa measures approx.:

• 1 metre 17cm in length
• 50cm wide
• 37cm in height

Availability

This course is available to book on any weekday and runs from 9.00-4.00. Please select the week you would like from the dropdown box and specify your chosen date in the notes. If your chosen date does not appear in the dropdown box, it does not necessarily mean that we do not have that date available, it is always worth giving us a shout.

Times: 9.00-4.00 weekdays only
Duration: 40 days
Cost: £2988 divided into 4 payments of £747

Want to start a new career in upholstery? Then why not study with the UK’s leading modern upholstery school!

We have designed our unique 40 day Business Course in Modern Upholstery for those who want to learn the comprehensive skills required to be able to go on and start a business. Our course is taught at our fully equipped Manchester workshop and is carefully structured to ensure that you will cover all the key skills needed to go on and tackle a range of complex upholstery projects.

This course takes the student through a set programme of practical work, starting with a basic drop in seat dining pad and progressing all the way through to a large wingback chair. Ministry of Upholstery is a modern upholstery school, so you will be coached through all modern upholstery skills required to complete a large range of projects. Although the majority of the course focuses on modern upholstery methods, we also understand the importance of traditional upholstery and so to ensure that you cover all main techniques, you will complete one of our cocktail chairs using mainly traditional methods.

This unique course also allows for you to bring a selection of your own pieces for re-upholstery. Once you have gained the basic skills and feel confident, you will be encouraged to bring your own pieces. This is known as free learning and you can even start to bring customer jobs. This important part of the course allows you to start to think about your own style and the focus your business will take. You may even wish to design your own fabric and use this! Ministry of Upholstery have recently invested in the latest digital printing technology, allowing our students the opportunity to print their own fabric designs in-house. This course even includes a theory session based around the basics of Photoshop and creating your own designs!

Finally, you will finish this course with 5 days in your own self-contained workshop, known as a Pod, where you be encouraged to work autonomously and put everything you have learned into practice. Upon completion of this you will be awarded the Ministry of Upholstery ‘Graduate’ seal of approval, which you can display on your social media and website to show people that you have trained with the best modern upholstery school in the UK!

Throughout the course you will be encouraged to build up a photographic and video portfolio of your work, which will document the techniques used and skills gained. This record will provide an invaluable reference tool to enable you to go on to independent work. You will also take part in a range of classroom sessions covering the following less hands-on side of running an upholstery business:

• Fire Regulations
• Workshop set up at home and introduction to compressors
• Fabric Knowledge
• Job Costing
• Introduction to Sewing Machines
• Fabric Design
• Social Media for Business
• Fabric Measuring
• Accounting
• Plus more

We work to a set programme to ensure that you complete all key skills within our skills matrix.  Throughout your course, you will complete the following practical projects, all of which are included in your course:

Module 1	Drop in seat dining pad – all materials included
Module 2	Small shallow buttoned footstool – frame and materials supplied, you must supply fabric
Module 3	Large deep buttoned footstool – frame and materials supplied, you must supply fabric
Module 4	Wingback chair focusing on cap on arm and box seat cushion – frame and materials supplied, you must supply fabric
Module 5	Wingback chair focusing on scroll arm, pattern matching and fixed seat – frame and materials supplied, you must supply fabric
Module 6	Cocktail chair using traditional methods – frame and materials supplied, you must supply fabric
Module 7	Free Learning – you will supply frames and fabric. All materials, except specialist foam, will be included
Module 8	Pod Time – you will supply frames and fabric. All materials are chargeable. We estimate the cost of this to be between £40 and £60.

These frames are all included in the cost and are brand new frames made by our expert frame-makers. Everything you require to upholster these jobs is also included in the cost of the course. You will only need to supply the fabric and any fire retardant interliner, should you require it. You will also be given a full induction in sewing and, as part of the course, you will make a buttoned scatter cushion. You will be required to supply a small selection of projects of your own choosing for your free learning and one piece for your 5 day Pod time. These can be pieces that you source or we can provide you with a new frame at extra cost. The pieces that you make are all yours to keep. If you sell these you can more than cover the cost of the course as we estimate the market value around £4000!

Techniques and skills covered

• Full health & safety induction and introduction to tools and materials
• Sewing machine induction
• Shallow buttoning
• Deep buttoning
• Facings
• Borders
• Cutting and applying foam
• Scatter cushion
• Box cushion
• Pattern matching
• Fluting
• Costing jobs
• Pleating
• Tool selection
• Stripping
• Piping
• Arms
• Seats
• Applying ply grip
• Applying backtack strip
• Slip stitching
• Double piping
• Fabric costings
• Fire regulations
• Close nail studding
• Sprung seats
• Sewing
• Webbing
• Cutting
• Measuring fabric and fabric guide
• Use of machinery
• Workshop set up advice
• Information about setting up in business
• Fabric design and printing

If you are looking for a course which focuses on smaller projects, then why not consider our brand new Access Course in Modern Upholstery

Availability
This course can be taken on a totally flexible basis. The core hours are 9.00-4.00 Monday to Friday but you are not required to attend 5 days per week. You can even do this course on a day/ week basis if this suits you so please call us for a chat if you would like to discuss this in more detail, we’re always happy to help. Please note that there is no specified timeframe within which you have to complete the 40 day course as it is entirely flexible.

Booking is simple, to book a place you can pay your first instalment of £700 using the Buy button on this page and selecting the first week of attendance. You can then call or email us to book the rest of your time.* If you wish to book odd days or discuss availability, then please email us on  or call us on 0161 222 4243.

*Please note that we have a maximum class size of 16 and classes are booked on a first come, first served basis. If you want to check availability for the whole course before you book then please contact us.

Payment
We appreciate that this course is a large amount of money to pay in one go so we have devised a payment scheme that allows you to pay for it in four smaller, more manageable instalments.

Upon booking your first week, which you can do online, you are required to pay the first instalment of £747. Before you attend your 6^th day you are required to pay the next instalment of £747. The same again before you attend your 11^th and 16^th days. This allows you to stagger the payments according to your attendance rate. If you attend once per week for example, then you’ll only make a payment every 5^th week!

Although this course is about focusing on skills and not completed projects, we estimate the total value of the products you will make throughout the duration of the course will exceed £4000!

Times: 9.00-4.00 weekdays only
Duration: 5 days on any weekdays, subject to availability
Includes: Everything you need to make the chaise except 5 metres of fabric

Sometimes only a chaise will do! When that’s the case, then this is the course. This is our modern take on a traditional chaise. It’s elegant and sleek but also contemporary, basically it will suit any interior.

The frame is made by our team of expert frame-makers, so you rest assured that it’s the best quality wood and built to last.

This course will cover all the basics of upholstery; an expert induction and introduction to all the tools of the trade, plus how to master the all-important compressed air staple gun. You’ll learn how to web up your frame, the materials used to build the shape and structure of the chaise, you’ll master the sewing machine, creating that beautiful tailored look using our twin needle sewing machine for that professional finish. Don’t worry if you’ve never used a sewing machine before, our top of the range Tysew machines do all the hard work for you and you can even set the speed at which you feel comfortable working. This course is suitable for beginners or people with some experience.

This course is available to book on any 5 weekdays and runs from 9.00-4.00. You can either book a full week using the dropdown box above or contact us to discuss days if you wish to attend on 5 chosen weekdays.

Availability

All of our daytime courses are flexible, which means that they can be taken on any weekdays to suit you and spread over one or even several weeks. If you wish to take all your dates in one week, then please select that week from the dropdown box. If, however, you wish to spread the course over more than one week, then please do contact us via phone or email to discuss availability. If dates do not appear in the dropdown box, it does not necessarily mean that we do not have those dates available, it is always worth giving us a shout.

Please note that 5 days is the average completion time for this course but we do not guarantee that you will finish in 5 days as everyone works at different speeds. If you do need an extra day these are chargeable at £85/ day.

Times: 9.00-4.00 weekdays only
Duration: 8 days on any weekdays, subject to availability
Includes: Everything you need to make the armchair except 7 metres of fabric and fire retardant interliner if required

Our latest addition to the armchair range; this wingback chair is an absolute classic with its elegant deep buttoned back. This is a cracking course, which will introduce you to all the basics of upholstery plus some more advanced techniques. You’ll start the course with a brand new frame, manufactured by our team of expert frame-makers. You’ll then learn how to build your dream chair layer by layer, from webbing , hessian, foam, applying your fabric, mastering the deep-buttoning process and all the finishing touches. As with all our courses, you will be coached every step of the way by our expert tutors so don’t worry if you’re a complete beginner to upholstery, we’re confident that you will be taking home a chair that you absolutely love!

This course is available to book on any 8 weekdays and runs from 9.00 -4.00. Please select the week you would like to commence the course from the dropdown box and we will be in touch to finalise your dates.

Availability

All of our daytime courses are flexible, which means that they can be taken on any weekdays to suit you and spread over one or even several weeks. If you wish to take all your dates in one week, then please select that week from the dropdown box. If, however, you wish to spread the course over more than one week, then please do contact us via phone or email to discuss availability. If dates do not appear in the dropdown box, it does not necessarily mean that we do not have those dates available, it is always worth giving us a shout.

Please note that 8 days is the average completion time for this course but we do not guarantee that you will finish in 8 days as everyone works at different speeds. If you do need an extra day these are chargeable at £85/ day.

Times: 9.00-4.00 weekdays only
Duration: 8 days on any weekdays, subject to availability
Includes: Everything you need to make the sofa except 12 metres of fabric

We love this compact and stylish two-seater sofa. Keep the fabric neutral or go bright for a ‘pop’ of colour – the choice is yours! You will cover a wide range of skills on this course, learning about the preparation of the sofa from bare frame to completion. It can be completed in a couple of different ways. Either with deep-buttoning or square buttoning (please see pictures for the difference). This sofa is usually completed with two box cushions. Don’t worry if you’ve never used a sewing machine before, our top of the range machines make light work of it and you can even set the speed at which you feel comfortable working!

This course is available to book on any 8 weekdays and runs from 9.00-4.00. Please select the week you would like to commence the course from the dropdown box and we will be in touch to finalise your dates.

Availability

All of our daytime courses are flexible, which means that they can be taken on any weekdays to suit you and spread over one or even several weeks. If you wish to take all your dates in one week, then please select that week from the dropdown box. If, however, you wish to spread the course over more than one week, then please do contact us via phone or email to discuss availability. If dates do not appear in the dropdown box, it does not necessarily mean that we do not have those dates available, it is always worth giving us a shout.

Please note that 8 days is the average completion time for this course but we do not guarantee that you will finish in 8 days as everyone works at different speeds. If you do need an extra day these are chargeable at £85/ day.