Eastwood Ottoman Upholstery

After the woodworking is done, finish your project with upholstery to match.

- Willie Sandry

The topic of DIY upholstery interests many woodworkers, however, few have access to detailed tutorials. Tacking a no-sew” project like this Eastwood Ottoman can be a good confidence builder and a great place to start learning the craft of upholstery. If you get the upholstery details right, it will elevate the look and comfort of the piece. If nothing else, you can familiarize yourself with the basic terminology and techniques so you can accurately describe what you want from a professional upholsterer. But if you have any interest in doing the ottoman upholstery yourself, I bet you'll succeed on your very first try.

There are two common types of upholstery for Arts and Crafts style ottomans. One is a drop-in cushion that uses a wooden web frame with jute webbing or springs as the base support. The other type is integral upholstery, where jute webbing is attached directly to the frame of the ottoman. The leather or fabric covers the wood rails with integral upholstery, and decorative tacks (deco tacks) are often used. One advantage of integral upholstery is the fact that the rails are padded, which makes the ottoman comfortable even if you sit towards the edge. One potential disadvantage of this type of upholstery, I suppose, is that it can only be re-upholstered so many times. Functionally though, I don't think that's much of an issue, as I've stripped 100-year-old leather chairs that still had the original leather upholstery intact.

Start with Jute Webbing