Spring It On: 3 Day Upholstery Bootcamp

3 Day Upholstery Bootcamp is one of our most popular workshops. Students come from all over the country to experience transformation in our bright roomy workshop.  New friends, new skills, yummy treats, creative therapy, reupholstered chair–it’s a five prong winning weekend. Our next Bootcamp is April 13-15th, 2018.

Words students use to describe our weekend of upholstery: authentic, fun, gnarly, exhausting, challenging, rewarding, fulfilling, satisfying, frustrating, hard, creative, like nothing else, friendly, funny, therapeutic, yummy and more.

You better be prepared–this is no spa retreat where you’ll get pampered and massaged. It’s a roll up your sleeves and get busy elite upholstery workshop.

There’s no wimpiness in upholstery!

Our Upholstery Intensive/Bootcamp/Retreat, whatever you want call it, is a joy to experience as long as you bring the kind of chair that will guarantee your success. Read very carefully how you can get the most out of this intensive workshop.

WHAT YOU GET:

This has been our most popular class of all time. Over 15 hours of hands-on upholstery instruction, fabric layout, cutting, demos, fun, afternoon coffee breaks (including homemade baked goodies), how to estimate and choose fabric yardage, good music (subjective) and everything else that goes into reupholstering your own chair. Workshops are held at the spacious HomeRoom Studio in Indianapolis, Indiana. Formerly ModHomeEc, HomeRoom offers more than upholstery to kids and adults. Our first love is still upholstery.

FUN, FUN, FUN! If you’re traveling from out of town, you’ll need to make hotel accommodations. We do have some fantastic new Airbnbs that have just popped up near our shop. Contact us for information about good places to stay. Parking is right in front of your studio, no stairs to climb, to parking to find. It’s about as accessible as a commercial space can be.

Many of our students come from different parts of the country for a Girls’ Getaway Weekend, some have come for a Mother/Daughter Weekend, and most just come for a quiet, productive Me Time Getaway. Not only do you leave with a custom reupholstered chair, you meet new people, learn new skills and make memories that last. There’s something very special about being with other like minded people, doing what you love and working with your hands. All I can say is that we see it over and over again–these classes are therapeutic!

We provide: tool use, tool instruction, sewing machines, covered buttons, welt cording (piping), twine, Dacron, spray adhesive, cotton batting, webbing, jute twine, tacks, and hands on instruction. You’ll leave with a beautifully restyled chair and skills you can use forever, plus new friends.

You provide:
a pre-approved chair. Here are SAMPLES.
foam and fabric (It’s preferable for you to purchase your fabric after we talk about upholstery fabrics. You can bring what you want to use, then if it doesn’t meet the criteria, be prepared to purchase fabric at one of our local fabric stores. You’ll see what I’m talking about shortly after you start the upholstery process.

*The course is priced for one chair only. We don’t supply any materials for a second chair.
We MUST see a photo of your chair to determine if it can be completed in this three day workshop. No exceptions will be made. Click here to see appropriate chair styles. Three days isn’t very long to completely reupholster a chair. Notice what the chair samples have in common–upholstered seat, inside back and outside back. No fully upholstered chairs or tufted pieces–it’s only 3 Days for Pete’s sake!

If you’re more of a DIY-er who just wants to do a chair for yourself, then choose a VERY simple style of chair. If you’ve done a little bit of upholstery, forget everything you’ve learned and come in here with a clean slate and also a fairly simple chair. The purpose is to focus on skills and techniques, to really think, process and learn why and how things are done the way they are. If you just want a pretty chair, you’ll be missing the most valuable and important features of the weekend which is learning the upholstering techniques and practices that will enable you to create beautiful chairs with many spectacular fabrics throughout your life.

Friday, Saturday and Sunday Schedule

9:30-12:30 Studio Work
12:30-1:30 Lunch Break (there are many surrounding restaurants)
1:30-3:30 Studio Work (with a break somewhere in there for delicious homemade desserts)

PLEASE READ below and our POLICY.
This 3 Day Workshop is intense. Our curriculum is NOT designed for large, fully upholstered armchairs. See photo below for appropriate chairs. In order for you to get the most out of this 3 Day Workshop, you need be ready to work hard, watch, learn and have fun. We have to move through the process at a good clip. It’s preferable to bring a chair that does not need to be painted or have any structural repairs. We want you to leave with a basic understanding of how to reupholster an open armed side chair. What you learn will empower you with the confidence to gradually take on more complicated upholstered pieces. The focus in our Bootcamp is learning upholstery skills. Students occasionally get stalled out on one aspect of chair reupholstery, you need to come ready to listen, learn and follow instructions. You need strong hands, wrists and arms. Upholstery is physically demanding and students who aren’t strong enough come away without getting the full benefits of this intensive workshop.

Come join us in our big, air conditioned, bright and fun studio.

 

No pressure, but we’ve got a waiting list in the wings.