About The Girl with a Hammer
Professional upholstery knowledge. Finally accessible.
Upholstery has always been a craft passed down in workshops, between masters and apprentices, behind closed doors. The kind of knowledge that took years to accumulate and was rarely written down, let alone taught openly. That is exactly what this platform exists to change.
Thegirlwithahammer.com is an online upholstery tutorial library created by Céline Vanier, a professional upholsterer and upholstery teacher based in Annecy, France. With over a decade of experience working on high-end upholstery projects, Céline brings a level of technical expertise to online teaching that is genuinely rare in this craft.
A Professional Who Actually Teaches
Most upholstery content online comes from enthusiastic beginners sharing their first projects. What you find here is different. Céline has been working as a professional upholsterer since 2012, taking on complex commissions, working with luxury fabrics and traditional upholstery techniques, and teaching apprentices in her French workshop. The tutorials on this site reflect that level of expertise: not simplified for content, but explained clearly so anyone can follow them.
Professional upholsterers at this level do not usually teach publicly. The craft has traditionally been protected, passed on quietly, kept within tight professional circles. The Girl with a Hammer breaks that pattern deliberately. Whether you are a complete beginner reupholstering your first dining chair, an enthusiast working your way through increasingly complex projects, or a professional upholsterer looking to sharpen specific techniques, the knowledge here is the real thing.
What You Will Find Here
The tutorial library covers the full range of upholstery knowledge: tools and materials, traditional upholstery techniques including hand-tied springs, natural fibre padding and edge stitching, modern foam upholstery methods, complete chair projects from bare frame to finished piece, sewing for upholstery, fabric cutting, piping, and finishing details that separate a good result from a truly professional one.
Projects covered include stools, dining chairs, bridge chairs, bergère chairs, club chairs, cabriolet armchairs and sofas. New tutorials are added regularly, often based on real commissions and member requests.
The site is structured around three learning guides designed to take you from your very first project through to advanced full chair upholstery, in the right order, without confusion:
- Guide 1 covers beginner projects and essential tools
- Guide 2 covers core upholstery techniques used on every piece
- Guide 3 is a growing library of complete chair and seating projects
A Different Kind of Learning
Books are static. A book published in 1982 cannot answer your question about the foam you just bought, the chair you are currently working on, or the technique you cannot quite get right.
But there is a bigger problem with most English-language upholstery books, and it needs to be said. A surprising number of them were written by enthusiasts, not professionals. People who love upholstery, who have done a few projects, and who decided that was enough to write a book about it. The result is content that looks authoritative, gets recommended in forums, and quietly teaches bad habits or incomplete methods to thousands of people who do not yet know enough to spot the difference.
The same is true of most YouTube tutorials. The algorithm rewards consistency and personality, not expertise. The most watched upholstery channels are often run by people who learned six months ago and are filming as they go. That is fine for entertainment. It is not fine if you are trying to actually learn a craft.
Professional upholsterers at a high level rarely teach publicly. The knowledge stays in the workshop, passed from master to apprentice, protected by tradition and professional culture. Which means that when someone with genuine expertise does decide to share it openly, it is genuinely unusual.
This platform is built on that expertise. Every tutorial comes from a working upholsterer who has been taking on high-end commissions since 2012, teaching apprentices in a professional workshop in France, and working with the materials, tools and techniques that actually matter at a professional level. Not someone who read about it. Someone who does it every day.
The tutorial library grows continuously, based on real projects, real commissions, and real questions from members. When a new technique comes up in the workshop, it becomes a tutorial. When members ask about a specific chair type or material, that request shapes what gets created next. This is not a fixed product sold once and forgotten. It is a living knowledge base, maintained by a working professional who is still actively upholstering every week.
That distinction matters more than it might seem. Upholstery is a craft full of variables. The foam behaves differently depending on density and cut. The fabric pulls differently on a curved frame than a flat one. No book covers all of that. No YouTube channel run by an amateur can either. What you need is access to someone who has seen all of it, solved all of it, and can explain exactly what to do and why. That is what a membership here gives you.
Free Access and Premium Membership
The blog, technique overviews, tool guides and project articles on this site are available to everyone, no account required. As a registered guest, you can also participate in the community forum, ask questions, share your work and leave comments on articles and tutorials.
Premium membership is where the full learning happens. One monthly subscription gives you access to the complete tutorial library: 80+ step-by-step video tutorials covering beginner to advanced upholstery, material and supplier guides, and complete chair projects from start to finish. No commitment, cancel anytime.
This is not a course with a fixed curriculum. It is a professional knowledge base you can use at your own pace, return to whenever you need a specific technique, and build on over time.
Why English?
Céline is French, trained in the French upholstery tradition, one of the most technically rigorous in the world. The site is written in English because upholstery is a global craft, and the anglophone audience, particularly in the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia and Canada, has very little access to this level of professional teaching. Most quality upholstery instruction remains locked in French workshops or expensive in-person courses. This platform exists to change that.
The Craft Deserves Better
Upholstery is experiencing a real revival. More people than ever want to learn the craft, restore furniture, work with their hands, and understand how things are built. At the same time, genuinely experienced professionals who teach openly are extremely rare. The Girl with a Hammer exists at that exact intersection: a working upholsterer, active in high-end projects, sharing real professional knowledge with anyone serious enough to want it.
Whether you are picking up a staple gun for the first time or looking to understand a technique you have been doing by instinct for years, this is the right place.