Real life upholstery class (Annecy, France)

If you want to learn upholstery properly, you can use my
many tutorials,
but you can also learn through a real in-person upholstery class. Try one of my upholstery master classes if you want me to teach you in real life!

UPHOLSTERY CLASSES in Annecy – New 5-Day Format

These courses offer you a 5-day intensive (35 hrs of traditional and foam techniques) to upholster a complete
chair or square stool in the workshop of a French upholsterer. Perfect for beginners – you will be guided step by step by a
highly qualified professional.

Class Schedule & Details

What You’ll Learn

• Master traditional hand tools and modern pneumatic staplers
• Work with authentic French upholstery materials
• Learn traditional seat construction techniques
• Modern foam padding for chair backs
• Professional fabric covering methods
• Apply decorative nails and trimmings

For whom?

A course designed for those who want to discover – for leisure or as a career change – the profession of upholsterer. It allows you to acquire the different basic techniques of traditional upholstery and modern upholstery and the covering of a seat. Beginners therefore learn the different techniques and vocabulary as well as the tools and raw materials used by the upholsterer through the renovation of their seat. By the way, it’s okay if you’re not a French speaker: THE COURSE IS ENGLISH-SPEAKING (and a little French for French students, of course).

The Workshop

The workshop will be the one you see on Instagram with
@the_girl_with_a_hammer reels.
You can view this piece of history here on
STREET VIEW.

Goals

CHALLENGE YOURSELF: You have 5 days to upholster and cover the chair or stool that you will bring back home.

This training also aims to discover the profession of upholsterer, its materials, its hand tools, and its basic techniques.
Its purpose is to acquire or refine the different stages of traditional upholstery and how to do the fabric covering with the proper finishings.
We will use some foam and some modern techniques on the back so you can also bring back home other precious, easy, fast tips for a professional upholstery practice.

Your Chair Project

The frame of a Louis-style armchair or a kid-size Voltaire and Louis XVI medallion chair (kid size or adult size) ready to be upholstered is provided to each student. These chairs are made in France and are included in the price of the training.

New for this session, you can now choose between four different projects, depending on your level, your style and how you plan to bring your piece back home:

• Adult-size cabriolet chair – the full, traditional upholstery challenge with shaping, stitching, padding and fabric work. Best if you want to learn as much as possible in one project. Shipping usually requires a proper transport company or a custom wooden crate.
• Kid-size cabriolet chair – same cabriolet style, smaller and easier to handle and ship. Perfect if you want the full experience without a huge box.
• Kid-size Voltaire chair – a lovely, beginner-friendly project with clean lines and traditional padding. Great for learning and very easy to ship worldwide.
• Square upholstered stool – a gentle introduction to upholstery with foam, straight lines and quick wins. Ideal if you want to start more gently and focus on technique. Extremely simple and cheap to ship.

If you are flying or shipping your piece abroad, the kid-size models and the stool are the simplest and most economical options.
For the adult cabriolet, we usually recommend a real transporter or a custom wooden crate for safe shipping – and I’ll help you sort that out.

You can choose between 4 wood finishes: natural wood with matte varnish, stained wood with matte varnish, White Linen paint, Lamp Black dark grey (or any color from Little Greene with extra fees)

Your Instructor

Céline Vanier – Holder of a CAP degree obtained from the AOCDTF (Les Compagnons du Devoir) and a BTM degree in upholstery (which means 4 years of apprenticeship), your trainer is an active professional who has been self-employed for 12 years. Céline Vanier, whose daily work you can discover on Instagram @the_girl_with_a_hammer, will be your teacher.

What’s Included vs. What You Need

Fabric Requirements

You can bring your own fabric or choose one on our website
www.leboudoirdesetoffes.eu.
These are all good for seats; no need to buy online. Send the reference of the one you want and we will adjust the quantity
according to the size of your pattern and make a single bill for fabric, finishes, and tools if needed.
You will need a maximum of 1.5 meters of fabric for a plain fabric (140 cm width).

Finishes

Decorative nails: you will be able to choose between many types on site.
Trimmings: you can choose and order the perfect trimmings on site at the workshop on Monday and get them on time for the covering.

Getting Your Chair Home

Shipping is not included in the price, but we will leave at your disposal for free anything you need to wrap it up properly (box, tape, bubble wrap) and we will bring the package to the post office for you if needed.

Getting to Annecy

Booking Process

You will have 2 weeks to finalize your booking with a full or a partial payment:
2,450 € payable in 1, 2, 3, or 4 times with a minimum of 450 € for booking by bank transfer or PayPal payment.

Once booked, you will be added to your class WhatsApp chat so you can already meet the team and chat with me easily.