Women are Saving the Trade

In my experience and research, women are often not made to feel welcome in the repair trades. Despite women making up the majority of my reupholstery class, my teacher was adamant that we couldn’t be professional upholsterers.

I laughed out loud the time he called us all over to see another student’s completed project. She was the most experienced in our cohort. In front of everyone he praised her beautiful work, and then said, now you can run a shop and hire a man to do the upholstery. Ha! What? She laughed it off but the comment cast doubt in my mind. Hand-tying springs on couches was a massive undertaking, he said, working with large furniture required real strength. Heck, tying springs on my small chair ruined my hands and made my arms mush. Maybe he was right? It’s true I had never met a female upholsterer until the inimitable Amanda Brown of @spruceathome came on the scene.

I was captivated by this sparkly redheaded upholsterer from Austin who had just launched a modern day how-to reupholstery book. What an enigma! I was in the front row when her book signing tour came to @buildersbooksource. She sat on a stage and walked us through hand tying springs. She spoke an ancient language that I had learned in my classes. I felt seen, validated, hopeful. I thought reupholstery was cool, but she proved it was. As she was packing up her supplies, I finally blurted out why I was there: why does my teacher say women can’t be upholsterers? Her physical response said it all. She stopped packing her box, stood straight up, looked me in the eye and told me that that was a lie. I sailed out of there feeling liberated, and pissed at the patriarchy.

Fast forward many moons later, to 2019. An amazing group of women upholsterers, more than I even knew existed in this world, came together to create a @nationalupholsteryassociation. Can you imagine working in an industry without a voice? This massive undertaking forever changed the future of reupholstery. So, yes, I am still raving about Upholstery Awareness Month and do so in support all of the women who are holding the torch of the past while lighting the way for an inclusive future. #weseeyou #thefutureisfemale