Glossary
Upholsterer Terms & Vocabulary
15 essential upholsterer terms with plain-English definitions: the vocabulary you’ll hear in training and on day one.
Key upholsterer vocabulary
These 15 terms come up constantly in upholsterer training, on the job and in interviews. Knowing them helps you follow instructions, document accurately and sound prepared.
- Batting
- Soft layer over foam.
- Dust collection
- Removes sawdust.
- Eight-way hand-tied springs
- Traditional spring method.
- Finish schedule
- Order of finishing steps.
- Grain
- Wood fiber direction.
- Headliner
- Car ceiling fabric.
- Joinery
- Ways of joining wood.
- Marine vinyl
- Outdoor fabric.
- Muslin
- Base fabric layer.
- Pattern matching
- Aligning fabric designs.
- Shop drawing
- Detailed build drawing.
- Tack strip
- Holds fabric straight.
- Webbing
- Strap base under seats.
- Welting
- Corded trim.
- Yardage
- Fabric amount needed.
Practice these terms
Test yourself with the free Upholsterer practice test: it includes vocabulary questions built from this list. For a complete course, see Upholsterer training.
Browse terms from every career in our career glossary.