As a newcomer to the upholstery trade, I have had the great luxury of getting to know folks who’ve been in the business for about as long as I’ve been alive. As many of these upholsterers are starting to slow down their business and ease into retirement, I wanted to learn more about their experiences, thoughts on the trade, and their advice for a burgeoning upholsterer such as myself before they decide to lay down the staple gun for good.
For my second installment in this series, I sat down with Lynn Woodruff of Woody's Trim Shop in Kalona.
Lynn Woodruff with one of his cars. Find Lynn at Woody's Trim Shop at 1162 Larch Ave in Kalona, IA or contact him at (319) 330-4797).
Lynn’s upholstery experience ranges across the country and through decades. He’s practiced both furniture and auto upholstery, worked for himself and for others, and after 49 years in the trade, is in fact a master upholsterer. Lynn moved to Montana in 1966, and after a brief stint as a ranch hand, he found a job working under an experienced upholsterer specializing in auto upholstery. Upholstery is a portable skill and Lynn proved that out by practicing upholstery in Missouri, California and Connecticut over the next several decades. Locally, Lynn worked for Borst Furniture in Cedar Rapids for 17 years before opening his current shop where he does vehicle upholstery.
Lynn at the sewing machine.
While many upholsterers either do primarily furniture or primarily vehicles, Lynn has had experience with both. He prefers working on cars, and that is what he does now at Woody's Trim Shop. For Lynn, “furniture is pretty much all the same”; after all, every piece of furniture has a seat, a back, and cushions (and he “hate[s] doing cushions”), but cars are all different. Installing new upholstery in a car gives him a freer hand and is more interesting than upholstering furniture. One disadvantage to cars however, is that the work is heavier and harder on the body; climbing around in a car and taking out old seats is rough on the joints, particularly the knees. Furniture is easier; though when I ask what kind of work-related health problems I can look forward to, even working primarily with furniture he says at the least I'll be getting arthritis.
Bench seat before and after
When asked about what has changed in upholstery over the years and what he sees for the future, Lynn seems to agree with the sentiments I’ve heard so far: namely, that furniture has become lower in quality, but even so, there will always be a need for upholsterers. One of the reasons that Lynn turned away from upholstering furniture was that he saw it getting made more cheaply over time. Instead of hard wood frames with doweled joints, he saw plywood frames stapled together. At the same time, he says that even though “anything where you are working with your hands is becoming a dying art . . . I think there will always be a call for [custom upholstery]”.
Custom upholstered seats and door panels in one of Lynn's cars
I’m inspired by the seriousness with which Lynn approaches his work: when work comes in, he wants to do it the right way, which likely isn’t the cheaper or easier way. He prefers to give a job its due, and thus his tufted backs are folded and seats are tucked and rolled. This attitude shows through in his advice for a new upholsterer; Lynn says that “if you’re going to do it, do it full-heartedly.” Finding an experienced upholsterer to work under is a must, as is just getting experience: “you can read a book on how to do something, but until you actually do it, and make your own mistakes and try to figure out how to correct them, thats the way you’re going to learn.”
While taking apart a cushion or seat to correct a mistake (sometimes for the third or fourth time), I’ve ruminated on the lessons I learn while practicing upholstery that spill over to every-day life. Lynn’s guidance for prevailing and prospering in upholstery can also be read as a way to thrive in life. Take it from a master upholsterer: becoming successful means having the desire to do things the right way, being the best that you can be, having patience, and striving to learn something new every day.