The Upholstery Forum

I have noticed a lot of time in various videos that upholsterers slap the new covers throughout the install process. One guy I was watching said it was important but he alomost sounde to be making fun of that process. Is there a reason to slap the new cover or is it just a thing we end up doing because the guy that tought us did it?

Great question! So the reason you slap the cover is to move the fabric in a direction to get it to lay more natural. Also I slap the cover to get the foam to move and expand to fit the cover more naturally. Sometimes in the install process the foam or fabric gets stuck in an area and cause a wrinkle or something to not align. The reason this happens is because the foam and fabric dont slide easily on each other.

Hope this makes sense!

It also is like a reward to yourself for a job well done

Yeah you don’t want to slap it straight on just cause your mad at it lol. It’s always a directional slap to get it to move. Although I had smacked a seat a time or too just cause it’s not playing nice.