Asklemmy

When dealing with upholstery, the materials are much thicker than your average entry point sewing machine will be able to handle. The feet might not be able to feed the heavy material through, and some machines will be physically unable to feed your material under the needle where seams meet. In most sewing projects there may be four or even six layers of material at some points where seams meet or need to be rolled over, which would require more space between the foot and plate than most machines could handle. So if your principle interest in sewing is upholstery, you will probably have to find a machine explicitly made for that task and it won't be cheap.

I feel like most of the people answering you are not actually sewists.

The person mentioning the serger/overlocker machine is correct regarding stretchy material. You can do it on a sewing machine but it won’t look nice. On a regular sewing machine, a straight stitch will give you a non-stretchy seam. A zigzag stitch will be stretchy but most often people aren’t pleased with the look of it. If you look at the inside of a t-shirt, the side seams are generally done with a serger. (A coverstitch machine is usually what is used for a hem. It makes a row of two lines on the front. It only does that.) The reason a serger works better for knit fabric is because of the differential feed, meaning it can better handle sewing two stretchy fabrics together such as in a seam. A sewing machine only feeds by catching the bottom fabric and scooting it forward, and that can cause issues if the fabric is stretchy.

You also need appropriate needles, especially for something like spandex. I haven’t worked with it at all so I’m not sure 100% what to recommend, but possibly a ball point or microtex needle.

Meanwhile, for upholstery, all you need (I think) is a straight stitch. Technically you could even try to do it by hand, but depending on the material, it could be really difficult. You’d definitely need a heavy duty needle, and possibly pliers to pull the needle through thick fabric. If you went for a machine, you’d want something robust. I’m actually about to try an upholstery project using my mid-range Bernina; it has successfully sewn several bags so I think it can handle it. But Bernina is not a mid-level brand, and I spent good money on that machine. Certainly, like in most things, you get what you pay for.

For sewing stretchy fabrics my advice is to purchase an overlocker not a sewing machine, sewing machines will generally suck at stitching stretchy fabrics. If all you have is a sewing machine I recommend triple stitching if your machine has that as a setting.

I'm not a professional at this, I just repair my family's clothes so if I'm wrong feel free to correct me.

I think it’s kind of the same. Once you get technique down a master can see with the cheep-o machine and get amazing results.

I say go get yourself a used machine and just play around with it. I made Halloween costumes out of stuffed animals and old clothes for my first project and it turned out really good.

i've spoken to two people that do upholstery for restaurants in the united states, and both were very overbooked (6+ months out) and overdue for retirement. might be a good gig to get into. Apparently the leather is thicker than for clothing.