Upholstering furniture or other items requires the best glue for upholstery to secure the fabric or leather to the frame in a way that is both strong and flexible. We’ll cover the characteristics of adhesives like contact cement, spray adhesive, upholstery glue, and hot glue for different upholstery situations. Follow these glue recommendations for professional-looking, long-lasting results on your upholstered furniture, seat cushions, headboards, and more.
Best Glue for Upholstery: Our Top Picks
Let’s explore the various types of glue for upholstery and our top picks to ensure a strong and durable bond.
Contact Cement
Contact cement is a popular choice for many upholstery projects. It works well on leather, vinyl, plastic, rubber, wood, and most fabrics, forming an instant, sturdy connection.
This adhesive is applied to both surfaces and allowed to become tacky before the materials are joined. Once contact is made, the bond is permanent almost immediately.
Keep in mind that contact cement emits strong fumes, so working in a well-ventilated area is a must. Thin, even application on both surfaces is key.
While contact cement may not be ideal for delicate fabrics, its versatile binding power makes it a great upholstery glue for vinyl, leather, plastic, and many other robust fabrics.
- Permanent Bond: This adhesive ensures a lasting bond that won’t easily come apart.
- High Heat Resistant: It can withstand high temperatures, making it suitable for applications where heat resistance is crucial.
- Water Resistant: The contact cement is resistant to water, ensuring the bond remains strong even in damp conditions.
- Interior/Exterior Use: It’s versatile enough to be used both indoors and outdoors.
- Creates a Strong Durable Bond: The adhesive forms a robust and long-lasting connection on various surfaces.
Fabric Glue
Fabric glue is another suitable option for adhering upholstery fabrics. It is designed to glue fabric specifically. Fabric glue works on natural and synthetic materials like cotton, linen, polyester, suede, and more.
It dries pliable so fabrics retain their drape and stretch. Unlike super glues, fabric adhesives won’t soak through and stain material. For gluing tricky upholstery fabrics, fabric glue provides reliable adhesion without compromising the hand and feel of the material.
Beacon Fabri-Tac Permanent Adhesive
- Premium Quality: Fabri-Tac® is a high-quality fabric glue that has been a preferred choice among professional designers for many years.
- Convenient Use: Unlike glue guns, there’s no need for heat, making it more convenient. The adhesive doesn’t soak into fabrics, ensuring a clean application.
- Versatile Bonding: It can bond a variety of materials including fabrics, canvas, lace, trims, ribbons, wood, sequins, paper, glass, leather, suede, plastic, pearls, jewels, rhinestones, and more to fabric.
- Fast and Permanent: The glue offers a fast grab and dries quickly. Once applied, it provides a permanent bond.
- Crystal Clear Finish: The adhesive dries clear, ensuring that no unsightly residue is left behind.
- Flexible: It retains flexibility after drying, making it ideal for fabrics that need to move or stretch.
- No Stains: Fabri-Tac® won’t stain or soak into fabrics, ensuring a neat finish.
Spray Adhesive
Spray adhesive offers a convenient, portable option for upholstery glue. It can be used on fabrics, foam, batting, wood, metal, and more.
The benefit of spray glue is the ability to distribute a fine, even coat of adhesion over large surface areas. Different formulations provide a range of holding power from temporary tack to strong permanent bonds.
Spray adhesives are available in repositionable, low-bleed varieties suitable for delicate fabrics as well. For large upholstery jobs, spray glue allows you to quickly cover expansive areas. However, the fine mist can soak in and leave permanent marks on porous fabrics. Proper ventilation while spraying is essential.
For best results, use short bursts, holding the can 6 to 8 inches from the surface. While spray adhesives are not ideal for detailed upholstery work, for jobs like adhering fabric to large furniture frames, their ease of use and all-over sticking power is tough to beat.
3M Super 77 Multipurpose Spray Adhesive
- Versatility: This adhesive spray is designed to bond a wide range of lightweight materials, making it suitable for various applications.
- Fast-Drying: The adhesive offers a high initial grab, ensuring quick bonding and reducing set time.
- High Coverage: Its high-solids content ensures low soak-in, providing more coverage than competing spray adhesives.
- Repositionable: While it offers a permanent bond, it is repositionable, allowing users to adjust the materials as needed.
- Clean Appearance: The adhesive ensures soft, non-dimpling glue lines, making it ideal for projects that require a neat finish.
- Environmentally Friendly: The adhesive is CARB compliant, GREENGUARD certified, and contributes to LEED credits.
- Durable: The adhesive is designed to offer a long-lasting connection, ensuring durability for various projects.
Hot Glue Gun
Hot glue guns provide a fast, convenient adhesive option for minor upholstery repairs and small projects. The heat melts the solid glue sticks into a liquid that hardens rapidly as it cools. This allows for quick bonds and tack points. However, hot glue is not ideal for permanent applications on large upholstery pieces. It becomes brittle as it ages and does not stand up to washing or heavy use.
Limit hot glue to temporary holds or touch-ups on tears and seams. The thick glue can leave globs and may bleed through delicate upholstery fabrics. Hot glue works best on areas like undersides and backs that receive minimal wear. Use it sparingly so upholstery retains a professional finished look.
- Super Fast Heating: The mini hot glue gun heats up and releases glue within just 1-2 minutes, ensuring quick and efficient gluing.
- Convenience and Safety: Designed with an ergonomic handle for comfortable operation, it’s compact and lightweight. It also features a fold-up holder allowing it to stand upright during standby. The inclusion of an on and off power switch enhances safety, especially for children.
- Simple Operation: The glue gun is user-friendly; just insert the glue sticks, connect to power, and pull the trigger to heat up. Its cleverly designed nozzle tip ensures precision use without dripping, preventing glue wastage.
- Versatile Use: This glue gun is not only suitable for DIY and crafts but is also ideal for home repairs, making Christmas decorations, and gifting. It’s compatible with various materials including plastic, glass, paper, cotton, and fabric. It’s also great for kids’ craft projects.
- All-in-One Kit: The package comes with 30 strong adhesive hot glue sticks, providing everything needed for crafting and DIY projects right from the start.
Repair Kits
Specialized vinyl and leather repair kits are ideal for mending tears in upholstered items. They contain adhesives designed specifically for bonding leather and vinyl as well as colored fillers to seamlessly blend repairs.
Repair kits allow you to fix upholstery damage invisibly and restore original strength and appearance. Using the right product prevents noticeable glue marks on vinyl or leather.
Coconix Vinyl and Leather Repair Kit
- Versatile Restoration: This kit is adept at restoring a variety of damages such as scratches, rips, tears, burn holes, cracks, and peeling. It’s suitable for refurbishing and refinishing needs.
- Color Matching: The kit provides the ability to match any color, be it shoes, couches, office chairs, belts, bags, or purses. This ensures a seamless repair that blends with the original material.
- Comprehensive Kit: The product comes with everything needed for a professional repair, including color repair compounds, spatula, brush, mixing jar, and backing fabric. This makes it a one-stop solution for most repair needs.
- Easy Application: The repair compounds are designed for quick drying and durability. The kit is beginner-friendly, and many users have reported being able to use the repaired items within a day of application.
- Safe and Non-Toxic: The repair compounds are safe to use around the home, making it suitable for households with children and pets.
- Durable: The product promises professional results on various materials, whether they are new or old. This includes leatherette, faux, synthetic, bicast, PU, or premium upholstery.
Summary
While many options are available, contact cement, spray adhesive, and upholstery glue cover the most common upholstery needs. Following the recommendations in this article will help you choose an adhesive that creates lasting bonds between your fabrics and frames.
