A lady called today and wants 6 cushions recovered. Its a wicker piece from the 50's and she wants the cotton wrapped spring cushion rebuilt. She wants me to take all the old cotton off from around the springs and replace with all new cotton. I've never done this before. I've never been shown how. Rose says it doesn't seem that hard. I think it'll make a big mess. I'm always up for a challenge but don't feel good about this.
Has anyone ever rebuilt cotton wrapped spring cushions before? Are there any good alternatives?
Without a cushion machine it will be a challenge. Disposing of the "old" cotton will make it that much harder. You will need several layers of new cotton to hide the feel of the springs. And this will add a lot of height to the unit until it is filled. Hence the cushion machine. You can suck it down with a bag and vacuum but it still will be a challenge.
Other ways of doing this is building out the springs with foam all 6 sides about 2" in on the edges and then wrap this with cotton. The feel of this type of cushion in very close to the same but much easier. Still will need to suck it down or use a machine to fill them. Spring filled cushions normally are hand sewn close (no zipper) so everything inside is really unknown to the customer. Not that I would recommend not telling them what your making but they wont be able to remove the cover.
I really miss my old cushion machine and dont have the room for one now. They are really handy for all cushions.
Did you post this on FB today?
Rose posted it on fb. Don't know why I didn't thing of rebuilding with foam. I will run that idea buy the customer tomorrow. Thanks Paul.
I've never had a cushion packer but I understand what they do. I'm sure if I did a lot of cushions they could make a big difference.
I've done a few cotton wrapped cushion inserts. I make the cushion insert cover and leave the back end un sewn. I use my shop vac like Paul said to compress the cushion insert and slide it into the insert cover. I needed to leave 3 sides of the back end un sewn to get the thing into the cushion cover.
I then put a board across the back end of the cushion insert to compress it with pipe clamps so I could sew up the cushion insert cover.
I did several very large cotton wrapped cushion inserts where I put a zipper on the back end of the cushion insert cover so I could zip it closed and not have to fight with trying to sew it closed. I still used the shop vac to compress it when I slid it into the cover. I used a fabric stronger than regular muslin for the cushion insert cover, and the finished fabric was rather thick. With the zipper on the back of the cushion cover you couldn't tell it was there.
It's not every day you get a new cotton pickin' project.
gene
Thanks Gene. I went on line but not much there. Your description is helpful.
Cotton wrapped cushions were the normal some time ago. I bought a new cushion stuffer, a foot pedal that was and is still used with foam where it applies.
If the cotton has never been wet, can't it still be reused? I usually got into the work you are talking about with marshall coil units. Most time a layer of support was placed across them then the cotton. I believe it was mentioned above that a muslin cover was fabricated before the final cover was added.
Cushion stuffers are handy with foam, use it often where it applies. Can't remember what I paid for it (new). It will wear me out before........
Anyway, there is an art to building these type of cushion inserts.
They last.......
Doyle