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General Upholstery Questions and Comments => General Discussion => Topic started by: gene on November 21, 2018, 02:46:37 am

Title: Banquette cushions
Post by: gene on November 21, 2018, 02:46:37 am
Delivery today for new banquette cushions. 5 sided banquette in a house - brand new build. The seat cushion is one piece. The back cushion was originally one piece that wrapped around beautifully. It looked great but it did not fit. I had to redo it into 5 separate back cushions. I'm really disappointed but I had no choice. I went with Paul's suggestion to use 2" hook and loop to attach the back cushions to the wall.

The fabric takes 6 months to order and then another 2 months to have a plastic coating put over the fabric. They wanted it for Thanksgiving tomorrow.

What I did wrong with the back cushion: First I made accurate measurements. The 5 back wooden panels flair up because the carpenters did not make things square. One panel is 21" across the bottom and 23" across the top, and 14" high, for example. I made a paper template for the seat cushions, and then I used the measurements on the paper template for the back cushion instead of using my notes/measurements for the back cushion.

This may be the worst mistake I've made. I was cruising along enjoying my deadlines for the holiday season and then this happened. I'm now backed up and working Sundays for the rest of the year - and a few hours on Thanksgiving day.

I'll post pictures if it turns out OK.

gene
Title: Re: Banquette cushions
Post by: kodydog on November 21, 2018, 06:06:45 am
The worse thing about Banquettes is the piece is not there in your shop to check things as you go along. The next worse thing is most carpenters do not know how to use a tape measure. They are never symmetrical. And the final worse thing is the customer is always standing right there during the install.
Title: Re: Banquette cushions
Post by: MinUph on November 21, 2018, 09:06:19 am
Bankettes are ok. We have 267 corner bankettes to do 2 seats, 2 backs each. It will be fun.
Title: Re: Banquette cushions
Post by: sofadoc on November 21, 2018, 10:20:00 am
I quote those jobs several times a year. Almost never get them.
Title: Re: Banquette cushions
Post by: 65Buick on November 21, 2018, 12:59:30 pm
Sorry to hear that Gene. Tis good advice for me though as I have one coming up that will be a first job for a new designer.
Title: Re: Banquette cushions
Post by: SteveA on November 21, 2018, 03:11:21 pm
Gene - that is not like you.  I hope you don't beat yourself up too much over this.  I try to not do any calculations or suggestions for customers.  For instance an upholsterer brings me three bar stools and said the lady wants ebony.  I think of a black lacquer piano and make a sample gloss black.  It's refused - and they said just make it a little grayer.  I said no you must pick a color - I can't guess.  The upholsterer was getting frustrated because it wanted the job done.  I told him to tell the people to go to SW and pick out a color and I'll order it in lacquer.  They spend an hour at SW and couldn't find a color they liked. This is the kind of folks you have to deal with.  Anyway  the upholsterer comes into my place and pleads with me to make a grayer color.  So I take out a piece of steel wool and rub the black gloss down to flat - he shows it to the customer and she loves it.  I did the three chairs and rubbed them out to flat.  A sample really helped me

(https://beta-static.photobucket.com/images/ad181/SteveA_2010/0/cfa28ddf-854a-490a-abc1-92e97809b7b2-original.jpg?width=1920&height=1080&fit=bounds) (https://beta.photobucket.com/u/SteveA_2010/p/cfa28ddf-854a-490a-abc1-92e97809b7b2)