What has happened to building cushions with crown? Probably an understanding of how it is built plays
out in this question. There are several techniques/issues in how to build the crown.
Cushion crown is accomplished in cushion patterning as well as the filler can.
Building cushions with crown was - in the tradition period - was done more. Is the added cost in materials
and labor time the reason? Or is it mostly about cost?
Do many upholsters get the "crown" request? Or is your business only requested to build a cushion that
is symmetric and good seaming?
Crowning, I have observed in the newer/cheaper furniture can be or is executed by building them with a deep box and stuffing them (to better understand) with much softer, and thicker foam. That creates
some crown as the cushion will bulge at the cushion center. But, tailoring to achieve crown, requires cutting the face plates differently (not straight lines) and as said before, further crown influence can
be achieved with the filler attached to the primary cushion being inserted.
It may be, most like the cording along the edge and the face plates flat?
What kind of feed back do business owners get from consumers - some older consumers have
ask what to do to make a cushion to "just" look softer?
That is what caused me to raise thought and ask if this issue comes up with your business and how
does it usually play out?
Remember the down filled cushions of (mostly) old days. They certainly involved more engineering and
thought about building furniture cushions.
Doyle
Most customers get glossy eyed when I start explaining all the options when it comes to cushion design and comfort. In the end they usually say, you're the expert you decide. Every once in a while we do get a customer who wants a certain look and softness.
My experience is the super soft foam stuffed into an undersized boxing is usually found on cheaper furniture. The wing chair we just finished is an example. When the customer brought it to us it was a wreck. The casing was twisted, the seam was ripped and it was badly worn. The 6" foam was super soft and stuffed into a 4-1/2" casing with no dacron. When I sat in it I hit bottom and it was very uncomfortable. Rose suggested new foam wrapped with dacron. The customer was very sentimental and did not want to change a thing. So the challenge was how to make this cushion look good when working with a poor design to begin with. The first stuffing attempt was a failure. I hate stuffing foam that has no dacron and this thing came out full of bumps, lumps and puckers. I tried my best to stuff little pieces of cotton to fill the voids but it went from looking bad to looking worse. Finally I removed the foam and wrapped it with dacron, problem solved.
Conclusion is we always try to give the customer what they want but sometimes their wishes need to be overruled to save our sanity.
So much of the newer furniture is larger scale which seems to drive the cushion technique. That is, deeper foam but much is done with a dacron wrap, if a bottom.
The backrest cushions are a different find on newer cushions. Some no foam, instead the filling is
strands of a synthetic. They flatten pretty fast and customers start looking for a solution.
Doyle