Messages

Hello and welcome on board.

Practicing is how you become a professional - the only way.

I would have thought that a drag racing seat would be made of things that are not flammable. The wood surprised me.

Gene

Hi Darren,

Here's the link:

http://www.sterifab.com/

Gene

I look at welt cord (piping to some folks) more as an element of style, rather than decoration.

I've heard folks say that welt cord on furniture seat cushions help the cushions to hold up to wear and tear more than without welt cord. I don't know.

If you sew the welt cord to the panel, then sew on the boxing, you will have two stitches.If you sew the panel, welt cord, and boxing with one stitch, then there is only one stitch. Does it make a difference other than the amount of time it takes to do the sewing? I don't know.

I do furniture upholstery and I always cover the foam, at least the top and bottom, with poly batting. If the customer does not want that poofie look, I split the batting so there is still a thin layer of it on the foam. This keeps some fabric from sticking to the foam, when butts are slid onto and off of, for example. Foam can act like an abrasive on some fabrics also. Rather than guess as to which fabrics will stick or wear out in 5 years instead of 10, I use the batting.

I have done a few window seat cushions where the customer wanted straight lines and very flat cushions. These cushions were decorative and not meant to be sat upon, so I did not use batting.

On the issue of the 72" x 22" hard box:

3" foam, 1/2" seam allowance, and a 1/4" welt cord with a 1/2" lip.

I cut the foam 72" x 22".

I cut my panels 72" x 22".

I cut my boxing and zipper 4" width.

I put poly batting on top and bottom of the foam.

My finished cushion cover is 71" x 21". When I put the foam with the batting in the cushion cover, the foam fills the cover very nicely, length, width, and height.

I am 1/2" short all around the hard box. However, the foam helps to stretch the fabric a bit, and the welt cord adds 1/4", and this fills in the 1/2" short fall very well.

If I am using a micro fiber or some other material with very little stretch or no stretch, I will cut the panels 72 1/2" x 22 1/2".

I do a lot of window seat cushions and I never want them to be too wide that they hang over the edge and I do not want them to be so tight that they wrinkle up because they are being quished by the sides of the window casement.

Gene

PS: We have had discussions on this topic before and there are a number of folks who do it a bit different and what I do is what I have found works best for me and it's also what I read someone else was doing so I got what I do from this forum so if you disagree with me please do a SEARCH for the original person who said they do it this way and then tell them that they are wrong. :-) Thank you.

I think having a business name that says what you do is a good way to go.

"Cute" gets old quickly. I saw a hair salon named "Curl Up and Dye".

Make sure you check to make sure the name is not in use by another company in your state or copy writed.

Gene

And a Happy Thanksgiving Day to you to. No matter what country we live in, there is always room for dessert and much thanksgiving.

Gene

    Do a search for:


Reupholstering a Curved back sitting chair with arms
« on: May 21, 2009, 06:31:32 PM »

Does your bed irritate you? Are you unable to get a good nights' sleep because the mattress is old and worn, or because there are busted springs? Does your bed bug you?

Just joking!!!

This thread is actually about the Cimex lectularius Linnaeus, the insect we call a bed bug.

Bed bugs are in the news a lot today. Unfortunately, it is difficult to know if there is an actual increase in their numbers and locations, or if it is just another manufactured issue by our Federal Government trying to increase jobs and alarm the peoples. I won't be surprised if there is a new tax coming down the pike on bed related items to help fight this dreaded plague.

Anyway, I do not have a problem with them and I do not know anyone personally who has. Everyone seems to know about someone who knows someone... I have not had any customers inquire about it.

However, because it is in the news so much, I have been wondering:

1. Anyone use Sterifab or other product?

2. Anyone use Sterifab or other products on a regular basis?

3. Do you spray your shop to kill bed bugs? Before or after every job? Once a week? etc.

4. Do you offer a service of killing bed bugs by wrapping furniture in a plastic bag, spraying, and allowing it to sit for a prescribed length of time?

5. Do you use your spraying as a selling point to customers? With bed bugs in the news, I'm wondering if it would be a good selling point to let customers know that my shop is a bed bug free zone?

I hope that my initial attempt at humor, and this topic in general, does not bug anyone.

Thank you,

Gene

Thank you both for your comments. You were correct in that it was not OEM. Someone has stapled the bottom to plywood (inside the cover) and that and the foam had turned to black powder.

I do not have allergies but I could tell from the smell and black fine powder that it could certainly wreck havoc on someone who does.

After I took the whole thing apart the vinyl is in just as bad shape as the rest of it so I can't do anything with it. They need to buy new materials.

Gene

A family member gave me an old boat seat cushion to fix. The foam has turned to black powder. The cushion was made by sewing the top panel to the boxing with welt cord. Welt cord was then sewn around the bottom of the boxing. The foam was put inside the cover, then a piece of wood, or something, was put on the bottom of the foam, inside the cover, The bottom welt cord was stapled to this board that was inside the cover.

I have no idea what this material could be. It is no longer there, or it turned to powder also.

I'm going to put new foam in the cover and just stitch the thing closed without the staples. I am just interested in knowing what that material might have been. I certainly have not seen this technique in furniture upholstery before.

The foam and whatever the board was that was stapled into is all black powder, so I didn't think that a picture would be of help.

Thank you,

Gene

Do the stripes run the length of the ottoman, or the width? If the stripes run the width, and I understand correctly that the width of the fabric is not wide enough, then if you add fabric to the width, you will need to match the stripes when you sew on extra fabric.

If you add an inch to the boxing height, is there wood underneath at that place to staple into?

Another idea, (pictures would be helpful to know if this is a good idea or not), is: if there is wood at the 1" higher place, staple the top fabric at this point, along with the corner pleats. Staple single welt cord all around at this point also, then staple the boxing fabric upside down on the welt cord, add chip strip to keep the welt cord nice and straight, add a little batting, then pull the boxing down and staple under the ottoman. Add welt cord around the base of the ottoman and you will have the boxing outlined, top and bottom, with welt cord. This can be a great look, depending on the ottoman and the fabric and where it is going to be used, etc.

Good luck,

Gene  

PS: When you have the top fabric on the ottoman, slide your hand across the fabric and down the side, this is as tight as you want the fabric.

You should not text while driving. It is dangerous.

For any government to make it illegal is nothing more than symbolism over substance. It makes us think government officials are doing their job when in fact all it is doing is taking away more of our freedom.

Here's a question no one wants to ask: How many deaths are caused by texting???????

gene

PS I'm upset because that Nigerian check bounced.

It really p!sses me off when people use the word 'taco' in their complimentary closing!!!

Just joking!

The movie "Hoosiers" stars Gene Hackman as an old basketball coach who is hired by a small town in Indiana. The towns folk do not like the fact that he is coaching the way he wants to, instead of the way they want him to.

In one scene a townsman says to Hackman, something like: "If a man goes outside and howls at the moon, that is none of my business. But if that man comes into my living room and howls at the moon, then I am forced to do something about it."

I always look at the internet, and everything on it, as being outside. Even if I am sitting in my living room, the internet is not. So, anytime someone howls at the moon on the internet, I ignore them. They are outside.

If someone on the internet begins to bother me, then I see that as my problem. I am inviting them into my living room and I do what I can to stop that.

I read every post on this forum, and I missed what the issues were about that are referred to in this thread. I guess I have gotten pretty good at ignoring people who are standing outside howling at the moon.

Gene a.k.a. The Taco Belch Kid

The tradition of putting an angel on top of the Christmas tree. (Can you hear Oh Tannenbaum playing in the background?)

One year everything was going wrong for Santa. Kinda like that pharmacist in that other story. The elves were all complaining, Mrs. Clause was complaining - no one was happy! All the projects were behind schedule. Their sewing machines needed repairs and Gregg referred Santa to Bobby and Bobby referred Santa to Gregg - no one wanted to make house calls to the North Pole. Santa didn't know if he would get everything done in time for Christmas. This would be the first year ever if he failed. And the toilet in the upstairs bathroom was clogged.

One of the angels thought she would help out by offering to get a Christmas tree for the Clauses' house. Yes, they had been so busy putting out fires and dealing with all the complaining that they didn't have time to get there own tree!

So, the little angel walked out to the woods and found the absolute perfect Christmas tree. She cut it down with her Husqvarna 3120 XP chain saw. She dragged the tree all the way back to Santa's house. When Santa answered the door, the little angel asked, "Santa! I got you the best Christmas tree in the entire forest! Where do you want me to put it?"

And thus began the tradition of placing a little angel on top of your Christmas tree.

Gene

I did a google search for Rush Limbaugh a few years ago and his web page was 14th or 15th on the list. I always wondered about that. I heard him earlier this year on the radio talking about how it took him almost a year to get google to list his web site first when you search his name. All the sites listed before his web site were web sites that bashed him.

A few months ago some issue came up about Obama and the White House. The White House on a Monday said they new nothing about the issue. However, if you did a google search on that issue the previous 3 days the first web site listed was a White House web site explaining their version of the issue.

Google is being sued by the EU, and I think Australia, for violating privacy laws.

Google knows how to work, and video tape, both sides of the street.

Gene

KC, I had never heard the work "snarkey" before. I was surprised the jrbarker knew what that meant.

jrbarker: I think it's a great question and this is a great forum to ask it.

What can I do to bring pro upholsterers to my business?

My answer may not be what you are looking for, but I certainly encourage you to keep looking.

Offering discounts will not do it. Too many brick and mortar stores, as well as internet sites, are offering discounts. You are looking at doing something that many, many other folks are already doing. It is difficult to sell on price, unless you are Walmart.

I also agree with sofadoc in that 'discount fabrics' sometimes means that the customer bought the cheapest window treatment fabric they could find and now they want you to reupholster their sofa with it and they expect the finished project to look AWESOME!!!

Good luck,

Gene