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Thank you for your reply.  I ruled out soft material like that because when my sister sits down,I see several inches of space between her butt and the back of the chair.  It seems to be about 4".  If I use 4 inches of soft material, it will compress to 1½ inches or less, and so she still has a bad situation.  That's why I wanted upholstery material-it compresses a little, but not that much.

Thanks for the advice as to where that is available, though, I might well use it in addition to 3 or 4 inches of upholstery foam just to add a little extra softness.

What is the proper density foam for making a 4 inch thick pillow that goes on the back, not bottom, of a lift-recliner chair?  My 73 year old sister came out of the hospital/nursing home barely able to walk and requiring frequent elevation for her feet,  and a lift chair was necessary quickly, which we bought.  With work and practice, she is improving rapidly. She is only 5 ft 3" tall so the seat of the chair is too deep for her. At the present time, we have a blanket on the chair so that when she sits, I, (her brother), get behind the recliner, get hold of the blanket and tug it, (and her),  back so her butt contacts the back of the chair.

The system works all right and I don't even mind it, but we want to point her toward self-sufficiency as quickly as possible and so the ability to leave the chair and use her walker  to go someplace is a step in the right direction.  As her recovery continues, she should eventually be able to walk without a walker or cane.

To get the sizing right I bought three of the following 22" by 2" square pads from Walmart. This is just for sizing the distance from her spine to the chair back, of course the foam will have be longer than 24" high-Walmart sells longer pieces. https://www.walmart.com/ip/Morning-Glory-22-x-22-x-2-Regular-Density-Foam-Cushion/44106465
The proper size for her seems to be two of them. making a 4" pillow, but she said they made the back too hard.  I suspect it might be the bunching since I didn't take the cushions out of the plastic bag and they are a couple of inches too  wide to properly sit in the chair.

We have a genuine fabric store nearby and I suspect they have higher density foam.  My sister lives in the Chicago area so I'm sure a store is neaarby which carries upholstery foam if this store does not.  Thing is, this is seemingly medium density and she is already saying it's too stiff, albeit because of bunching.

The thought occurred to me that perhaps medium density or lighter foam is used to upholstery to contact the back, the heavier stuff for cushions you sit on.  Just a guess, I don't know.

I have no idea how to sew, but this is an emergency situation and I am looking to jerry-rig something up quickly for my sister's comfort and recovery.  For what it's worth, I'm pretty hands-on, I work on my own car often and my hobby is building loudspeakers.  I'm thinking maybe some sheet plastic or duct tape, (it comes in different colors if I want to get fancy) will do for a temporary cover until we see how it works.  If it does work, then we'll worry about giving it a nice cover.

So my main concern is questions about what density foam to use for the pillow.   Any other suggestions you folks might have for my jerry-rig would be sincerely appreciated as well.