Stuffing cushions.

Hi,

My wife and I both retired have just about everything we need or even want but with our 45th wedding anniversay approaching I asked my wife what she would like; anything at all. As usual she said a trip to M&S so we visited Pudsey the first time since Covid and what a huge disappointment; the ladies clothing section appeared to be virtually trousers/slacks and at around 7pm the store was our own when we entered; we couldn't see another customer; how sad because we've always liked and shopped at M&S. We spent very little.

My wife did mention our sofa cushions were sagging and she would be happy to have the cushions restuffed; the sofa cost £2,000 twenty years ago and is still in general good condition but I suggested why not just buy a new sofa? Now the fun began; due to Covid we really didn't want to visit stores so we browsed the web and couldn't find a sofa we liked better than the one we already had.

Why not have our sofa re-upholstered? Locally we have at least four upholster's so we visited one and discussed this with a guy who was nearing retirement age; his younger business partner out on a job; we chose very heavy commercial quality upholstery fabric and explained our sofa was a big three seater; we were roughly quoted £1,200 which wasn't a problem but I said I'd send pictures of our sofa by email which I did.

His partner replied quickly saying the cushions looked as though they needed replacing so now the cost was £1,800 which still wasn't a problem; then we were informed lead time would be at least ten weeks which would bring us into winter so at this point we decided to give it more thought.

I worked in local mills for many years being able to weave; pattern warp; dye etc so was used to different fabrics and materials; I browsed eBay and bought 5KG of hollow fibre cushion/teddy bear stuffing. Five minutes each adding additional stuffing to our three cushions job done; the cushions aren't foam. The new stuffing cost under £23 and most of it is surplus; it took much less stuffing than expected and the actual stuffing used must have cost under £5.

Two days ago I stuffed the cushions but without experience I over stuffed them so this morning I've removed some of the new stuffing and the cushions are now comfortable once again.


The cushions were depressed in their middle seen here and when seated on compressed a lot further.
I added too much new hollow fibre but the job was incredibly easy; inside each cushion is a liner but I just inserted the stuffing between the fabric and liner; if the stuffing starts to push through then I can easily open up the liner and restuff.
The cushions having put on too much thickness but easy enough to adjust.



My wife is delighted and it cost so little in the end; when we first married we had very little money but now in retirement we struggle to spend money; what a strange life.

I thought I'd add this little story just for interest.

Kind regards, Colin.

 

Yes much cheaper @Retired , hubs did all ours in our snug lounge a few years back. Ours is over 25 years old, and due to my line of work also had over 30 little ones sitting, laying and, occasionally , bouncing on it, revamped it's as good as new now.

 

I've never done upholstery but after taking the tatty, old fabric off my cane furniture I decided to give it a go. I bought some end of roll, heavy duty fabric off ebay and, using the old fabric as a pattern, I managed to do a reasonable job. The hardest part was doing the button backs, which is a two person job, but with a little help I did it. I reused the zips and bought new piping cord but the entire job for doing two chairs cost less than £30 pounds. Lovely, comfortable chairs given a new lease of life.

 

Hi,

Well done alana; now you've done some upholstery I bet you do more; it's amazing the savings doing the work oneself; I'd encourage anyone to try something different.

Did you use a piping foot on a sewing machine to add the piping?

Kind regards, Colin.