I'm making a footstool for SWMBO. I designed it to have a
fabric-covered cushion thinking I'd seen an article on how
to make such a thing in a recent Fine Woodworking.  I've
gone through the last two year's worth of Fine Woodworking,
and I can't find the article.  Can someone point me at
instructions for making a foam-filled fabric-covered cushion
of this type?  I can fake it and I will if I have to, but
I'd rather get it right the first time so I can get back to
making projects for the shop ;-)

Thanks!
jeffy
-- 
Jeff Youngstrom - http://TomeCat.com/jeffy/
"I watch the sky instead of television." -- Marilyn Hacker

On Thu, 12 Sep 2002 20:04:55 -0700 (PDT), Jeff Youngstrom wrote:

>I'm making a footstool for SWMBO. I designed it to have a
>fabric-covered cushion thinking I'd seen an article on how
>to make such a thing in a recent Fine Woodworking.  I've
>gone through the last two year's worth of Fine Woodworking,
>and I can't find the article.  Can someone point me at
>instructions for making a foam-filled fabric-covered cushion
>of this type?  I can fake it and I will if I have to, but
>I'd rather get it right the first time so I can get back to
>making projects for the shop ;-)

You can do this one of two ways.  (1) cushion is basically a pillow, 
which will lie on either a wooden platform or webbing of some sort; or 
(2) cushion is permanently attached to an integral wooden platform.  
Option (1) requires sewing (which, in turn, requires either access to 
SWMBO's sewing machine or considerable skill and patience in hand-
sewing); option (2) does not.

For either option, you will need to go to a fabric shop and pick out a 
sufficient quantity of an appropriate heavyweight upholstery fabric 
(roughly twice as much for option (1)).  You will also have to get some 
polyurethane foam; 2-3" thick should be about right (you want it to be 
compressed just a bit in the finished product).  If you are pursuing 
option (1) you could, instead, use loose stuffing, but I wouldn't 
recommend this.  Cut the foam to W x L of the cushion.  Ideally, chamfer 
all of the top and bottom arrises for option (1); for option (2), 
heavily chamfer all of the arrises of one side.

For option (1), cut two pieces of fabric about 3" wider and longer than 
the finished cushion.  Put the pieces of fabric face-to-face, with the 
back sides out.  With a non-indelible marker, draw a rectangle, 
centered, W+1 x L+1 in dimension.  This assumes 3" foam; if using 2" 
foam, make it W+3/4 x L+3/4.  Sew the two pieces of fabric along this 
line, leaving a gap in the center half of one side.  Trim the edges to 
1/2".  Turn this inside out, so the good side of the fabric is showing 
and the stitching is inside.  Stuff the chamfered foam in (or stuff in 
the loose stuffing), paying particular attention to the corners.  Fold 
the edges of the open part in and stitch up.  You're now an accomplished 
sewer.

For option (2), which I would recommend, given your likely skill set, 
cut a piece of plywood the appropriate W x L size for the cushion's 
backing.  Finish if necessary.  Cut the fabric to W+2T x L+2T, where T 
is the foam thickness.  Fold 1" of fabric over the appropriate edge of 
the plywood backing.  Staple* at appropriate intervals (probably 1" or 
so).  Now, lay the foam on the unstapled side of the backing, with the 
chamfers DOWN and the right-angled edges UP (this should look completely 
backward**).  Pull the fabric over it and maneuver the foam and fabric 
so that the chamfers flatten out and the foam goes to the stapled edge 
and the opposite edge.  Line up the other edges while you're at it.  
Turn the cushion upside down (board side up).  Pull the fabric at the 
middle of the opposite edge until it's pretty taut.  Staple.  Now pull 
the fabric next to that until it's evenly taut.  Staple.  Et cetera.  
Now do it with the other edges.  Trim off the excess fabric.  You're now 
done, and you didn't have to learn how to sew.  This finished cushion 
may now be affixed to the frame in an appropriate manner using old 
tools.

(* You could use tacks, which would be more galootish.  It is also much 
more difficult to drive tacks without bending them than to use a staple 
gun.)

(** The reason for putting the foam chamfers upside down is to cause a 
gentle, even curvature to the sides of the cushion; if the chamfers were 
right-side-up, the cutting lines would show.)

I used option (2) to create a replacement seat for a child's chair made 
by my grandfather for my mother over 80 years ago (it wasn't originally 
upholstered, and the 80-year-old plywood had disintegrated).  My two 
kids didn't do much to it but add stains.  It survived them.  My 
sister's kid is now working on it.  The technique should work very well 
for a footstool.  For a real chair, things would be much more 
complicated.

For a footstool, you should be able to pull the fabric over the foam 
pretty evenly by hand.  If you were doing something more elaborate, you 
would need an upholstery puller.  In fact, an upholstery puller (which 
is kind of like a pliers with a very wide jaw, to pull fabric evenly 
over a considerable width, would be an excellent old tool to buy to make 
even the footstool cushion construction more enjoyable.

Hi Jeff,

Have you tried the FWW index at:
http://www.taunton.com/cgi-bin/artresult-fw.cgi

Jeff Youngstrom wrote:
> 
> I'm making a footstool for SWMBO. I designed it to have a
> fabric-covered cushion thinking I'd seen an article on how
> to make such a thing in a recent Fine Woodworking.  I've
> gone through the last two year's worth of Fine Woodworking,
> and I can't find the article.  Can someone point me at
> instructions for making a foam-filled fabric-covered cushion
> of this type?  I can fake it and I will if I have to, but
> I'd rather get it right the first time so I can get back to
> making projects for the shop ;-)
> 
> Thanks!
> jeffy
> --
> Jeff Youngstrom - http://TomeCat.com/jeffy/
> "I watch the sky instead of television." -- Marilyn Hacker
> 
> Archive: http://www.frontier.iarc.uaf.edu/~cswingle/archive
> To unsubscribe or change options, use the web interface:
>     http://galoots.law.cornell.edu/cgi-bin/lyris.pl?enter=oldtools

On Thu, 12 Sep 2002 20:04:55 -0700 (PDT), Jeff Youngstrom wrote:

>I'm making a footstool for SWMBO. I designed it to have a
>fabric-covered cushion thinking I'd seen an article on how
>to make such a thing in a recent Fine Woodworking.  I've
>gone through the last two year's worth of Fine Woodworking,
>and I can't find the article.  Can someone point me at
>instructions for making a foam-filled fabric-covered cushion
>of this type?  I can fake it and I will if I have to, but
>I'd rather get it right the first time so I can get back to
>making projects for the shop ;-)

You can do this one of two ways.  (1) cushion is basically a pillow,
which will lie on either a wooden platform or webbing of some sort; or
(2) cushion is permanently attached to an integral wooden platform.
Option (1) requires sewing (which, in turn, requires either access to
SWMBO's sewing machine or considerable skill and patience in hand-
sewing); option (2) does not.

Snip of Mike Sullivan's excellent instructions.

I have more than sufficient skill set for either option
and would add the following:

1. For option 1, it is quite possible to buy something
called a pillow form which is a pillow with a flimsy covering
essentially looking for a form-fitting skin-tight pillowcase.
This requires making a footstool in a standard size to 
accomodate available forms, probably too late for Jeff
but something for other galoots to consider if planning a
similar project.

2. If following option 2, make the length and widths
mebbe 1/4" shorter in both directions to accomodate the 
thickness of the fabric if it drops into a frame (like 
most dining room chairs. the ply sits on a molding framed
ledge).  Exact thickness varies with fabric chosen, a light
chintz only needs a bit, a heavy velour needs more.  Keep
an eye on the support structure so you don't have something
so heavy that the ply is hanging in space.

3. Be clever when choosing fabric.  Plaids must be centered
and evenly stretched in both directions or they look amateur,
stripes have the same problem in one direction, plain, small
designs (if they don't make stripes at 10') and things like
giant roses hide a multitude of inexactnesses.

If you take the sketch or the plywood seat to the fabric 
store, any clerk should be able to figure out exactly what
you need and suggest things like fringes for pillows or 
edging trim and tacks if it fits the design. A proper home dec
department would probably have some made up samples for showing
folks how easy it is to redo the dining room chairs so you 
can see how it works....  If you haven't started yet, hit 
the home dec department for construction ideas. They may well 
have some cute handouts on how easy it is to do the part you
don't know (pointed to inexperienced sewing people). 

I had never encountered the instructions for chamfering the 
foam when making the flat stapled seat but it is exceedingly 
clever.

Esther
oldtools listmom
FAQ: http://www.brendlers.net/oldtools/OTFAQ.htm
http://galoots.law.cornell.edu/cgi-bin/lyris.pl?enter=oldtools