just tufting

Cushions

I've been reading about cushions and here is my plan for the week.

Sunday 1 hour to read and plan. The cushion should be "1/2 inch longer and wider per foot" In other words, if I cut the foam on the seam allowance, that should work.

• Monday CUT THE FOAM for TWO CUSHIONS (be sure I have enough foam for the other two. Test it on Kathy.
• Tuesday (Day off)
• Wednesday Cover the foam with poly (see the book)
• Thursday (Day off because I'm going to Ikea)
• Friday Cut the fabric NOTE: the Boxing should be 1/4 inch narrower that the foam thickness. Also, I should try to curve out the top and bottom pieces a little so that their is a hump in the center of both cushions. Neither book mentioned this, but my upholsterer friend gave me this tip. I think it only has to be about 1/4 inch.
• Saturday FINISH TWO CUSHIONS!!
• Sunday

Day 7

I could actually complete it today if I did nothing else. Let's see if I can do it. I will work for 2 hours, then have a shower and see how I feel!! OK-2 hours later, I fluffed the tufting. Then made some welting, cut the arms, and assembled the pieces, ready to staple.....

Day 6

I have slowed down some.
But last night I started sewing the back together.

I've worked for just 15 hours.
There's the possibility that the job can be completed in 20 hours! Certainly in 25!!

So I need to stop procrastinating.

Goal for today...

OK Total hours worked: 18.
Finished tufting, although I want to pretty it up a little.

Day 3

1pm and I'm procrastinating.

If I work for 3 hours today, here's what I could accomplish.

1. Cut out, sew and apply decking.

2. cut out and sew back.

Time to get started!

90 minutes later (after 14 total hours) The decking is on!! I love my new staple gun!

Day 2 (Sunday)

I just removed the back and after I vacuum the crack, I'll be ready to remove the deck.

The hardest thing today will be putting the couch on the floor w/o dropping it.

I want to finish the spring up today!!

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And so I did! In just 4 hours... That's 8 hours less than it took me last time!

Kathy's Turn

Today is the first day of the rest of my life.

In 2 minutes I'm going to begin the second project.

My goal is to complete it in a week.

It took me 15 hours to deconstruct my first couch.

My intent is to finish deconstruction today.

90 minutes: removed skirt and almost removed bottom. This is very well stapled.

3.5 hours: removed the bottom and ALMOST done removing the back.

5 hours: part way done with the arms and back edge. But boy do my hands ache.

6 hours: back edge is off.... On Patty, this is where I was at hour 9. So I've gained 3 hours.

Finished!!

Well, I can't believe it! Exactly one week ago today, I put the finishing touches on her! Click on the thumbnail to see the full size image.

It's taken me since October 25th. A little under 9 months. Longer than my last pregnancy!

And she's by no means perfect. So I have mixed feelings, unfortunately.

The cushion that I chose is not quite right. It is too thick, too hard and too deep. Plus the piping  (welting) isn't straight, although you can't see it in the photo. Overall it looks good at first but then you can tell it was done by an amateur.

Next steps:
Buy a better staple gun. I really had trouble with the other two, towards the end.
Get ready to have new cushions cut. Unfortunately I now have two that are wrong... Maybe I'll have to make something else from them.

Then, I'm going to pick a 1 week period over the summer, when we have no company and no plans, and I will have a marathon. Spend every waking minute working on Kathy... her twin...

Hey, I should probably photograph them side-by-side first.

Anyway, I'd love to hear your comments!!

Almost done

I picked up the cushions I had ordered from Legend Upholstery. They are out of medium foam, covered with a thin layer of fiberfill. I've decided that 1 large cushion will look better than 2 cushions, so that meant ordering a 90 inch zipper.

Finally, last week I finished fastening the back and making the skirt. I made covers for the seat cushions.

Sometime this week, I will staple on the skirt and install the zipper in the cushion cover.

Then we'll have a party!!

Photo Album

Reconstruction is proceeding so fast that I can't keep up with my blog!!

Here are some photos taken on May 30th, when I worked 4 hours and covered the arms and back. Note how beautiful the welting came out!! Reconstruction Album

Cushions

I ordered the foam for the cushions today. It's 5 inches thick and medium weight. When it comes in next week, I will take a pattern over to the upholstery shop and have the foam cut and covered with fiberfill.

The old cushions had a spring inner core but I don't think that's necessary.

I really want to have at least one couch done by the 16th of June...so I better make a plan!!!