How much allowance on couch cushion

[alaeskimo]

Hello can someone tell me if I need to allow more fabric for pressure due to one sitting when re upholstering my couch. I am making cushions boxed with piping and want it to have a tight look but am afraid I will make it too tight and tear. HELP

[uwe]

All of our cushions are relatively tight. The foam will give in the front and rear, no extra fabric is required. However, the fabric is not stretched drum-like tight over the cushions. It seems that the cushions have a 1/4in layer of very soft padding on them, which gives extra room for the fabric and foam to do their thing.
Make sure and use upholstery grade fabrics, and sturdy stitching.
Welcome to Airstreamforums.com!!

[Cedars]

The best way to get nice tight covers on the cushions involves thin plastic bags, and a vacuum cleaner. Make your cushions, insert into a thin plastic bag, like comes from the dry cleaners. Gather up the extra plastic and snug it around the vacuum cleaner hose. Turn the vacuum on. This will suck the extra air out of the cushions. With them now collapsed, and keeping the end twisted down tight to hold them as airless as possible, insert into the cushion covers, tear out as much plastic as you can, and enjoy the completed cushion! An old upholsterer taught me to do this years ago.....

Elizabeth in Iowa

[alaeskimo]

Thank you, I will try the vaccum idea & thanks for the welcome.

[Janet H]

The bag and vacum thing really works! I recovered our foam and it was a life saver but.... You will not find bags big enough for all your cushions. Shrink wrap - the wide stuff also works. Be sure to have some packing tape handy to patch tears and stick open seams together. Wrap it around (and around) cut hole large enough for vacum hose and suck!

I put box style covers and piping on. Get them snugly fitted. I added some poly batting to foam as well - for a slightly posher look and feel. You do not need extra for stretching while seated. Most fabric will give a little over time.

If you are replacing buttons...... Upholstry shops will make buttons for you using your fabric. Do not do this job yourself! The button parts that you can buy at a fabric store are really lame and won't stand up to the long life you should expect from your upholstry job. Take your spare fabric to an upholstry shop and pay them to make buttons with their (higher quality) parts - get a few extras. In my town this actually cheaper than buying parts at fabric store and doing it yourself.

An upholstry shop will also sell the really long needle you need to install the buttons.

We saved loads of money doing this ourselves - so instead I used the cash to buy the best fabric I could. You can see some pics of the upholstry job in my photo gallery

Have fun.

[fireflyinva]

The other thing you may want to consider is overstuffing. Most interior cushions today have this--it gives that nice rounded look to the cushion. You will need to buy upholsterer's batting at the fabric store (don't buy quilting batting, which is much thinner). You will need to wrap it around the cushion before inserting it in the case--some folks adhere it with spray adhesive to keep it in place (traditionally, I think it was basted down).

This can hide some irregularities, but it's a look you have to decide if you like. For sleeping, it doesn't make much of a noticeable difference.

Mary

[alaeskimo]

Thank you all for the helpful info,they look pretty good so far
alaeskimo