San Francisco Decorator Showcase 2019

One of our favorite rooms at this year's San Francisco Decorator Showcase was the gorgeous Wo-Man Cave designed by Kelly Hola Interiors (photos by John Merkl).  Our eyes were naturally drawn to the array of beautiful pillows which were fabricated by the always amazing Leong Interiors (with inserts by Cushion Works, naturally).  This room was previously a storage space for chairs and bric-a-brac from the neighboring ballroom. The transformation to elegant Wo-Man Cave was amazing.

Back Cushion Rejuvenation

Most furniture ships with back cushions filled with either polyester or a down/feather blend and sometimes with down/feather blended with polyester.  With normal use the polyester filled inserts will start to show wear and begin to sag.

We were recently brought some sagging fiber/down filled backs.  Fiber/down is the filling that blends down/feather with polyester.  Although down/feather on it's own is fluffable, once it's blended with polyester it gets tangled in the poly fibers and as the batting wads up and flattens, so too does the down/feather.  These cushions had lost their fullness, were drooping severely and provided no support (the picture below says it all) for their owners.

We emptied the backs of the fiber/down filling, as you can see it comes out in ropey bands of wadded up polyester and feathers.

After emptying the tick, we refilled it with Cluster Fiber, making the insert very firm, supportive and full.

Lots of Cluster Fiber filled into the existing tick makes the insert much fuller and firmer than before.

The new cushion is dramatically fuller than the old cushion.

By the way, we never mix down/feather with polyester.  Either we make a polyester filled cushion which is firm, or a down/feather cushion which is fluffable, or a foam core poly

Beautiful Embroidery

Leong Interiors, one of our favorite customers, has expanded their offerings to include custom embroidery!  Take a look at the 12 x 18 lumbar pillows we had monogramed for friends.  If these pillows look as good to you as they do to us, you can contact Leong Interiors here or go to her website:  www.leonginteriors.com

Poly / Down Seat Cushion

By Poly / Down we mean a seat cushion with a foam core that is inside a down/feather filled envelope (or jacket).  Old timers refer to polyurethane foam as "poly" and "down" refers to a down and feather blend.  Some common blends for cushions are 10% down/90% feather, 25% down/75% feather (pictured below) and 50% down/50% feather.

We used the original cover (at the top left) as a pattern for cutting the foam.
The finished boxing on the cover is 4" so we used a 4" thick High Resiliency
foam core.  The thickness of the foam is the same as the finished boxing
so that the edges of the foam to line up with the seams of
the cover to hold them straight and tight.

Our down & feather filled jacket is cut a little larger than the finished size
of the cover.  It also includes a crown allowance which allows finished
cushion to be very full and round.  We also sew partitions into the ticking.
This keeps the down/feather in separate channels which helps
the customer to maintain the cushion.  It also allows for the high
crown that is indicative of this type of construction.

A zipper at the back of the cushion makes it easy to access the foam core
for maintenance.

The foam core is inserted into the envelope.

Zipped up.

This cushion has a crown of about 8".  The foam is 4" thick.

The finished cushion ready to be covered.

Spring Core Cushion with Down and Feather Wrap *

Start with carefully cut foam borders, topper and bottom.

Spring core fits inside, foam masks the edges of the springs.

Apply 3M Super 77 to make foam box with springs inside.

Wrap foam/spring unit with Dacron 91 sewn one side

like a birthday present. Finish edges with staples.

Fluffy, soft down and feather filled envelope fits

around spring/foam/Dacron unit. Zip it up.

High crown, super comfortable, fluffable,

the Spring Core/Down and Feather Cushion!

* please note that this type of cushion is very soft