Different Types of Polyester Wraps around a Foam Core

The most basic cushion construction is a foam core with a polyester wrap. The foam provides the support and lines up with the seams in the depth, width and boxing of the cushion. Foam is cut with a straight blade and is perfectly flat on all sides. It is difficult to have a cover be tight and wrinkle-free on a flat surface. To aid in the fit and to soften the appearance of the foam, we wrap it with polyester (and down/feather, but that is for another entry). The polyester pushes out against the cover which tightens it and eliminates wrinkles. Below is a discussion of two types of polyester wrap.

High Density foam w/ Dacron wrap, muslin tick

With use, all foam gets softer and all polyester flattens. High Density foam, which is available in five levels of firmness, resists softening the best. The best option for wrapping the foam is with Dacron. It's springy fiber stays fluffy and resists flattening best out of all the polyester battings. To hold everything in place we make a muslin lined jacket out of the Dacron and the foam core fits inside. The jacket is closed with a zipper at the back.

High Density Foam w/ bonded wrap, glued, no lining

Bonded polyester is the easiest, quickest batting to work with. It is cut to size and glued to the surface of the foam. Bonded polyester has the least amount of resiliency and will flatten the quickest. We have 4 different weights (thicknesses) of bonded polyester to choose from: 1/2 oz. , 3/4 oz., & 1 1/4 oz.

AMY TRACHTENBERG - Covered in Sky

Recently the artist Amy Trachtenberg has been digging her way through our mountains of foam scraps and retired cushions.  For weeks she's hauled away bags and bags of materials.  She said that the sculpture had to go higher, that the ceiling at the gallery needed to be reached.  We couldn't imagine what she was making.  Finally the monumental sculpture will be revealed at her new show titled Covered in Sky going up this weekend at the at the Luggage Store (June 14 through July 13, 2019).  We deal with piles of used cushion foam daily and it is as an ongoing challenge to keep it from swallowing up our work area.  We cut it up, bag it and send it off to be recycled into carpet padding.  Seeing how the the materials are reconfigured by Amy gives them a magical, if maybe a little ominous, presence.

Standing on One Leg Swallowing the Mountain of Appearances

Steel cart, foam rubber, twine, jute, nylon, leather, plastic belts and shoes

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.

Curving Wedges

A recent project called for several wedge back cushions to follow the gentle curve of a built in bench. 

Recycling Foam

It's time to recycle all of the old cushion foam and off cuts.  These bags contain cut down foam that will go to the foam plant to be shredded, re-bonded, and sliced to make carpet pad.  

Slim, Sculpted Floor Seating

We were recently presented with some very pretty round covers with a knife edge (knife edge is two pieces of fabric sewn together, like a bed pillow) and asked to make very firm inserts so that the client could use them as floor cushions.  Unlike a sofa cushion which has a boxing panel sewn in which allows for the blockiness of a foam core, a knife edge seam doesn't fit a foam insert.  Our solution was to shave down the edge of the foam to make it sharp which will neatly fit with the cover's seam.  We then wrapped the foam with polyester which softens further the shape of the foam and takes the slack out of the fabric, tightening it and removing wrinkles.  Once the inserts are installed in the covers, a full, firm insert is ready for the home.

Die Cut Foam

We just provided a client with 7,000 pieces of die cut foam to be used in packaging their liquid filled flasks for shipping.  They needed a charcoal gray foam that would have 12 round holes that went all the way through the foam.  We had a sample made for approval, made a slight adjustment on the diameter of the hole and put the job into production.  The pieces were delivered and the product was received in time for Holiday shipping.

A phone call leads to a sketch.  Close but not quite right.

A 3-D illustration helps everyone to visualize the end product. 

We cut one sample for approval.  The diameter of the holes was a little too small.

The final product held the snugly fit the flasks.

Fun with Foam Shapes

We recently cut this set of foam triangles.  Don't know how they are being used, but we like to line them up on the table in an obvious formation.

Cushion Works turns 35!

After the Holiday Break Tang Welcomes Us Back to Work

Magazines We Like!

Flipping through the terrific book and periodical selection at the Museum of Craft & Design in San Francisco we found Dirty Furniture, it's debut issue is right up our alley because it is all about sofas!  Articles cover such diverse and wonderful subjects as odd objects found in sofas, how foam is made, a great photo essay on artist's sofa designs and Freud's sofa.

In our shop we have the perfect pile of old cushion foam on which to display our prize copy of Dirty Furniture.

As long as we are recommending favorite publications, we also cannot get enough of Apartamento.  What's in it you ask?  What ISN'T in it we reply.  Anything goes in this magazine, from Picasso and Gary Panter's home studios (no, they didn't live together) to a gorgeous painted essay by Jean-Phillipe Delhomme.  We like it that the editorial approach isn't about perfect spaces that are designed for the photographic team that arrived the day after everything was installed, but rather these are real lived in spaces that are reflective of the personalities of the owners and are often, thankfully, a bit messy.

Upholsterer Don Miller enjoys the latest issue of Apartamento.

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

Jay Nelson's Tree House

We're very excited to see this article in the SF Chronicle about Jay Nelson's latest tree house.  Not only is the house original and cool, we got to contribute to it as well by making the cushion inserts for the benches.  The covers were expertly made by Catlin Weatherill, who tailored all the unique angles that were part of Jay's design.  We would love to hang out in this tree house and listen to Peter Rabbit on the phonograph all day.

100% Natural Latex Foam

We are now carrying bouncy, heavy, anti-microbial, Oeko-Tex Standard 100 certified, flame retardant free 100% Natural Latex Foam.  It's available in 30" x 80" sheets, 3", 4" and 5" thick.  We can also cut and glue it to size.  Call or email us with your dimensions.

The holes are the result of the pins that are part of the mold that is used to make the finished product.

The Latex carries the Oeko-Tex Standard 100 label (this one was checked by Shirley)

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

IN STOCK: Fire Retardant Free Foam

Update June 2015 - Fire Retardant Polyurethane foam is now available!

In the near future we will be able to offer our customers foam that is free of fire retardant (FR).  If you would like to be contacted when the FR free foam is available please send us an email.  If you would like pricing, send us the measurements of your cushion cover's (see diagram below) depth, width and boxing. We will get back to you with pricing and information about the types of foam that will be available.

Dürer

We frequently have customers who are looking for very special pillows. They are the jewelry that completes the outfit so to speak. The covers are exquisite fabrics and trims that may evoke another time or place in personal history, or be the splash of color that ties everything together.  The common ground for these gems is the blend of down and feather that we manufacture to support the cover.  

We recently discovered these beautifully rendered pen and ink drawings of down pillows that were made by the 22 year old Albert Dürer in 1493.  We are delighted to see that nothing really has changed in the look of the down pillow, and that the pillows we make today, with a little use, look just like the pillows of 500 years ago.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art - Self-portrait, Study of a Hand and a Pillow (recto); Six Studies of Pillows (verso)

Beautiful Colors - The 2 Ply Bonded Polyester Hand Stitching/Jewelry Twine Has Arrived!

It's like a rainbow.  For all of your hand stitching needs, shoe & leather repair, upholstery & canvas stitching, beading and more.
Put up on 2 oz. tubes for $7 ea.
Colors: Red, White, Yellow, Natural, Beaver, Beige, Black, Blue, Green, Light Grey, Mahogany, Navy Blue, Olive Drab, Orange & Purple

Stuffing a Cushion Cover

Little House - Long Cushions

The Metropolitan Museum of Art regularly posts short audio/visual tours from their collection and this one on Frank Lloyd Wright's living room of the Little House features a few views of a pair of wonderfully long, long window seats bookended by perfectly proportioned bolsters.

These pictures make a strong case for making one long cushion for a window or bench seat instead of breaking the space up with 2 or 3 (or more!) cushions.  

It's graphically bold and comes with the added benefit of allowing the user to lie anywhere they want without encountering a break from one cushion to the next. 

An interesting choice was made to have the cushions come up short in width to allow the bolster to rest inside the space between the cushion and the wall.