The Making of a Bench Cushion

This bench cushion has a long cut out in the middle.  We first mark the foam and then cut with the foam saw.

 All foam is cut with perfectly flat sides.  It is difficult to get a cover to be tight on a flat surface, so we wrap the foam with either a polyester or a down/feather envelope to help tighten the top and bottom panels of the cover.  For this cushion we are gluing the bonded polyester to the foam.

The polyester is cut to the same shape as the foam.  On this cushion, it sits on the  top and bottom of the foam core only.  We left the edges free of polyester because we want the cover to have a flat front. 

The foam in these photos is 2 1/2" thick and will be covered with a cover that has a finished boxing panel of 2 1/2" too.  The edges of the foam will hold the piping on the cover straight while the polyester will push up against the top and bottom panels, creating a crown and making the cover look tight and fit.

Recipe for Wedge Shaped Foam

Start with 1 block of foam.

Slice at desired angle.

Separate!

The angled cut always yields 2 wedges.

Note: If you need only 1 wedge shape, we cut the wedge from a block that is half as wide as your finished product. Then we glue the cut pieces side to side to create a shape that is the full width. For example, if we need one wedge that is 36" wide, we cut the shapes from a block that is 18" wide and then glue the two 18" pieces together to make 36".

Kilim Pillow Power

We love having a stack of beautiful covers to fill and Nomad Rugs' most recent selection of Turkish Kilim covers are really dazzling. We especially like the flyaway "hair" patches that some of the covers sport (see that purple patch in the front row). Five or six of these beauties sprinkled about will really punch up a room.

Gone

Apparently our side doors were the prefect black background for this reversed silhouette paper tag.

Not to encourage this kind of thing, but this is pretty neat.

Marimekko at Crate and Barrel

We love the Marimekko store located in the Crate and Barrel store in Union Square (that's San Francisco). It is full of housewares, dishes, books, linens, bags, things for the kids and yards of fabric. It's like a trip to Finland in the 70's.

Just please don't ask us to make a form to fit a pillow like these!

Dried Crumbled Latex Foam

Over time, Latex foam dries, crumbles and turns to dust. We have replaced these disasters many many times over the years. The dust is very fine, so work with a mask and vacuum the covers thoroughly before replacing the foam.

Water Draining through Drifast Foam

For seat cushions that are going to be left outside we use Drifast Foam. The foam has large open cels and rigid cel walls which make for a cushion that is both firm and won't retain water. Indoor foam has much smaller cells and absorbs water like a sponge. Once the water inside the foam, it can't be wrung out.