Chair Cushion – How to Keep Your Chairs Comfortable
Sunday
Oct 4, 2009
If you sit in chairs that don't have a chair cushion, you know how important that layer is to make you comfortable. Rocking chair or straight-back chair, the cushions make them comfortable. If your chair has a symbolism for you, you can embroider special designs or initials on the cushion. If you're adding a cushion to a nursery chair, you can use fabric with clever baby prints to make the chair more appealing and more comfortable as well. Dining chair cushions can also be done in colors that may be associated with a family name or a specific person. This personalization makes them more unique to each individual.
If wicker chair cushions are stuffed more tightly, they will offer you firmer support. Or you can use softer batting or materials inside the cushion to give you a softer seat. Leather cushions can be altered to provide very specific areas of support, and a cushion for neck support can be very helpful and handy.
If your outdoor chair cushions are torn, from excess wear, you can save a lot of re-upholstering money if you do the job yourself. Seams do occasionally split, and minor punctures and rips are a fact of life. You need to get as much wear from your outdoor chair cushions as you can, and you can do this by repairing cushions when you first notice a fray or a tear. In this way, you won't have to replace the whole chair cushion as often. As long as you have a sewing machine, the repairs will be easy. You can repair cushions by hand as well, but it is more time-consuming.
To repair a cushion, examine the damage carefully to determine if the cushion can be repaired, or if it is finally time for a replacement. Straight-line tears and seam rips are easily repaired with a needle and some thread, but bigger areas of damage may require patches. Tears and puncture holes with multiple edges, and cigarette burns, etc., may need patching, since there is no seam to sew together. The material would bunch up too much, and the repair would be noticeable. If your cushion has a tear that crosses over a seam, patch the tear first and then stitch across the seam so that your cushion will keep its shape.
If you have seams that are beginning to come apart, you can close them up with a needle, and some matching thread. Push the padding between two flat surfaces to fit the edges of the seam together, and then use a double stitch for the best hold. Be sure that you tie off your loose ends. If you're not a great sewer, use a triple stitch, to make sure the seam will hold up when people sit on it.
You can patch indoor chair cushions using special patches of vinyl that you will cut to fir the torn area. You may be able to stick the patch on with upholstering glue, but this type of “fix” can be more noticeable. But vinyl patches are the easiest and fastest way to repair a tear or a puncture in chair cushions.
Iron-on patches are another way you can affect a repair to torn chair pads or cushions. You will need to heat the surface well, and this may cause some types of padding to break down. Check the materials in the cushioning before you use a patch that requires heat. A kitchen chair cushion usually responds well with this type of repair, and will be good for months' more wear.
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