Updating our Cushions

[Ocean Phoenix]

Updating our Cushions

FYI…circles are pics, squares are videos, click on the squares…enjoy more videos on our website)

If you have read any of our past post, you know we have recently purchased our forever boat and we will use it on weekends and summer vacations until we retire in 9 years. We have a lot of work to do to transform her from a racing boat to a live-aboard cruiser. We are planning on redoing the fabric and cushions completely in about 5 years, so we were hoping to re-purpose what we have.
At first sight the fabric were faded, but seemed to be in okay shape, so we loaded then into our car and took them home. We wanted to take the fabric off and wash both the foam pieces and the fabric.
Washing the foam was a bit of a task, but fairly easy to do. We had an extra garbage can (very large) and filled it with water, swimming pool chlorine and a splash of carpet cleaner with Febreze for a fresh scent. We dipped the cushions in the water, squeezed the water out and left them to dry in the summer sun. END RESULT…Fresh foam, waiting for the fabric











This is where things got interesting…






As you can see above, the zipper pulls that were used were made from metal, add this to the salt water environment and voila!!! We tried to scrape it off and add new zipper pulls, but no…the corrosion was not coming off and we could not find matching plastic zipper pulls. OUT COMES THE ZIPPERS (great time for a movie, lol)





So the zippers are out and our new products have arrived and are waiting to go in…








We were not happy with the faded look, after some research we have decided to dye the fabric…







After we dyed and washed the fabrics we found that the edges were fraying badly. We could not find any binding to fit our needs, but we did find ribbon. We folded the ribbon in half with an iron and then stitched onto the fabric. Very time consuming, but it added some great strength to the zipper area.




We sewed the new plastic zippers into place, added the zipper pulls, sewed up the end pieces and hand stitched around the zipper teeth. At the time of this post we are still working on some of the zippers. As this is our winter project, it is a work in progress. As we complete a zipper, we take the pieces downstairs and insert the foam back into them. I have to admit this is the fun part of the whole process.



We laid down the batten and but the cushions on top to measure them out. After we had the batten cut, we spray glued onto the foam. This gives it a softer and more plump feel and look. Next we cut a piece of silk film larger enough to cover the whole foam piece. SILK FILM is your friend, it makes life so much easier!!! We use our vacuum to suck the air out of the foam and then it slides right into place. LOVE IT.

And now we have cushions that are one color (not faded), clean, fresh and plump. We are so excited to get these back to our boat and to try them out.



We hope you find this helpful and should you have any questions, please feel free to ask. We would love to hear your feedback as well, leave your comments below.


Cheers all


James and Tammy on svoceanphoenix

[Cheechako]

Cool. Nice job. So was yours cotton fabric? Does dye stay in Poly or bleed out?

For the life of me I dont know why cushions arent done with velcro in lieu of zippers. An overlapping flap. When I had cushions made once I asked if they would do Velcro and they said they had never done it and it would be more money.

[Ocean Phoenix]

Originally Posted by Cheechako

Cool. Nice job. So was yours cotton fabric? Does dye stay in Poly or bleed out?

For the life of me I dont know why cushions arent done with velcro in lieu of zippers. An overlapping flap. When I had cushions made once I asked if they would do Velcro and they said they had never done it and it would be more money.

Hey, our fabric is a cotton and we had good success with it. Your idea with Velcro is a great one... We may give it a try in the future.