Has anyone made an ottoman cushion? Plywood and staple gun technique?

[Roger Marty]

I plan on making an ottoman. Something like shown before. I've got a big leather remnant. Thinking about trying something I read somewhere-- take plywood. Put foam on top. Staple the leather underneath on one side and stretch to the other and staple all around.

Has anyone tried this that can offer tips? I bought 2 pieces of 2" thick foam from Home Depot. I'm not sure whether I'll use both (for 4" of foam and then compress it down significantly) or a single 2" piece.


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[Jamie Buxton]

If you leave the foam as a big rectangular block, you get a whole bunch of extra material at the corners. Notice that in your example seat the foam has been reduced to near-zero height at the corners. This helps resolve the issue. You can carve foam with a long knife. An electric carving knife is even better. Put the carved face away from the leather. The carved face will likely have little waves and imperfections in it which will telegraph through the leather if you put it directly behind the leather.

[Curt Harms]

Depending on the density of the foam, you may also cut it with a fine toothed bandsaw blade. I've cut dense foam on a bandsaw with a 1/4" 10 tpi blade.

[Wayne Lomman]

The technique is to cut the foam about 20mm bigger than the ply base. Spray contact on the top and edges of the ply. Spray contact on the bottom and edges of the foam. Position the ply on the foam taking care to make sure it is centred. Turn it up the right way ply side down. Now comes the tricky bit. You need to pull the edges of the foam down an stick them to the edge of the ply. This gives you the nice rounded shape you see. It is important to get the shape right and then cover with fabric. The fabric does not create the shape. Staple the fabric to the underside of the ply. Hope this helps a bit. If you want more comfort, before you start, cut out the centre of the ply and stretch elastic webbing in a lattice weave pattern across the opening. Cheers

[Steve Eure]

I have made a few and after watching a few youtube videos, I finally got it right. All the above comments are correct, but I also use batten on the top. You can buy it at any fabric store. Even Wallyworld sells it. Makes for a smoother transition over the edges and has a better feel on the top.

[Edwin Santos]

I'm a fan of wrapping with batting also. There are some good YouTube videos that showed me the techniques on how to manage the excess material at the corners. Do two sides and then pull the material as tight as you can while stapling the remaining sides.
Edwin

[Charles Lent]

I'm a woodworker, not an upholsterer, but I have needed to make a few pieces of furniture that required me to learn the basics of the upholstery process. I learned some from a friend and then the rest was self taught as I progressed in this new venture. My very first was so bad that I did it over a few months later. I've had the need to do many upholstery projects since then and have become quitesatisfied with the results that I get now. The following tips should put you far ahead of where I was when I started.

My upholstery Tips -

1. The two bladed oscillating electric kitchen carving knives do a fantastic job of cutting foam cushion material with no foam saw dust. You can make it any shape that you want very easily with one of these knives.

2. The batten layer over the foam makes a big difference when attempting to get the proper slightly rounded cushion shape, so it looks professionally made. Cut the batten larger than the cushion top so it can be folded over and onto the sides of the cushion. This will soften the top edges of the foam, but slightly rounding the foam will also help here. At the corners of a square shaped cushion I cut away the vertical batten material so it still completely cover the foam at the corner, but there is no excess batten to fold or otherwise deal with. A small overlap of the batten at the corner is acceptable. The batten can end at the top edge of the plywood base or it can go over the edge of it to soften and slightly pad it, but it will need to end before the location that you will be stapling.

3. If you will be doing more that a couple of cushions, you should use a pneumatic or electric stapler. You will be driving a lot of staples, and they need to be driven in all the way. A hand stapler for this many staples is going to quickly produce hand pain.

4. When stapling, place one staple carefully positioned mid way along each side to center the material and set the desired cushion tension. Then work out toward the corners from there, but keep rotating the cushion as you add staples to keep the material tension even all the way around as you are adding the staples. Plan ahead when you near the corners so that you can fold the material around the corner the way that you would like and then staple it in place. Repeat the same folding process for the other three corners and staple them. You can then trim off any excess material from beyond the staples on the bottom.

5. For a round cushion, use the same technique, but lay out the stapling process by marking the base into four quadrants, Then use these marks as the four starting staple locations. Instead of folds at the corners, you will need to come up with a folding or bunching technique to deal with the excess fabric and then repeat this as each staple is applied, spacing the staples evenly as you go, but again alternating the staple application from one side to the opposite side and back as you place each staple to keep the material tension equal. A cushion with separate side pieces and a welt for the seam sewn on will make the top to side seam more square, but will also reduce the problem of dealing with excess material during the stapling process.

6. Be sure to use staples as long as possible, but not so long that the points can break through the plywood base. In spite of the foam, the points will be felt under certain sitting conditions. Choose the staple length wisely.

7. Add extra staples wherever necessary after the cushion is completed, to be certain that the fabric lays flat on the bottom of the plywood and will not pull loose.

Charley

[Roger Marty]

I'm happy with how this turned out. I found that trying to shape the foam to the desired shape was not a good idea. Yes, the two-bladed oscillating kitchen carving knife ($11 from Wal-Mart) went through foam like butter when cutting to size. But trying to carefully shape it was a non-starter.

Instead, I reverted to rectangular foam (with hard box edges) and simply got the rounded edges by stretching the batting material.

Yes, using batting material was a very good idea.

The corners was a bit difficult.

The leather is taut and seems exactly how I want it. I suspect that applying a hair dryer to the corners will take out some of the wrinkles. But even so, it is good enough for my eye.

[Bill Dufour]

My wife has an Ottoman that she wants me to recover. This is one of those that is upholstered down the sides for almost a foot. Since it does not open I have no idea how to start.
Bill D

[Charles Lent]

Roger,

I'm glad it worked out for you. To shape real leather, you need to soak it, not heat it

Bill,

If you want the cushion flat, with sharp square corners you will need to build a fabric box by sewing panels together. The sides can be one long piece, wrapped all the way around, with one vertical seam centered on the back side, and a long seam between the sides and the top panel. Upholsterers usually cover a piece of reeding with with a strip of the fabric wrapped around it in a U shape and then sew it into this top seam to form the beaded edge seen on many upholstered pieces of furniture. Make the side piece longer than the sides will need to be, so you can staple it under the bottom. Use the same stapling technique that I described in my previous post, working out from the center of each side and alternating sides as you add staples to keep the fabric pulled tight evenly as you work. The batten should cover the sides as well as the top foam cushion, so there is a little padding in the sides. Sometimes an additional reed seam is created along the bottom edge with just a narrow additional strip of fabric below it is added to fold under and staple. You need to sew this box shape together and then fold it inside out, so make sure you have all the fabric with the inside surface facing up as you sew it together.

Charley

[Bill McNiel]

My wife has an Ottoman that she wants me to recover. This is one of those that is upholstered down the sides for almost a foot. Since it does not open I have no idea how to start.
Bill D

Bill,
Post a couple of photos and I'll ask my wife, the upholstering/sewing guru, to take a look and advise.

[Harry Hagan]

Roger,

I'm glad it worked out for you. To shape real leather, you need to soak it, not heat it

Charley

I've watched several custom car building shows over the holidays and leather upholstery is steamed into shape by the expert upholsterers.

[Charles Lent]

I've watched several custom car building shows over the holidays and leather upholstery is steamed into shape by the expert upholsterers.

Right, large pieces can be steamed. Smaller pieces can just be soaked in water. The moisture softens the leather and lets it stretch where needed. Once dry again, it tends to hold it's new shape. Heat guns dry the leather and shrink it. Don't use a heat gun.

Charley

[Bill Dufour]

Charles if it has to be sewn to recover an Ottoman I will pay some body to do it.
Bill

Looks like this one, the top is hinged. My wife told me yesterday the top was not hinged. So it looks much more doable today. Still I would have to sew one seam in the lower part but less then 8" of sewing I suppose it does not have to even have to be sewn. It could simply be pulled together and stapled then covered at the seam with a trim piece.

https://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.ikea.com/PIAimages/0513953_PE639226_S5.JPG&imgrefurl=http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/60359835/&h=2000&w=2000&tbnid=ykTrE8FtwZUgrM:&tbnh=186&tbnw=186&usg=__6LBhR899YCYBfiIiaawrJT6zWyI%3D&vet=10ahUKEwikjPWSm7PYAhXJ5IMKHZ98CbUQ_B0IugIwCw.. i&docid=hDzKSrLeKAzVpM&itg=1&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwikjPWSm7PYAhXJ5IMKHZ98CbUQ_B0IugIwCw

[Bill McNiel]

Hello Bill, my name is Linda and I am Bill's wife.

I have given up woodworking (Bill is much better at it than I am) for my sewing, and I do quite a bit of home dec sewing, clothing and reupholstering. The way this is done is to take apart the fabric of the ottoman and use the pieces as a pattern for the leather. You would use a marker to write on each piece, up down, center, left side etc. The cushion that is not a seperate piece is attached by sewing, another reason to take apart the blue fabric to see how it is done and use the pieces as a pattern, and carefully label pieces and take pictures. making the cording is a little bit of a challenge, but you can eliminate the cording to make it easier if you have never made cording before. To make cording you need a zipper foot and buy cording of the appropriate size for the interior of the cording to give it shape.

If you are new at sewing and upholstery you might consider making it one piece instead of having the cushion on top. With this method you would cut a piece for the top, and probably two pieces for the sides (two seams on opposite sides of the ottoman). Keep in mind that pieces are cut in fabric the same size of the piece, and seams make the piece tighter for a snug fit.
If you decide to make the cushion as part of the piece you can dress up the ottoman with nail heads around the bottom of the piece.

Since you are new at upholstery business I would suggest you make a test pattern before you start on your leather with some inexpensive fabric or vinyl. Leather is too expensive to ruin on a practice run.

Another idea is to check out you tube to see if there are any instructional videos on upholstery. Good luck and if you need any additional information I will be happy to help any way I can.

[Peter Christensen]

When I was about 5 or 6 my dad would occasionally take me to work on Saturdays to the shop he and and his partners had that made Danish modern furniture. A couple of guys would come in on Saturdays to upholster chair seats/backs for them and they were paid piecework. They would lay the fabric or Naugahyde :) on the bench, put a layer of batten down, followed by some foam and then a plywood seat. They used a magnetic tack hammer to take furniture tacks from the box and put them in their mouth. The tacks were sorted with the tongue and spit head first on to the magnetic tip, the hammer spun and driven into the fabric. When they had a few in they would drive any still up into the seat with the nonmagnetic face. They started at the centre and tacked in several tacks, then spun the seat around and did the same to the bottom that was now at the top while pulling the fabric tight. Spin the seat a quarter of a turn and tack in the centre and spin the seat again to do the opposite. They spread out from the centres tacking and pulling as they went. The corners were done with a tack in the centre and then more pleats and tacks outward until meeting the already done areas. Pleats got extra tacks to flatten them. Excess was trimmed and a layer of black fabric with the edges folded under and tacked on to hide the seat fabric fastening. The entire process from start to finish may have taken a bit longer than 5 minutes each. They didn't talk much while they worked. :p