Re-covering cushions/ attached bases

[brownsox]

Our Trapper TS240 has cushions glued on to the wooden bases, fabric stapled on. This makes them awkward to move when accessing lockers - and especially difficult to tuck a sheet around forepeak ones. I'm considering recovering them as the yukky green tweed is not inspiring anyway ...
Has anyone got experience of removing such cushions from their bases and covering whole cushion? As synthetic fabric seems to be best, do you need to have a more breathable fabric for the base?
I've got an old (older even than me) hand sewing machine that does simple stitching only ...

 

[William_H]

I bought quite cheap cotton drill which is easy to sew and made cushion covers. In fact I have replaced them every few years. You might find that a new foam cushion would be a lot more comfortable to sleep on and if you can't get the old ply clean you could replace that too. I use velcreo (hook and pile) as zippers go corroded very quickly. Cut a slit down the centre between top and bottom of the back edge of the cover and fit the velcro one side ovwerlapping the other. i also sewed wide strip of velcro on the bottom of the cushion and screwed a mating piece in a few places to the base board to hold the cushion in place.
To cut out the fabric for the cushion or matress mark out the plan of the cushion then add 2 cms all round. do one for the top and one for the bottom. Cut stripa of fabric as wide as the cushion is thick plus 2cms each side and as long as it takes to go round the sides. Make the back edge out of 2 overlapping narrow pieces and fit velcro first. The velcro needs to be about 90% of the length of the back egdge. You can join the pieces easily to make one piece. Sew the edeges together 2cms from the edge. Maybe 2 lines of sewing. Turn the whole lot inside out when finished pulling through the velcro hole so the sewn edges are on the inside. Squash up you foam cushion and sqeeze it in through the velcro hole and admire the job. If you don't like it the fabric is so cheap you can do it again. It is well worth mastering the sewing machine so that these jobs become easy and you don't get stressed when cushins get stained or damaged. regards will

 

[snowleopard]

i've done a few boats and while i hate the job i seem to get reasonable results. i entirely endorse the use of velcro, forget zips.

one trick i have learned is that to get a good fit, i actually cut the fabric to exactly the size of the foam then sew with a 1cm seam allowance. this of course means that the cover is 1cm all round smaller than the foam but it results in a nice tight fit with no wrinkles. if you find it hard to believe, experiment on a less visible cushion.

 

[brownsox]

Many thanks that's a big help.

 

[tinytina]

The idea of Drill cotten is cool or talk to an upholsterer I also agree make um tight - you can get higher density foam from upholsterrs if its a place you sit as well as sleep
to cover the hole in the locker use an over sized piece of ply and router a shape the right size to fit - it then has a lip and wont slide plus you can remove it if you get the inclination to stick your head in there!
tina /forums/images/graemlins/ooo.gif