A padded entry: Part II

As promised, the second portion of my bench tutorial.  I have come to realize I love upholstery, it transforms an item from old to new, sad to happy, drab to bright.  I love instant gratification and this certainly does it for me.

So where did we leave off?  Right about here with a sneak peak at the fabric.  The batting was already on, you can read the first portion of this if you didn't catch is last week here.

Here is the picture where we left off:

Break out those staple guns again, you are going to need them.  I wanted to tuft this bench so here are the rest of the items I needed to finish off the cushion:

1. Very long needle to go through foam, batting and wood holes that I drilled.

2.  Thin twine that could withstand pulling and tugging without snapping but also go through the fabric without destroying it

3.  Button cover set, more on this in a minute

4.  Fabric for bench

That's it, you are ready to go.  First just lay out the fabric and position the cushion so that you have some extra fabric on each end to staple into the board.  The batting I used is pretty thick so there are certain spots that require pulling the material a little further so the staple will reach and grip the wood. 

You may need a helper like I did :)  Thank you Speedo!

The corners can be confusing especially if you haven't done this before.  I find it easiest to pull in the corner first and staple.  Then fold up the sides and staple, it looks like a present and pulls the fabric in nicely.

I go a little overboard with the staples, you do not have to use this many but I like knowing the fabric will stay put.

Now for the covered buttons.  When in doubt, read the directions.  I swear I did this but after cutting about eight circles and destroying the fabric trying to get it to stay in place while I jammed the metal backing on I decided to go back for another read.  Alas, there is a mold people.  A MOLD I SAY! 

This is how not to cover a button and what will happen to the fabric:

I found this round circular rubbery thing on the floor (get your minds out of the gutter).  I had no idea what it was so I examined it, read the directions and realized that instead of trying to hold all sides of the fabric in myself, this mold does it for you, genius!  Who is the genius who came up with this plan because I could kiss you right now?  I almost gave up on the tufting until I found this guy:

And in about 15 second I had this, thank goodness!

Now break out the twine and giant needle and let's get tufting.  This is the first time I ever did this but it was so easy! Just thread the twine through the needle, stick the needle through the foam going from underneath first.  This way you can staple the tail end all over the bottom to keep the line secure.  Once you have the needle and twine through the fabric, slide the button on and go back down through the fabric with the twine. 

You just want to zig-zag the twine all over and staple to hold the twine firmly in place, no knots needed here.

Are you ready for this?  TA-DA!!

So there you have it.  If any of you have any cushion tales for us please send them our way.  I have a rocking chair and Shanna has a chair to reupholster so if you have any tips for these please send them along!

See you swoon,