Prices on new cushions

[mortimer]

I got a price from a local shop for new cushion foam and covers for my dinette bed, and sofa bed. 7 cushions in all. He said the foam would be a mid grade foam and covers would be vinyl on 1 side and fabric on other, made with zippers. The price for all was 425. Is this a good price?

[universalexports]

I would say yes, my local shop wants $450.00 for just the dinet cushions in vinyl with piping

[LittleVintageTrailer]

I'd say that's a good price. Just be sure you are happy with the foam grade. As it might feel fine for dinette seats but feel too thin for sleeping on.

[Hamlet]

We spent about $500 on four cushions (two 54x24x6 and two 54x12x6) for our Compact. We used high density foam, upholsterer's poly batting, lining, fabric, zippers, and thread. We did them ourselves. So, as littlevintage says, make dead certain you are happy with the foam. Lie down on it. Roll over on it. If it compacts more than about 1/3 of the depth, you may very likely find that it is not enough support for sleeping. If you use high density foam, you can get away with a 5" layer, in retrospect, we would do that instead of 6". It'd have been just as comfortable, but that extra 1" probably cost us $50.

[Gone Kayaking]

Yes I'd say it's a good price as long as you are getting high density (doesn't need to be top of the line but you want at least 10 yr foam) covered in poly batting (othewise the fabric will saw the foam) and then whatever your fabric is. I would also want box welt cushions on the dinett at least...you might get charged more for that as well.

Here's a very good description of foam grades (I bought mine from these folks)...ask your person to tell you which of these is being used, then you can decide if it's good enough. I'd say you want D34 or D44 or better. Don't go for economy foam. Ask to lie/sit on it in teh shop to make sure you are good with how it feels.

www.foamorder.com/foam_mattress.html

[maj]

We recently purchased new foam for our trailer mattress which is 50x80. Ours is 6" deep and "medium firm". Our foam lady was VERY knowledgeable. She said that anything firmer than medium firm was like sleeping on a board. Less than that felt too soft and not enough support, where medium firm felt like a real mattress. Although we tested it before buying by rolling, sitting, laying on it we were still hesitant due to the price. We had NOTHING to be worried about. The foam was great! We sleep like babies. The foam for the bed was around $150 I think. We later upgraded by adding a memory foam topper to this. Heaven have mercy. We thought the bed was good before, now we can't help from sleeping in. Toppers usually run about $100 at Costco, which we then cut down to size.

The comments made above regarding your cushions are wise. Box Welting, YES! Not mentioned here, but to give your cushions that extra pizazz and quality, add piping too. Also, the advice about polybatting is the way to go. The polybatting helps fill the little creases and crevices of the cushion covers making the cushions look full and plump. It provides the extra tension they need to make all your fabric taut. We will be buying foam for our cushions soon, and I imagine it will run us about $75 based on the mattress costs. Our covers, including fabric, piping, zippers, thread, needles, etc ran us about $150 or so. We'll be using the same medium firm foam in 6", since we know others will be regularly sleeping on it we want it to be comfortable.

That being said, ours comes to about $375. Granted, we did pay retail (although shopping sales), and we are doing the work ourselves. But it makes me think that $425 seems too cheap. Perhaps the foam and or fabric is poor quality or they are skimping on something, like the batting, piping, etc. Also, perhaps they are using a thinner foam to reduce the costs. Or maybe they just aren't making a lot of profit. Make sure you are getting quality. It doesn't matter what price you pay if it turns out to be junk, because you'll just end up spending more money.

I'd love to hear more about the specs they are building your cushions at.

[boandsusan]

I sew and have made many cushions, seats etc for boats, motorcycles and too many other things to mention. That quote is SO GOOD that I would check the quality of foam, for sure. The best advice that I can give anyone is to make sure that the shop understands that these will be duel purpose cushions, seating/bed. Please follow up with a post after your cushions are made and you have slept on them.

[paigenmarc]

Good price! It cost me $500 to have the 2 dinette cushions reupholstered.

[tmschirner]

Great question! I am looking into exactly the same thing made for our '62 Airflyte. I have not been into the shop yet, but over the phone he made it sound like it'd be $150 just for the dinette cushions. That seems WAY too cheap. So, I need to check up on the quality, etc. Please let us know what you decide and show us what they end up looking like and how comfy they are.

[mortimer]

thank yall for all the good advice i will report back on the end result

[neophyte]

Awesome price and advice from all above!! I finished my first set of the dinette cushions for our 66' 1500 last night!!! Boxed with piping on the top vinyl side, upholstery fabric with a zipper without piping on the back. We purchased 5" foam from Joann Fabrics when it was 60% off. Thought it might be too thin. My practice cushion with 6" foam from a flip bed had more of the vintage hinge spring seat look but wasn't on sale. Interested in Hamlet's comment re: 5" vrs 6" . After the first sit test last night, seems the 5" is perfect for my over 250 lb husband. Also purchased 70 yds of multi-colors of vinyl (CL deal) a few months ago and had sooooo many choices for combinations, spent too much time trying to decide. Finally went with neutral colors to decorate around and figured, heck, with zippers, I have enough vinyl to keep making as many combinations I am patient enough to sew until Spring and the FRAME OFF becomes a FRAME Back ON to have a place to put the cushions in. My cost for thread, needles, vinyl, foam, fabric, welting cord, sewing machine repair, time, lost sleep, well, won't know until I finish the second set. I am having more fun with the decorating than I was with silicone removal, polishing windows.

[neophyte]

My first set of cushions.

Attachments:

[Gone Kayaking]

nice!

[maj]

I just got price quotes on new foam for my dinette seats. They are not a traditional size (as discussed in another post w/ pics).

vintageshasta.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=upholstery&action=display&thread=7769

They are 18"x33"x4 and I quoted on medium-firm foam. A nice quality and density, same as our mattress. $33 each for a total of $132. This does not include the batting wrap, just foam.

[Hamlet]

maj, if you are planning on EVER using your dinette for sleeping, and you have 6" foam for the bed, 4" of medium foam may not be enough to provide sleeping support. You might want to think about using either 5" medium, or 4" firm. Good luck, that is a great price.

[boandsusan]

Jan 29, 2013 13:19:38 GMT -5 neophyte said:

My first set of cushions.

They look great! You`ve done a super job on them.

[maj]

Thanks Hamlet! I do agree with you. The unfortunate bit about our redesigned seating is that 5" foam really starts to crowd your lap room when seated. The cushions will mostly be used for sitting rather than sleeping. We've done a lot of testing with the 4" and found that it's firm enough that you don't bottom out on it when laying or sitting, so that's good. However, we do plan to bring an additional foam topper for trips where do have an additional guest.

[neophyte]

I hear you maj about the lap room when seated, especially for the side by the kitchen in our 1500 where you have to squeeze in around the table cut out. I REALLY like the looks of the full 6". Ours will unlikely be used for an adult bed either, probably grandkids or the dog-flipping them over to the fabric side. (Took comments from forum folks regarding the piping on the sleeping side and my own frustration with sewing perfect welting corners and decided not to welt the fabric side.) We will be good hosts and use one of our backpacking camping pads over the top of the dinette-perfect size and a reminder that we all are not sleeping on the ground.

[neophyte]

re: first cushions- Thanks Susan and Cowcharge
Susan, I need some of your expert advice before I start sewing my second set. I'll PM you.

[neophyte]

maj- With the sale, we paid $109 for 5 yds of 5" high density foam from Joann Fabrics. It was more than we needed for 2 bench seats (2 @ 35 1/2x24x5, 2@ 35 1/2x15x5). We were questimating the sizes of the seats since we didn't have originals. Plus we didn't want to stand in the mile long line to get it cut. Good thing we had the van to haul it. The foam comes 24x89. Could have saved $30. Ended up with left over pieces. (2 @ 24 x18 1/2 x 5, 2 @ 35 1/4 x 9 1/4 x 5)

[purplechipper]

Great advice! I'm just beginning this while "shasta" adventure. I just bought a 1968 Shasta Starflyte & need to build dinette cushions. I'm finding that foam can be pricy. Thanks for all your knowledge.