Margret's Chair

Recently Mel and I made the cushions for the captain's chair. A couple of months ago, I started scavenging for materials for the cushions. A few blocks from our house, Mel and I came upon a discarded couch, kind of on a side street. It looked pretty ratty, so I figured someone dumped it there. I came back the next day and cut out the back of the couch. After returning home, Mel suggested that I go back and cut out a couple of the insides of the cushions.

I've actually had the materials for a while now, it was the staple gun that I was really waiting on. Once we got the staple gun, we were ready to begin. First we began by cleaning the material with some Lysol spray. Next we decided which cushion fit better on the top and bottom cushions. We decided to go with one of bottom seat cushions from the couch. With some of the spare filling, we plumped up the inside of the cushion.

Next we had to cut the vinyl to size.

One of the obstacles we had to look out for was that only the vinyl could wrap around the base. I didn't allow for much room when I cut the base pieces of the cushions. I wanted to ensure that when the cushions were made they would fit snugly into the chair without having to re enforce them. I think this style helps to keep all the filling inside a tighter area, helping the overall firmness of the cushion.

First we attached to sides.

Then the other two sides. Once we had all four sides done, we needed to decide how we wanted the corners to fold over. We had to test out two corners at a time to make sure they were at an even firmness. If they didn't match, then we added filling as needed.
After completing the corners, I went around with the staple gun and securely stapled the back side of the cushion.

The bottom cushion is done.

Next we started on the back cushion. First we started by putting the base of the back cushion in the chair while the bottom cushion was in place. We noticed that there wasn't much room for the back cushion to extend as far as the bottom cushion did. We decided to use some of the flat material instead and fold it up on top of the base.

After stapling to sides of the vinyl to the base, we flipped over the cushion and checked for evenness. One side was higher and firmer than the other, so we added more material.

Once more filling had been added to the back cushion, we could move onto the corners. First we pulled one side of the corner over to staple it down.

Next we pulled the extra material the other way and secured it. Then we pulled the excess material out directly away from the corner (pull towards the center of the base). We further secured our work by adding more staples.

After adding the final staples, I ran a pair of scissors around the base and cut all the excess material off. Now it was time to put the cushion in place.

The back cushion took some more finessing than the bottom one. With a rubber mallet and some patience, the cushion fit like a tight glove.

With the cushions complete, I can move on the next phase of the captain's chair. Now I must extend the sides of the chair to fit in the basket more snugly and to improve stability. I also want to add built in speakers to the chair. I am still gathering materials for the speakers, as I am not sure whether I would like to have battery operated speakers or non amplified speakers.