Fix flat cushions on a leather sofa

A leather sofa doesn't come cheap these days, and whether you buy one new or secondhand, somewhere down the line you are going to have flat cushions. Here's how to plump up flat leather cushions for a leather sofa that looks good again.

 

As leather cushions get old they sag and flatten, looking awful and becoming uncomfortable. The foam cushion lacks spring and bounce and the leather covering starts to fold and loses shape. Fix your flat-as-pancakes cushions to quickly rejuvenate the couch, making it easier to sit on and get up from, and adding years to its longevity.

1. Fill the cushions with batting to pad them up so that you can accurately determine the length and width of the foam you need. Measure from welt cord to welt cord, both directions and adding 3cm to the length and width measurements. Measure the height for the cushion to determine the thickness of foam required.

 

 

2. Unzip and remove the old padding and foam.

3. Have foam cut to size for each cushion. Don't buy cheap foam for this project or you will soon have to replace. Use Alcolin spray adhesive to attach batting to the top and front of each block of foam.

modhomeec.com

4. Stuffing new inserts into cushion covers is not easy. You can try to fold them in two and work them into the cushion cover, or you can place them into a plastic bag and stick a vacuum hose up against the foam, holding the plastic around the hose, suck the air out of the foam, which will shrink the foam, to allow the foam to slide into the zipper opening very easily. If you do this, try to pull as much of the plastic bag out after the cushion is in place.

Remember this, it’s perfectly fine to grab a handful of battingto fill in the corners. You want your cushions looking smooth and full.

If you need to fix up back cushions, open the zip to look at the filler inside. More often than not these cushions are padded with a combination of batting and foam chips. Be sure to have a large plastic bag handy to collect the fill. You can purchase cushion filler at most fabric stores and this gets packed back into the cushion. If you are handy with a sewing machine - make a muslin bag for the padding to make it easier to fit and easier to adjust into shape.