Antique Chair, part 10

Now for the padding. I use cotton batting. This particular cotton is a 50/50 blend. I try to stay away from using foam on a chair like this one. Using foam could be an option for you. But since this is my blog were going to use cotton. Now if you use cotton, and you have saved some scraps, this is the time to use ‘em up. I save most of mine because this stuff is so dang expensive ya hate to throw it away. I start to fill the area between the inside of the edge roll to the top of the springs. Even though you are using scrap you still need to lay it out flat and level. Around the arms and the back rails I have added even more cotton. I do this because those areas are where the fabric will be pulled the tightest and you need to allow for that. Now I start to layer the cushion. In this case I applied three layers of cotton to the top. The first couple of layers I feathered off the cotton to the outside edge of the edge roll. While working with cotton you will do a lot of feathering. You don’t want edges that will show when you start to apply the fabric. Nice and smooth is what you want. As I start to apply the fabric, I will make adjustments to the padding as I go. Adding here, subtracting there. One thing when working with cotton is that you don’t want to have it where you staple the cover to the frame. Make sure that the cotton is feathered out just above the frame rails. If there is too much bulk where you staple it will be lumpy. This is one of the reasons why I attach the edge roll to the frame rails. I can feather the cotton out a little higher and have a smoother more pleasing look. Now I am ready to start cutting expensive fabric.