The Upholstery Forum

Hello, I'm getting closer to building the seat for my bench project, which will be my first attempt at upholstery:



I plan to make a tufted leather seat with leather buttons. The seat is roughly a 21" by 14" rectangle. I want the upholstered seat to be 4" above the bench rails and to be pretty firm so that it compresses a bit without bottoming out. However, I'm not sure of what foams to use to achieve that. If I put on the plywood base 2" of some extra dense and firm foam (around 3045?), then 3" of softer high or medium density foam (3035?), then quilt batting, then cotton lining, finally followed by leather, would I get a firm and comfortable seat? What foams should I use in terms of density, ILD, or a four-digit code?

Another thing I'm not completely sure about is this: Do I have to make the seat with a solid plywood base or I can leave an opening in the center of the base to be covered with webbing for extra cushioning? If yes, would it change the choice of the foams?

Would greatly appreciate any suggestion or reference to a book or online resource regarding my questions! Thanks you and Best Wishes, S.

Maybe solidify wheter the chair is going to be a daily use chair by multiple people or a decorative chair that sits in your living room.

Thanks BigRig! Yes, for a living room and to be used occasionally a few times a week. My plan is to build a functional bench; doing my best to make it good looking too, although time will tell.

Looks like a great base to drop plywood into and use high density seating foam.

I have only done diamond tufting once on a set of restaurant seats we built. Ill attach pictures.

You can defiantly do a weave of webbing for the base. But It will probably be easier to pull the button string tight and staple it to the ply wood.

As far as foam goes. The Tufting will make what ever foam you use a good bit firmer. So I would go with something in the medium to firm range. Density mostly tells you the quality of the foam an how long it will last. So higher density is always better but more expensive. A 2050 or 2845 foam would be good for you. But I still recommend going to the store and feeling it for your self. That's always the best way to tell. Hope this helps.

Thank you BigRig! Yes, I'm leaning towards 3/4" plywood for seat base.

Thank you for all the tips, John! Yes, very helpful! That corner seat looks great! I'd like to build something similar to this.

I guess I'll go with solid plywood, without webbing, to see how it feels.

Thank you for all the feedback! I found a piece of 4" 2751 foam that I plan to use for this project. If I chamfer the top of the foam let's say at 2" high at 45°, would I get a seat with rounded edges after leather tufting? Similar to the attached photo? I want to cut the ridges off both for appearance (with them the seat would look like a brick) and comfort (rounded edges would be easier on legs). Thanks, s.

The edge will round out a lot by just pulling the fabric tight. Ive never tried cutting it at a 45. It might work. I suggest doing a small test first to see if you like the look.