Inqism-06: New Cushions

[Inquisitor]

I've inserted this project into the mix now. I was going to have them made but Starscream's (should I say stellar) thread viewtopic.php?f=8&t=27707&p=347563#p347563 got me thinking... maybe, I can do this too. And like him I needed some indoor projects. My limit in the boat is about 40F. Below that and its just not fun.

Anyway, I have samples of Olefin coming from a mill here in North Carolina. It is somewhat less expensive than Sunbrella and has Double-rub values of 50k, 75k and 100k. The outdoor specific versions meant to compete with Sunbrella claim higher light fastness rating of 3000 hours and a 5 year warranty. https://revolutionfabrics.com/collectio ... oor-fabric

Oh, and an additional recommendation for sewing cusions: make the boxing just slightly smaller than the foam height, for a good tight fit. Otherwise the smallest imperfections in the foam cutting show up as loose areas that need to be padding. I found that allowing for a 1/2" seam when cutting the panels but sewing a 5/8" seam gave a reasonable tightness to the covers.

Starscream pointed out that making the outer covering tighter than the foam improved the fit. Glad he mentioned it, I'd have cut the foam and shell for the same dimensions. Isn't it great, letting someone else be the guinea pig. Being that the M's cushions are thicker, I thought I'd try to glean some information of how MacGregor made them, so I took one apart that didn't get a lot of wear. Here is what I found.

I took out the foam and let it re-expand overnight.
The dimensions of foam are: 24" x 25" x 5".
The density of the foam is: 1.6 pounds / cu-ft

Apparently according to The Foam Factory, cushions should be about 2.5 lbs/cu-ft, but they also emphasized that thickness matters and their number was for thin cushions (2" to 3" thick). When using thicker, you can go softer and still not give up longevity. My Mac's foam seems fine and where I can, I'll re-use it.

Measuring the vinyl covering for the same cushion:
I measured top, bottom and both sides for each measurement and good thing I did, they weren't very consistent.
Width: 22", 22", 22.4", 23"
Length: 24.5", 24", 23.5", 24"
Thickness: 4", 4", 4", 4.5"

[NiceAft]

I’m thinking you and starscream should get together and do a YouTube videos.

[Starscream]

I’m thinking you and starscream should get together and do a YouTube videos.

I actually thought of doing that. Most videos assume you know the difference between a cording foot and a zipper foot. I'd make a video for people like me who didn't even know there WERE such things.

[C Buchs]

My wife couldn't get her machine to feed the fabric. Turns out there's a lever to lower the foot down. I didn't know there were different feet and we still made our own cushions. Watch of few youtube videos and take your time!


Jeff

[Starscream]

Hahaha yeah, sewing sound easy but it really takes some time to get your head around it. The first time my wife showed me how to thread a machine I thought she was fooling with me, it couldn't possibly be that complicated...but it was. I had to spend a half an hour figuring out how the heck the bobbin worked to interlace the threads. Couldn't start until I understood it.

Jeff, I like your interior and galley top. Clean. Looks like you could use some of those plastic hole caps .

Now that my cushion project is more or less completed with the revitalization of my original cockpit cushions, curtains is next on my list. I like the ones we have but they hold the boat smell and aren't easy to open or adjust.

[Inquisitor]

...
I had to spend a half an hour figuring out how the heck the bobbin worked to interlace the threads. Couldn't start until I understood it.
...

No kidding! ... compared to our tools, its an engineering marvel. I wonder what that says about (traditional) gender tools... they have sewing machines, we have... ah... a hammer.

[Be Free]

...
I had to spend a half an hour figuring out how the heck the bobbin worked to interlace the threads. Couldn't start until I understood it.
...

No kidding! ... compared to our tools, its an engineering marvel. I wonder what that says about (traditional) gender tools... they have sewing machines, we have... ah... a hammer.

I was the same way when I got a machine to make some repairs to my sails. I could not start until I understood how it kept the stitches together. I used to say I had a better understanding of how to build an atomic bomb than how a sewing machine works.

I'm sure all of us have hammers, but do you have an x-ray hammer? It shows up around 4:30.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DTsMdf5DaPU

[NiceAft]

Now don't you guys wish you had taken a Home Economics class when you were in elementary school, or in the case of Starscream, what ever it is called in Canada.

[Inquisitor]

Now don't you guys wish you had taken a Home Economics class when you were in elementary school, or in the case of Starscream, what ever it is called in Canada.

I didn't take a Home-Ec class in the late 70's high school. But knowing I was going into engineering and doing a lot with computers (this was long before the IBM-PC) I took the Typing Class - I was the first male that had ever taken the class at our rural high-school in east Tennessee. It wound up being probably the most important class I took in high-school even more than the Physics class that led me to Engineering. Not having to hunt and peck has probably saved me thousands of hours over the years.

[NiceAft]

this was long before the IBM-PC

IBM-PC

I graduated college in the very early seventies. In my computer class, I learned PUNCH CARDS

[Inquisitor]

this was long before the IBM-PC

IBM-PC

I graduated college in the very early seventies. In my computer class, I learned PUNCH CARDS

At home, I was fortunate enough to have a Apple II in the household. Even in 1980 high-school, the class computer was terminal based with dual 12" floppies. I harken back... as a freshman at UT, I used punch cards. When I ever visited home and whined about the lousy computer and waiting hours for my results, Dad would break out the slide rule and make me do logarithms!

Memory Lane. Some great... some not so good.

[NiceAft]

Still have my slide rule

[Starscream]

Interesting comment about the value of typing from Inquisitor...very similar to my experience. I learned to type in about grade 9, taking several classes with the girls, a secondary benefit to my plan. I topped out at about 60wpm on the old electric typewriters, and then offered my services to other students typing reports to make a few bucks. Then I became an engineer, and credit most of my success to my ability to type quickly and write coherent sentences. I was the only one who could almost instantly respond to our clients messages with detailed, well worded responses, and that earned me a reputation.

You can tell the typists on this forum: posts are long and detailed. Doesn't take us any more time to type our posts than to think them.

There are a lot of engineers in Macworld. I wonder if we should start a post to list our skills, because you can never find a good (insert engineering field here) engineer when you need one.

[Inquisitor]

There are a lot of engineers in Macworld. I wonder if we should start a post to list our skills, because you can never find a good (insert engineering field here) engineer when you need one.

Although I'm sure you weren't constraining it, I think any expertise, learned formally or picked up along the way is worthy of note. Just considering... I'm biting off this project (thread) because I read about some other fledgling seamstress' success. I wonder who that might be?
I originally came here back in 2007 to learn from the sailors. I stayed and day-dreamed from all the fantastic modifications. When I rejoined here relatively recently, I grew enthusiastic again about my Mac because of JimmyT's Galley Mod.

In return, I offer up what I can, as payment back to this community. Almost all of my offerings are in fields not of my formal professions. They are topics either I learned here or other forums and am regurgitating here. Some are just because I say, "That looks interesting... a couple of YouTube's later and bam... I can do that!" I offer them up usually with caveats of "not my expertise" just so some more educated or experienced soul will keep me from going over the edge... or at the very least give me some comic relief. Often they do. I'm not sure my professions can offer much contribution toward the things we do here.

Then there is the elephant in the room... I'm not sure your idea will work in this day and age. In the US we drink luke-warm coffee because they were handed a hot cup, spilled it and sued McDonalds. Sleeping in a Tesla while on AutoPilot. It's Tesla's fault... where does the law suit lottery mentality end?

[Russ]

I took the Typing Class - I was the first male that had ever taken the class at our rural high-school in east Tennessee. It wound up being probably the most important class I took in high-school even more than the Physics class that led me to Engineering. Not having to hunt and peck has probably saved me thousands of hours over the years.

Typing was a prereq for computer science (or whatever they called it back then) and I too was the only male in the typing class. Wasn't that bad to be among all those pretty girls. Also saved me months of hunt time and peck over my lifespan.