New Cushions at Buckingham Friends Meeting
Buckingham Friends Meeting with new cushions
When I went to worship at Buckingham Friends Meeting this past January, I arrived and sat down on the bench as usual. I immediately noticed that something looked and felt different. The cushion looked newer, felt firmer, and was more comfortable than I remembered. Over a potluck lunch I had a conversation with Friend Mary Michaels who spearheaded the project of purchasing their wonderful new cushions.
Old, worn cushions
She began by explaining that the previous cushions had been on the benches for at least 20 years and had been showing wear and tear for a while. The meeting knew it was time to start thinking about replacement.
She began gathering information by visiting other meetings and asking others in the Quarter for recommendations. She conducted online searches to learn more about fabric, foam, and manufacturing. She started with narrowing down a type of a fabric.
New cushions on the facing bench
From her research, she knew that polyolefin would best suit their needs, as it is a typical upholstery fabric that wears like iron and is very environmentally friendly. She called some companies and discovered that the brands usually used when redoing cushions for church pews were Shire and Sherpa. She found Absecon Mills, a fabric wholesaler in southern New Jersey, who was extremely easy to work with and very responsive.
Mary narrowed the potential color options to three, acquired the fabric samples, and the meeting ultimately chose a fabric called “Tulip.” This was similar in color to their previous burgundy fabric, but with a muted weave and a slight pattern which would have the capability for hiding any potential stains. Next came foam selection.
Who knew there were so many choices when it comes to foam? Luckily, Absecon Mills has a sister company, Douglass Industries, that produces the foam for the cushions, and was able to sell the fabric and foam to the meeting at wholesale pricing. They were also able to provide guidance about density and firmness. Mary decided to go with the factory’s recommendation of a 2.5 lb. weight foam with a firmness of 65#ILD (Indentation Load Deflection). The life of the foam is estimated be about 15 to 20 years. Now it was time to measure.
“The benches are obviously handmade, since they are over 200 years old and not 100% consistent. We didn't want to have only a couple unique sizes, so we tried to standardize them where possible,” said Mary. Careful measuring was key, and she was lucky to have Friend and husband Phil Getty to double check her work. They numbered the benches on a schematic which correspond to small white circles with numbers that were lightly attached underneath each bench. She then created an Excel table that she gave to the foam supplier at Douglass Industries so that they could custom cut the whole batch of foam.
For having cushions made for all the benches on both halves of the meeting house, they needed a total of 135 yards. Mary had inquired about getting the cushions created by a couple of other firms that did upholstery. In the end, the meeting settled on a local firm who came highly recommended by one of the members, and who also provided the lowest price. The yardage estimate was from the selected upholsterer, Pam Stietz, owner of Designs by PSG, and was based on the measurements they provided for all the benches, and the size of the cushions and desire for cording and zippers. By working directly with the wholesale company, the meeting was able to realize a huge savings. Mary was glad to report, “We got the fabric for $16.16 a yard.”
Douglass Industries was able to coordinate the delivery of both the foam and fabric for free directly to the upholsterer in Doylestown since Douglass already made regular deliveries to the region. Production took a few months, with Mary being able to pick up batches of cushions as they were completed.
“Pam was truly wonderful to work with,” said Mary. “She was very responsive, helpful, accurate, dependable, and produced high-quality cushions while adhering to the timeline she provided. She even wrote the size of each cushion in black permanent marker on the foam near the zipper opening. That way we can eventually tell which cushions go where since they inevitably over time will get moved around.”
Now that all the cushions are in place, they are careful to rotate and flip them periodically to prevent wear patterns and to minimize any potential fading. When asked if the community was enjoying them, Mary enthusiastically replied “Absolutely! They are cushy on the tushy.” The meeting members are very grateful for all of Mary’s hard work and are delighted that their beloved meetinghouse now has a full set of new and comfy cushions!
Mary welcomes inquiries from other meetings about her process; you can email her at mary.m.michaels@gmail.com. Below is the contact information for the companies mentioned in this article.
Absecon Mills
https://abseconmills.com/sherpa
Douglass Industries, Inc.
Melissa Bruckmeir, Customer Service
Brian Sigley, Sales Representative
412 Boston Avenue, Egg Harbor City, NJ 08215
609-965-6030 or 800-950-3684
Matt DeMarco, Foam Division Manager, foamwhs@dougind.com.
Designs by PSG
Pam Stietz, owner
117 Taifer Avenue, Doylestown, PA 18901
215-262-4033
designsbypsg@comcast.net