Good Questions: Greener Alternatives for Chair Stuffing?

Lynn sent us a good question: I am recovering the seats of 4 dining room chairs (40+ years old). I'm not sure yet about the condition of the padding under the current upholstery. If necessary, where can I find an alternative batting/padding/cushioning material to the toxic chair pads that I found in a big fabric/crafts store?

(Note: Include a pic of your problem and your question gets posted first.
Email questions and pics with QUESTIONS in subject line to:
chicago(at)apartmenttherapy(dot)com)

Are there any greener/recycled/organic options that aren't super-expensive? I thought of felting some old sweaters and using those...

Please share your suggestions and ideas with Lynn in the comments...thanks!

Photo: Furniture Repair by Paul Luna

Comments (10)

Most upholsters carry latex these days.

posted by ^^pants on March 9th 2009 at 12:38pm
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I wonder if batting of cotton (available in stores that sell quilting supplies) would do the trick.

posted by judy in TO on March 9th 2009 at 12:40pm
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I'm taking an upholstery class at the moment and our teacher is having us use cotton to give our chairs their padding/shape. Not the cotton batting you find in a quilt shop, but a roll of cotton that you can rip off to the shape you need.
We do use a little foam on top to give it more shape, but he tells us that cotton lasts 100 years... foam only 4-5

posted by belgiumifye on March 9th 2009 at 12:40pm
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Well, if you wanted to go truly "old school" you could go with the traditional horsehair padding, down, or even spanish moss.

posted by Kaete on March 9th 2009 at 12:45pm
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A lot of fabric stores now carry stuffing made out of finely spun (?) recycled pop bottles- it's bright green but the name escapes me- I've used it in throw pillows and it works great, is probably plenty soft and dense enough for your project, and nice and non-toxic for your home.

posted by H L I on March 9th 2009 at 1:03pm
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There is also a foam products made out of bamboo.

posted by Comicgeek on March 9th 2009 at 1:11pm
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Good old foam rubber is the best option as well as cotton or wool batting. For stuffing cushions, you can use kapok, which is also water resistant. Polyurethane foam and dacron (both widely used) are really easy to find at craft stores, Joann, Hancock, etc. You'll have to contact a supplier to get your hands on foam rubber and kapok. Cotton and wool shouldn't be that difficult to find.

posted by ModHomeEcTeacher on March 9th 2009 at 1:27pm
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In France, traditional reupholstery uses "crin vegetal", which could be translated as "vegan horse hair". This stuffing is made out of a palm/coconut tree.

It's used as the main stuffing, topped with cotton padding (flannel like), then plain cotton just before nailing the actual fabric to the wood.

posted by @nna on March 9th 2009 at 1:49pm
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I've stuffed a chair with old plastic bags. It ends up being very firm.

The first one I did was kinda lumpy, so I added a few layers of old cotton T-shirts I was going to turn into rags in between the bag-stuffing and the upholstery fabric and it smoothed everything out beautifully.

posted by M@ on March 9th 2009 at 3:25pm
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Thanks for the great ideas, everyone! I may have to experiment with the firmness until both of the main sitters are pleased.

posted by orangeblossom on March 9th 2009 at 4:41pm
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