Expert: Mark H. Miller - 10/14/2007

Question
I have 2 leather couches with seat cushions that are attached. They are now flat as a pancake. How do I restore some of the fullness doing it myself?

Answer
Hi,   It is not possible to refill or add filling to attached cushions without first taking most of the sofa apart and doing so will require a skilled upholsterer.  There is one exception to that rule, and that is that there are no buttons in the seat cushions and if you look way in the back there is a zipper.  If that is the case then please contact me again and I can give you step by step advise on how to refill the cushions.  However, if there are buttons or no zipper then it is impossible to refill them without first taking the sofa apart.

So you may wonder then why are they constructed that way,  the reason is that leather cushions have a tendency to slide out of the sofa,  and the bottom of the cushion can not be leather, if the cushion is constructed of all leather there is no way for the air to escape when you sit on them and the cushion would burst.