After having a quote from a local sailmaker/marine upholsterer to re-do the interior cushions on Solmara, I’ll be doing it myself. I chose a £25 per metre fabric, which as it turns out isn’t that expensive for outdoor fabric, and I asked for 3 quotes. The first with the fabric, Dacron topped foam with stockinette, the 2nd without the Dacron top and the 3rd with a budget fabric and no Dacron. The cheapest option was £3,016.00! I don’t have that kind of money so I’m giving it a go myself.

I still have some of the olive print fabric that we used on Gleda for her original upholstery and I have a stash of long zips that I bought from the china shops in Spain. One of the cushions on the boat is the link between the 2 berths and is nearly, though not quite, a rectangle. As it happens, we are extending this berth link area so won’t use this piece of foam for this space but I thought it a good test piece and gives us a cushion for the cockpit. This piece of foam did not have a cover on, one corner was nibbled away and the thickness of the foam wasn’t quite even all around but hey, a test piece.

I got on to You Tube and re-found the “how-to” videos made by Sailrite, an American company. I used a few of their instructional videos when on Gleda to make winch covers, dinghy pockets and other bits. This video I followed is here

A couple of errors and my corners are not good. Most annoyingly I forgot to sew across the base of my zip, so when I unzipped it to wrangle the foam in, I pulled the zipper pull off one side and I haven’t managed to get it back on at the right point so it is pulling the fabric – but it’s the back, I can live with it. I did add one of my “made by Landgirlafloat” tags that I have been adding to my bag makes.

I’ve ordered the foam for size of the berth link cushion we want in place. This too will not quite be a straight rectangle although a couple of the other areas will be so hopefully my next go will be an improvement.

We spotted some fabric in a shop in town that is a ‘probable’ but I’ll have to make my mind up soon as it is all they have and can’t get anymore of the same. I think it looks like coral. Neil liked it too which is a bonus. He’s not keen on the William Morris prints that were my other choices. To be fair they are “too much” for the small space but I do like a William Morris design.

I’ve lost many an hour on-line looking for suitable fabrics at the right price and in the right pattern and I’ve had quite a few samples. I do quite like the coral look and this can be non-directional which is great for irregular shapes. My preference would be the yellow* in the Sunbury fabric, in the picture below. This was the fabric in my professional quotation although I was told this was £25m2. The coral is £20 so not much different. So far though I have only found the Sunbury yellow at £40m2 even if I use a plain fabric on the underside or board and staples it is still too pricey.

*Neil is planning to re-paint Solmara in a similar yellow to Gleda so a yellow interior will be in-keeping and a light colour in a small berth.