Make Your Own Futon?

How to Make Your Own Futon

We were experimenting with how to make a mattress from old bedsheets. One idea we came up with was to cut up the sheets and sew long tubes and fill them loosely with naturally flame resistant buckwheat hulls. Once we had a collection of these tubes we began to connect them by linking them in circles, almost like chain mail. The result was a thick, comfy futon like structure.

I snapped a photo to remind myself to pick up this project again when I had more time.

Next, we tried another method using bedsheets filled with hemp hulls to make your own mattress. It was easier as no sewing was involved! You can see our step by step Instructable showing how we made our prototype here.

The reason for this diversion was that we wanted to create a DIY mattress that anyone could make. The futon concept above would require a sewing machine or hours of hand sewing. Also, buckwheat hulls and hemp hulls differ quite a bit as a mattress filling.

Here at Open Your Eyes Bedding we often get asked, “Why can’t I take a mattress cover and simply fill it with buckwheat hulls? It seems like it would work, but we have tried and it does not. The reason is that the hulls slide to the side of your body as you sleep at a fast rate and they keep sliding. By morning, you are left laying on the board under your mattress.

The solution would be is to pack in more hulls, but this makes the mattress too firm. We believe there may be a solution to make this work. Perhaps using heavy stretch denim and then overfilling the case with buckwheat hulls. There would need to be a good balance between containing the buckwheat hulls while still giving them room to move and contour to your body as you sleep.

When we discovered hemp hulls, we knew we needed to try the one vessel concept again. Hemp hulls are coarser than buckwheat hulls so they do not slide as well. It worked surprisingly well! The surface it creates feels like a sandy beach. The only caveat is that there needs to be a soft base placed under the hull filled sheet to give it just a bit more give. So far we are happy to report the sand mattress concept is a definite win and we hope this can be added to the ranks of our DIY mattress kits soon!

We do currently sell bulk hemp hulls (aka Hemp sand) here for those who want to try their own DIY sand mattress prototype!

Twist Mattress Kit – Template and Instructions

The template and instructions for the Twist DIY  Mattress are now available in a digital PDF for $39.99

Just think about how many mattresses you can make with this one purchase!  Available here  (pull down the size menu and choose pdf template option)

Wool Industry Scrap

Lets talk more about fillings!  100% wool is a popular industrial material and I was excited to find this sample batch of 100% natural wool scrap in my mail box last week.

Small parts are die cut from wool and used in many different industrial applications.  Look here what is left over!

That is a lot of waste, don’t you think?  I currently found a source willing to sell me their scraps (shown above). They told me that the scraps are collected in large bins under the die cut machines, never touching the floor, they are bundled and kept very clean wrapped in plastic.

I can buy this waste, as a wholesaler, by the 100 pound bale.  It makes a great support layer but may be a bit bumpy as a topper layer.  If anyone has an idea on how to shred this wool scrap up finer, it may make a great topper layer too.  I will do more research on the shredding and I will share pricing per pod once I get my quote back on the shipping (should be a very low cost option).  Good find I think.

I hope to have more filing ideas in the future but if you have any ideas, please share them in the comment area.

Coconut Coir

Let’s talk about fillings part 3: 

Coconut coir is a coarse, sturdy filler.  This material would make a great base layer to add some spring.  I am on the hunt for rubberized coconut coir as I would imagine that it would preserve the coir from drying out and breaking down too fast.  Plain coconut coir might make a great temporary filing (by temporary I mean a year or two – best guess as I have not tested).  For example this material would mix well with the horse hair 50/50 to reduce the cost per pod significantly.

The sample I received was quite dirty so I actually washed it by hand today. It washes out very easily and dries quickly (I just spread it out on my patio table). I do like how natural feeling it is; reminds me of a birds nest.

Smell:  Very faint, sort of a sweet grassy smell.

Curled Horse Hair

Lets talk about fillings Part 2:  Please feel free to contact me here at my Etsy shop if you have any questions or if you would like to order a sample fillings kit ($10 plus shipping).

Horse hair is a traditional upholstery filing.  It is still used today in high end upholstery shops and in some luxury car seats.  It was hard to find a US supplier (I have only one so far), but the1 pound box I ordered contained a generous amount.  I have to say this will be a pricey option, but it would be like sleeping on a cloud.  So far it seems the horse hair is very resilient, and would not loose it’s spring over time.  One con is that the ends of each hair are sharp and they poke through the wool fabric.  This may need a liner if you plan on using it in a topper pod.

My choice would be the layer under the buckwheat hull topper layer.  I tested this combination and it was heavenly.  I do not know if this would be enough support to be the entire mattress, I would probably consider another base layer for more spring.

The smell is pretty neutral and it appears very clean.