[Richard]

I have a 99 model coach with two of the Villa fold out sofas that Newell used for about ten years. 

This is a pic of one of the cushions. Owners of this era will immediately recognize it.     

Several years ago I reupholstered the couches in leather to match some of the other trim in the coach. They were uncomfortable before the work, and even more uncomfortable afterwards. The biggest issue was that the seatback was too upright to the seat base, therefore no back support. Also the couches were much softer in the middle than at the ends. 

Before you invest any more time in this tome, be advised I am a recovering engineer ( no puns intended on the reupholstery), which means if it's worth doing then it's worth overdoing. And my main purpose is that coaches of this era probably will need some freshening on the couches, here are some things I learned that may help you avoid some issues. 

So, why the cramped angle between the seat back and the seat bottom. It has two major causes and one minor one. One of the causes is the design of the cushion. If you look at the pleats, they are at the bottom of the seat back and the back of the seat cushion. The way the pleats are held in place is with an internal flap sewn to the inside of the pleat. The flap is attached to the back of the cushion. So the pleats kind of depress the foam around them. 
       
As you can see the cushion is thinner by almost an inch at the pleat end. This closes up the angle.
The other cause is kind of interesting. I could never figure out why the very same couches in my 95 weren't upright like the ones in the 99, and upright like the ones I have seen in other coaches. It seems the rear of the cushion actually hits the valence at the window. A Ha! I didn't really discover this until I had recovered the couches and installed them for a third time. The fix was to move the entire couch frame including the drawer mounts forward a couple of inches. 

All of this head scratching pointed out several items that may come in handy for you or your upholstery guy. One, don't reuse the foam. I did the first time, and although it fluffed up when steamed, it didn't have the resiliency of new foam. Two, and most importantly, don't overtighten the pleats. This was a rookie mistake on my part the first time I did the cushions. Because after all, if tight is good, then real tight is better, right? 

I decided to go with new foam and a differently designed cushion to avoid the pleats. 
Here is a pic of the finished product.
   
I'll show you some pics of the rest of the story in the next post.