Quality is not compromised

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Small Farm Wool Comforter

Thank you All Things Functional and Practical for your website review. I am glad you enjoy the wool comforter.

Here is a snippet from their review:
“The price of a wool comforter is steep but it is a worthwhile investment. After researching around, the price of the premade comforters offered from this site is extremely competitive. Meaning, it was one of the lower priced comforters. Being that is it on the “low” side, the quality is not compromised. I find that this comforter is very well made and I am very happy with it. The only thing I wish could do was try out both the tropical and regular weight to really know which one would be the best fit for the area I live in for the 2 extreme seasons, summer and winter.”

Read the full review at All Things Functional and Practical.

Double Sided Dog Bed

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Is your dog this comfortable?

Per a customer’s request, we made a dual sided dog bed, one side filled with shredded latex and the other with kapok. While each side is plump, we made sure to fill it just under firm to give the dog some room to sink in peacefully. This size is perfect for a small dog, but we have made them as large as crib size for the larger dogs.

Our waterproof jersey would make a great fabric as well; this one is made from our twill. Since both kapok and shredded latex are washable as long as dried thoroughly, this dog bed will stay nice and bright.

Comfy Couch Cushions

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We knocked the couch project out this morning. It was so easy!

What a huge difference! (See before picture). The cushions are so comfy and the wool batting was fun to play with and form.

I actually ended up shredding up the extra fall off from the cushion cuts last night and made a little pillow to fit into my new pillow case! It was fun and therapeutic 🙂 I might have a new calling!  – N.G.

Wool Sleeping Bag

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Wool Sleeping Bag - DIY Natural Bedding

My custom-made wool sleeping bag has arrived and I am so delighted with the outcome! You were so thoughtful in the construction and came up with such a great solution to having a washable washable inner lining and washable cover for the sleeping bag. It’s better than I ever expected. It fits beautifully in my hammock. Here are a couple photos which don’t do it justice but give you a sense of how it’s getting used. Thank you so much for what you created for me. – T.M., Ohio

Silk, Silk, Silk

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handmade silk nightgown
Another custom sew coming from our talented sewing room! This little girl’s mother had invested in some silk nightgowns that she had custom made from Etsy a few years ago, but when the seller went offline, our sewing room was able to make new ones in the next size up using the old ones as a pattern.

The mother says, “My daughter is delighted! She had to try it on minutes after the box arrived. Not only were we able to find some of the exact same fabrics as her first ones for your sewing room to use, you also did an even better job then original seamstress did. All the edges are serged now so we don’t expect any fraying and of course, your stitches are perfectly even and decorative. My daughter loves the nightgowns and they fit now! She wore the last ones probably an extra year longer than was very comfortable because they were her favorite loungewear. Thank you much for your work!” – Indiana

Amazeballs

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DIY organic mattress

Mattress Review:

1st night. Well, my back does not hurt AT ALL, so that’s amazeballs. If the hubby didn’t have a cold, and didn’t snore like a buzz saw the whole night, I mighta actually had an amazing night’s sleep. (Was thinking about going to sleep on one of the other beds, but I was like, “NO gosh darn it! I’m going to sleep on my new mattress!! Even if it’s only for four hours total!!”) Anyway, it’s awesome. (P.S. my back SHOULD hurt, especially after hauling those latex slabs around, and trying to wrestle them into the ticking…… Also, new mattresses almost always give me a back ache as my scoliosis does flare up often.)

2nd night.  I’m sore today, but we did do a bunch of physical stuff yesterday. Hubby was out with a buddy late last night and normally that means I can’t fall asleep until he gets home , but I was completely out, and didn’t wake until 7, so that likely means I slept well. Next thing we are going to do is actually visit a chiropractor as often as recommend for my curvy spine. I’ve loooong felt that would be very beneficial, and he finally agreed, but he didn’t want to do it until the mattress came. – Blaine, MN

Finding the Perfect 100% Natural Mattress

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One of our customers liked his bedding so much he created a youtube video about his experience. He had been looking for a very firm piece of latex and no one else could offer him such a supportive layer. ). he chose six inches of the hard, 43-48 ILD, latex and declared it perfect for his sleeping needs. To see other work of his, visit his website here.

 

Quilted Ticking (encasement) helped me put together the perfect mattress!

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I bought at full-sized quilted ticking from DIY Natural Bedding and it’s fabulous! It’s extremely well made, all natural fabrics, and in the end, it looks like a professional mattress. I fell in love with Naturepedic’s EOS Classic, but balked at the $2800 price tag. Instead, I ordered a 3″ comfort layer soft microcoils (for top) and an 8″ support layer plush coils (on bottom) that make up the EOS Classic and then used the full-sized quilted ticking encasement to keep them together. I added a wool topper that I already owned and VOILA the perfect mattress at nearly $800 less than retail. One thing I really liked about DIY’s encasement is that it was all natural when the Naturepedic encasement actually had something they called a PLA comfort layer which is synthetic. Thanks to DIY, I ended up with a better version of their mattress and saved money. I later bought a shredded latex pillow kit from DIY and I’ve never slept better.

Better than any Hotel Bed

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DIY Mattress

A completely DIY mattress made using many of our supplies, including a wool topper. In order from bottom to top: 2″ of high density (super-lux) foam as the base, 6″ pocketed springs, 1″ super soft foam, 3″ medium latex, and the wool topper. The customer says, “It feels better than any hotel bed I’ve slept in.” Thanks, Bryan, for sharing! We consider your DIY approach inspiring and resourceful.

Mari’s Mansion

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custom latex couch in a custom made house

MARI’S MANSION

224 SQ FT

This home was designed specifically for Mari, with her physical capabilities in mind, her cat Spike and her dog Bubba.

Upon entry Mari can fold and tuck away her walker. She has an organic couch with natural latex, wool batting and inner case of organic twill along with her decorative fabric of choice, with movable ottoman. The ottoman is storage; there are two drawers under the couch and a feeding area for Spike.

The fold down dining table is made from a raw cedar slab and filled it with quartz crystals and hand crushed turquoise gemstone.

For more images of Pocket Mansions’ work or to hire her services, view her website here.

Wool and Buckwheat Hull DIY Mattress

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For the first layer, I used a wool mattress pad that I had for a few years.  Next I used two layers of your wool batting and put the buckwheat hull pillow inserts I made on top of the wool batting.  I made the pillow inserts out of organic cotton twill.  Then I pulled the two layers of wool batting on top to cover the pillow inserts.  Finally I zipped it all up and was done!  It came out pretty well, I think.  I’m going to see what it’s like sleeping on it for a while and might decide to add more wool batting at some point.

UPDATE: After sleeping on it for a few nights, I ended up putting the buckwheat hull pillows on top of the layers of wool batting.  That seems to work better somehow.  I think it makes the buckwheat pillows a little more adjustable.  It’s very comfortable now although I still might add more layers of wool batting at some point. – L. G.

Infant Car Seat, Stroller, Bassinet

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natural latex custom car seat pad

And I thought custom couch cushions were a fun variation from the tickings we make so often and then we got this project. Thanks B for the detail we got to put into cutting the latex and sewing all these pieces with your fabric choices and for your patience as you can imagine the time something this custom took. Months of choosing, deciding, cutting and sewing planned for this baby’s travels. Congratulations on your birth baby S.

Pictures are featured in order of original piece followed by our piece. The latex cut at the end is for another baby project she was working on (ours on the right). We didn’t sew the case for that piece but did finagle curves and angles out of this latex piece.

Chair & Couch Cushions

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diy latex chair

Using our Clearance Pieces left over from other custom cuts, R made this entire living room set.

She says, “Here are the the finished chair cushions. They are so comfortable!

I ended up cutting up the 2″ firm into four pieces, and using two pieces for each seat (so 4″ total), with a wool batting wrap. The backs are leftovers from cutting the 3” medium 1/2 queen to fit the back of our sofa. The covers are repurposed sheets from the thrift store. Right now they are open like pillowcases so they can easily be removed for washing.
Not only am I thrilled with how everything turned out so far, everyone else says the furniture is very comfortable. The problem is that no one wants to get up off the couch now.

“I hope my next project will be replacing the three couch seat cushions with a single piece of 6″ firm latex. I actually want to build a custom sofa (especially now that my nieces and nephew are getting bigger, and it’s hard to squeeze all of us on this couch for movie night), but the craftsman isn’t fully on board with that project…yet. 🙂 Thanks again for being such an amazing resource!”

R, thank you for the pictures. I love feeling the inspiration from seeing all your creations!

Mother Earth News builds a DIY Natural Latex Mattress

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Mother Earth News DIY latex mattress

Thanks Mother Earth News and Mother Earth Living for sharing your build with us! Great to see and hear all your thoughts and comments.

P.S. We use Dunlop process natural latex, the other process does sounds like Tangaley, but really is Talalay. And you all know that our wool batts are from our selected local, small flock farms. The word on the street is that natural latex will last 20-30 years.

https://www.facebook.com/motherearthnewsmag/videos/10157792402400413/

Shredded Latex Chair Cushions

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Six pounds of shredded latex stuffed each of these economical chair cushions, actually 5.5 lbs. in the smaller one and 6.5 in the larger one.  I’m impressed that the amount of fill we send out with our standard shredded latex pillow kit (which is enough to overstuff a standard pillow) filled out these cushions so well. The bounce will be less solid and supportive than a solid piece of latex, but sometimes budgets choose fun, decorative fabrics like these ones instead of traditional solid foam.  The life of shredded latex is just as long as it in its large state.

Tiny House Couch

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Designed by the artist who created the first tiny house pictures on our website, another tiny house creation has come to life. Using 6″ of firm natural latex, two batts of 4 lb. wool, inner twill cases, and her customer’s fabric of choice, this design represents a traditional looking couch. The curved armrests were shipped to us for layering the latex and wool inside as well as shaping that piping on perfectly.

Like the couch in the first tiny house, this one can also be collapsed to be a guest bed.

For more images of Pocket Mansions’ work or to hire her services, view her website here.

34,000 pillows

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kapok bales
kapok bales  kapok bales

Cara Megan Lewis and Alejandro Figueredo Diaz-Perera have an unusual use for 750 lbs. of kapok fiber. They are using it to create an art project out of a the seed fluff. Symbolically the seed compares the transience of an air bourne fluff compared to immigrants and ease of access to the USA as restricted by “the bed quota.”

Excerpted from a talk given at University of Chicago: “To demonstrate its priority to enforce immigration law, the US Congress mandated that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) maintain a quota of 34,000 detained immigrants per day in its 250 facilities around the country. This mandate also known as “the bed quota” inspired the collaborative Díaz Lewis’ performance based installation. In the installation, pillows are created daily from clothing donated by undocumented immigrants, prior detainees, and their allies.

With cooperation from the Interfaith Committee for Detained Immigrants, Díaz Lewis will make tangible the human impact of the bed mandate. Each pillow is available for purchase, priced at $159 each to reflect the amount of taxpayer money spent each day to detain one person. 100% of the proceeds for this project support the efforts of national and local immigration organizations whose efforts are dedicated to revealing the injustices of the detention centers and to restoring human dignity to those formerly detained. An ever-growing pile of pillows, the installation translates human experience in a bold and compelling way that statistics alone cannot.”

Website

Exhibition in San Francisco

kapok pillow

Organic Color Grown Curtains

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organic curtains

Using fabric that was not dyed but was woven with different colors of cotton to create its pattern, I was happy to see this fabric four years after I purchased the same from NearSea Naturals (who sold to Organic Cotton Plus). Then, we used this versatile fabric for a futon ticking, now, using even organic thread, this customer had us turn the fabric into curtains.

Two Bench Cushions

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What rooms in your house would these fit?

This 96″ long cushion is a custom piece with 3″ of hard latex, 3lb. wool batting inside an organic twill case, inside this striped, velvet striped outer fabric. The second cushion is more of the same inside the customer’s decorative fabric.

We can help you make your cushions too.

Perfect buying experience

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We have two beds now — a queen for us and a twin for our daughter’s loft bed.

I have bought from other sellers and I am so happy to have found DIY bedding. Deborah is a pleasure to work with and extremely professional. We had to exchange multiple layers of latex (I admit we were a little high maintenance). And she expedited every return, no questions asked, with UPS front door pick up.

The quality is top notch — the same as savvy rest, habitat, etc – but much more affordable. Plus I like supporting a small company and one that supports locally sustainable wool products. We bought a wool topper and it’s incredible. This wool is not something you can get at any store. It’s small batch and locally sourced.

One last thing, we use the felt top covers and love them. They are nice and cool and are the same wool as the puddle pad. So you’re basically killing 2 birds with 1 stone We had them do the stitching and zipper, which is very strong and durable. I have not seen this anywhere else and it saved us at least $150 from having to buy a separate puddle pad.

I’m so happy to know there are so many other options beyond what you see in stores. I think our next bed will be wool. Or maybe millet!

Neighborhood Store

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Natural Latex Couch Cushion

Natural Latex Couch Cushion

I ordered 3 medium firm latex cushions (5″ thickness as seat back) and 3 firm ones (6″ thickness as seats) for our new sofa frame.   Deborah recommended the firmness, based upon our body weights.  They turned out to be very comfortable.  Their cut is also exact to my specifications, so that they fit perfectly on the frame.  Thank you, Deborah!  Attached is a photo of the cushions under some old sheets.  I am still waiting for the cushion cases to be made by Deborah’s seamstress.  Will upload another photo when all is done.

Natural Latex Couch Cushion

Our sofa cushion cases arrived and I am so thrilled.  They look wonderful!  I had been a little worried about the gussets, but they turn out to be just fine.  Deborah and team really went extra miles to make sure that we are completely satisfied with their products.  As I said in an earlier review, these cases are for the latex cushions that I ordered from Deborah.  The seat backs are 3 medium firm, 5″ thick cushions.  The seats are  3 firm ones in 6″ thickness.  Deborah recommended the firmness, based upon our body weights.  They are very comfortable and were cut precisely to my specifications.  Deborah and team, I appreciate your dedication to your work.  You have won my respect!  Considering the fact that all these shopping experiences are on-line, it is amazing how much trust you have earned from me.  It is as if you were just a neighborhood store that we can always turn to and rely upon.  Thank you so much again!

Meet Daddy

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wool sock monkey

Meet Daddy, our new sock monkey named after Daddy Long Legs. We were reading in our history text book about Nebuchadnezzar II building the Hanging Gardens in the desert for his wife, who came from a tropical climate with monkeys and lush vegetation. Thus, my nine year had to make a monkey, of course, stuffed with wool batting. Do I need to explain the initial confusion when she talks of putting Daddy to bed or taking Daddy on walks? 🙂

Wool, Neck Roll Pillow

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DIY, wool, neck roll pillow

DIY, neckroll, wool pillow. Using rolled up wool batting stitched with long threads to one long side seam of the pillow, we created a neck roll. As the wool compresses, I expect it to be more and more supportive. Right now it is nice and springy.

We used the softest of fluff, the woolly bolas, which if they compress only need to be pounded back into shape, to fill the rest of the pillow. It is soft and moldable and very comfortable.