... or maybe, just maybe, I'm jumping the gun :)
A good friend told me the other day that she and her husband have been leaving church after the worship because she can't sit for an extended time in the folding chairs. Our church did a great thing and bought inexpensive folding chairs for our sanctuary in order to 1)save money and 2)be able to use the empty room for community type events in the neighborhood during the week. This is awesome. I support their decision and so does my friend who is leaving after the worship (and watching the previous week's sermon from home). But she is pregnant. She already had back problems and now (of course!) they are worse. My back is just starting to bother me and I know that there are many pregnant women with back problems and normal people with back problems who whimper inside a little every time they enter a room and see folding chairs.
Until now, I had just sort of reconciled myself to the fact that sitting in a folding chair was uncomfortable and I would just deal with it. I didn't even think about the fact that I had any other options until my friend told me she was missing church because she just couldn't handle them! My goodness, how sad!
As we sat and talked about this at our friend's baby shower (so many babies), I had an idea for something I could make that might help solve the problem. I explained it to my friend. It involved a lot of fabric and velcro making a sort of sling like cover for a folding chair. And my wheels started turning. I left, telling her that I would be thinking of her and her dilemma and how I might be able to help.
The next day I started working on something. It became apparent through lots of sitting and staring at a folding chair in my work room that most of my original idea was going to need to change in order to make it easier to make and easier to use. And such was born the first iteration of "The Seat Sling" (temporary name...)
Here are some of the features and changes I made in my mind and in the prototypes:
1)No velcro. It's really not strong enough anyway, but the idea of having to undo a bunch of velcro if you had to leave somewhere quiet early was just not a good one. So I moved on to buttons for the first prototype and eventually became snaps for the second.
2)Elastic. I wanted it to be able to fit any folding chair: plastic or metal, which vary in size by a few inches. Large, sturdy elastic makes this possible.
3)A support pillow needed to be involved somewhere. The sling itself provided a bit of the lower back support, but a small lumbar pillow would make it super great. The first prototype had one built into the sling, which made it not stick out as far using the same amount of foam (for reasons involving physics). So the second prototype has a separate pillow, which can be moved around to anywhere on the back and any time.
It can be used alone for support in an uncomfortable chair with a back (like our hand-me-down reupholstered kitchen chairs). Or the whole wrapped up sling could be used in this scenario as a little bit larger pillow in a chair with a back.
4)It needed a closure. When wrapped up and carried around, I wanted it to be easy and compact. I attached ribbons to the sides of the snap placate that wrap around the back and tie for closure so it won't unroll on it's own.
And that's The Sling Seat! They are fairly quick to make and the materials cost about $15. I've tested it on a chair from our church (which my friend borrowed and brought to my house for that purpose), but she was going to try the first prototype at church this Sunday. I really need to get her the second one because it's so much better in my opinion and we'll see if it helps her with her problem!
What do you think? Have you seen anything similar to this or something else that solves her problem? Could I potentially make them to sell or is there only a small niche of people who have this problem and would pay $30-$40 (because of materials and time)? Should I just wash my hands of this endeavor and maybe just do a tutorial some day soon? I want honest opinions, because I'd be okay with either.
A good friend told me the other day that she and her husband have been leaving church after the worship because she can't sit for an extended time in the folding chairs. Our church did a great thing and bought inexpensive folding chairs for our sanctuary in order to 1)save money and 2)be able to use the empty room for community type events in the neighborhood during the week. This is awesome. I support their decision and so does my friend who is leaving after the worship (and watching the previous week's sermon from home). But she is pregnant. She already had back problems and now (of course!) they are worse. My back is just starting to bother me and I know that there are many pregnant women with back problems and normal people with back problems who whimper inside a little every time they enter a room and see folding chairs.
Until now, I had just sort of reconciled myself to the fact that sitting in a folding chair was uncomfortable and I would just deal with it. I didn't even think about the fact that I had any other options until my friend told me she was missing church because she just couldn't handle them! My goodness, how sad!
As we sat and talked about this at our friend's baby shower (so many babies), I had an idea for something I could make that might help solve the problem. I explained it to my friend. It involved a lot of fabric and velcro making a sort of sling like cover for a folding chair. And my wheels started turning. I left, telling her that I would be thinking of her and her dilemma and how I might be able to help.
The next day I started working on something. It became apparent through lots of sitting and staring at a folding chair in my work room that most of my original idea was going to need to change in order to make it easier to make and easier to use. And such was born the first iteration of "The Seat Sling" (temporary name...)
Here are some of the features and changes I made in my mind and in the prototypes:
1)No velcro. It's really not strong enough anyway, but the idea of having to undo a bunch of velcro if you had to leave somewhere quiet early was just not a good one. So I moved on to buttons for the first prototype and eventually became snaps for the second.
2)Elastic. I wanted it to be able to fit any folding chair: plastic or metal, which vary in size by a few inches. Large, sturdy elastic makes this possible.
3)A support pillow needed to be involved somewhere. The sling itself provided a bit of the lower back support, but a small lumbar pillow would make it super great. The first prototype had one built into the sling, which made it not stick out as far using the same amount of foam (for reasons involving physics). So the second prototype has a separate pillow, which can be moved around to anywhere on the back and any time.
4)It needed a closure. When wrapped up and carried around, I wanted it to be easy and compact. I attached ribbons to the sides of the snap placate that wrap around the back and tie for closure so it won't unroll on it's own.
And that's The Sling Seat! They are fairly quick to make and the materials cost about $15. I've tested it on a chair from our church (which my friend borrowed and brought to my house for that purpose), but she was going to try the first prototype at church this Sunday. I really need to get her the second one because it's so much better in my opinion and we'll see if it helps her with her problem!
What do you think? Have you seen anything similar to this or something else that solves her problem? Could I potentially make them to sell or is there only a small niche of people who have this problem and would pay $30-$40 (because of materials and time)? Should I just wash my hands of this endeavor and maybe just do a tutorial some day soon? I want honest opinions, because I'd be okay with either.
I definitely think you could sell these for $30! I could use one at church, for sure. Also, I know this pregnancy is giving me pretty bad tailbone pain and those folding chairs only make it worse. So maybe another version of the sling seat would have a liner or more padding for the chair seat itself to comfort the pregnant moms with tailbone pain? OR maybe thats too complicated, idk. Love this idea tho - you are brilliant! :)
ReplyDeleteThanks, friend! I'll think about how I might be able to get some seat padding and keep a little of the compactness... Maybe you'll know what you might be getting for your baby shower :)
DeleteI think you could make them to sell. If you wanted to do it on a larger scale, I'd make little brochures and put them in OB/GYN's offices and/or physical therapy clinics. Or advertise on the internet. I have seen lots of pillows for chairs with backs, but nothing that would work with a folding chair (and I work in the back pain industry, so for the most part I've seen/heard of it if it's out there). Jennifer Stone
ReplyDeleteAwesome, Jennifer! Thanks for the input. It's so good to hear from someone who actually works in that industry. Good suggestions, too!
DeleteI totally think you could sell it for $30-$40, super cute! I'd even use it on my kitchen chairs! Keep us updated when you get them in your shop! (Channing)
ReplyDeleteI think that this is brilliant!! And you should definitely look into copyright protection before someone steals your idea, cause that would just be no fun! As you should get credit for it and the money!
ReplyDeleteI read somewhere that you should take whatever your materials are and multiply by 4 to get your final price - that way if you sell wholesale, etc. then you can sell it at 60-70% cost to them and still make a profit. I always have a hard time getting to that "x4" factor though cause I want it to be reasonable, etc.
When these take off, you should totally look into getting them manufactured! Then you can sell them to stores, etc. How cool would that be?! I am SO very excited for you. What a great idea!!
You could definitely market these to 'elderly' people who maybe like to play bingo or are sitting for a while in certain events, etc. or even to like wedding event places cause some outdoor weddings are in those horrible plastic chairs and people would be so grateful for a little chair relief! (or maybe talk brides into buying them as expensive favors but also double as decoration on the chairs for the ceremony/reception? Maybe I have over-shared my stream of thoughts! sorry!