---
title: "Harlan Pruitt, The Elder of High Point"
url: "https://cushionguide.com/masters/harlan/"
section: "The Masters"
author: "Harlan Pruitt, The Elder of High Point"
author_url: "https://cushionguide.com/masters/harlan/"
published: "2026-01-05"
updated: "2026-09-24"
keywords: "velvet cushion master upholsterer, floor cushion set sizes, corduroy floor sofa covers, velvet cushion care, modular floor sofa replacement covers"
---

# Harlan Pruitt, master of velvet, corduroy and floor cushions

*He swept an upholstery floor at fourteen. Fifty-some years later he still closes the last seam of a velvet cushion by hand.*

> **The quick answer:** Harlan Pruitt is CushionGuide's velvet, corduroy and floor cushion master, at the bench in High Point, North Carolina since 1968. He reads floor cushion sets, modular floor sofas, bolsters, poufs and tufted work, and answers buyers about pile direction, shipping creases, replacement covers and washing. His rule is to measure every piece, height included, and leave a margin.

## Fourteen years old, with a broom

I was fourteen in 1968 when I took a job sweeping the floor of an upholstery shop in High Point, North Carolina. That town has furnished American living rooms for better than a century, and back then every block smelled of glue, sawdust and new cotton batting.

For most of a year the owner would not let me near a needle. I swept, I sorted scraps by color, and I watched his hands. He closed a seam so neat you had to tip the cushion to the window light to find it. The day he finally handed me a curved needle, he told me what I have told every apprentice since: a seam is a promise.

I kept that promise on wing chairs through the seventies and on showroom samples for the furniture market after that. Most shops were nervous about [velvet](https://cushionguide.com/fabrics/velvet/) and [corduroy](https://cushionguide.com/fabrics/corduroy/), so those became my trade. Turn one panel of velvet upside down and the cushion reads as two colors. Press corduroy carelessly and the wale remembers it.

Floor cushions came to me late. My grandchildren grew up living on the floor the way young families do now: a thick base, a backrest, two firm bolsters, and everybody piled where the coffee table used to be. I learned that a [floor cushion](https://cushionguide.com/cushions/floor-cushions/) takes more punishment than any sofa. It gets jumped on, slept on and dragged to the sunny window every Saturday.

The pieces I read here are made by hand, one at a time, and I read them the way I read a sofa on a showroom floor. The edge first, then the nap, then the corners where the strain lands. When somebody asks me about a crease that won't lift or a cover that zips hard, I have usually made that same mistake myself at some point in fifty-odd years.

I joined the atelier because I cannot teach everyone across a counter anymore. What I can do is answer plainly. Brush velvet the way the pile grew. Steam out shipping creases in the first week, not the fifth. Order a swatch before you try to match a cushion you already own. And if you are buying a [modular floor sofa](https://cushionguide.com/cushions/modular-floor-sofas/), know which pieces you might want to replace one day.

What is the oldest cushion in your house, my friend, and does anybody remember who sewed it?

## Tools on my bench

- ✓ A cloth tape measure gone soft as a shoelace. It has hung around my neck through nine presidents.
- ✓ Curved needles in three sizes, for closing a seam by hand where the machine can't reach.
- ✓ A boar-bristle brush for raising velvet pile after a long trip in a box.
- ✓ A hand steamer, because corduroy creases lift in the first week and settle in after that.
- ✓ A 10-inch tufting needle and waxed button twine.
- ✓ A roll of kraft paper for tracing any nook that isn't square.

## What I always check

- ✓ Which way the pile runs on every panel, so a velvet set reads as one color.
- ✓ The height of each piece, not just the footprint. A cover cut for another maker's foam can sit loose on a backrest.
- ✓ The buyer's hard limit. A 77.5 in (197 cm) nook needs a cushion that stops well short of it.
- ✓ Whether a floor sofa ends open or closed, because that changes how many L-shaped backrests go in the box.
- ✓ The care label: 86°F (30°C) at most, gentle cycle, no bleach, no dryer.

> Corduroy shipping creases lift with hot steam in the first week. Throw a blanket over the floor sofa for a month and those creases set in.
>
> — Harlan

## Rust velvet for a 77.5-inch nook

A buyer in the US had a wall nook 77.5 inches (197 cm) long and wanted the whole tufted floor set in rust velvet: a base mattress, a backrest and two bolsters. The standard base, 25 by 73 inches, was too narrow for the way the family meant to lounge, so we talked it through at 28, 30 and 38 inches deep.

They settled on 30 by 73 inches with the standard 16-inch backrest, 4 inches thick, and sent a photo of the nook marked up with arrows so nobody could build the set facing the wrong way. Because the nook stopped at 77.5 inches, the workshop promised to hold close to 73 and to take responsibility if the set came out too long. It arrived in two parcels, and the buyer wrote back that they loved it.

I am proud of that one for a plain reason. Nobody guessed. Every number was said out loud before a single cut.

> A velvet floor cushion should stop about 2 inches short of the nook. Handmade sizes move roughly an inch either way, and a wall never does.
>
> — Harlan

> **Tailor's margin:** Order a fabric sample before matching an old corduroy sofa. Rust on a phone screen and rust in daylight rarely agree.

## Buyer questions

**A common question:** One cover on our floor sofa tore at the zipper. Can I buy just that one instead of a whole new set?

**The workshop's answer:** Yes. Single covers are sold on their own, and the workshop sets up a listing for the exact piece (base cushion, straight backrest, corner backrest, corner armrest or ottoman) in the color of your original set. Partial sets, such as two straight backrests, can be ordered too. Replacement covers come in the standard sizes only, and a water-damaged layer cushion can be replaced by itself.

**A common question:** The care label says 30 degrees. Is that Fahrenheit? How should I wash these covers?

**The workshop's answer:** It means 86°F (30°C), Celsius not Fahrenheit, and that is the maximum. Unzip the covers off the foam, turn them inside out and use a gentle, delicate or cold cycle (always the gentle program for corduroy) with a mild detergent and no bleach. Air dry rather than tumble dry, iron on low if needed, and keep the white non-slip bottom parts of a floor sofa out of the machine.

**A common question:** What's the actual difference between the open-corner and closed-corner floor sofa?

**The workshop's answer:** The backrest at the end of the run. A closed corner finishes with an L-shaped backrest that wraps the end: 3 L-shaped backrests plus 1 straight, and 79 x 118 in (200 x 300 cm) overall. An open corner finishes with a straight backrest, so that end stays open like a chaise: 2 L-shaped plus 2 straight. Choose the open-corner option or write it in the personalization box; an extra straight backrest lets you switch layouts later, and one end's width can be customized.

## Questions buyers ask next

### Will these floor sofa covers fit a teddy sofa from another maker?

Usually, if the sizes match. The seats are 79 x 39.5 x 6.7 in (200 x 100 x 17 cm) and the L-shaped backrests 39.5 x 39.5 x 15.4 in (100 x 100 x 39 cm). Measure every piece, height first; another maker's foam-filled backrest may sit slightly loose.

### Can each piece of a modular floor sofa be a different color?

Yes. Choose the mixed-color option and write in the order note which color goes on which piece; the ottoman and the smaller loveseat can join in. The corduroy range has no black, and some owners keep a spare cover set in a second color to swap in.

### Is the linen on these cushions pure linen?

Usually not. The standard linen charts are linen-look polyester or blends, such as 50% linen with 50% polyester or 50% cotton with 50% linen, chosen for durability and easy cleaning. A separate 100% linen chart and 100% cotton fabrics are available on request.

## Related at the atelier

- [Violet Velvet Bolster Pillow: How It Stays Put on a Daybed](https://cushionguide.com/readings/violet-velvet-bolster-closeup-white-daybed/): A bolster pillow on a daybed stays put by position, not by ties: set in the corner between the backrest and the arm, it is held on two sides.
- [Corner Floor Cushion in Charcoal Stripe for a Paneled Room](https://cushionguide.com/readings/charcoal-white-stripe-corner-floor-cushion-panelled-wall/): A charcoal and white stripe corner floor cushion suits a white paneled room because the stripe repeats the vertical boards while staying clearly different from them.
- [Where are the cushions made, and do you actually make them yourselves?](https://cushionguide.com/answers/where-are-custom-cushions-made/): The cushions are made in the workshop's own atelier, cut and sewn by hand to each order rather than bought in from another factory.
- [Can you make a tufted floor cushion in a custom size, round or really big?](https://cushionguide.com/answers/custom-size-tufted-floor-cushion-round-large/): A tufted floor cushion can be made in almost any size or shape on request, round included: send your size and the workshop sends a purchase link.
- [Corduroy modular floor sofas and cushions: wale size, nap direction, why no piping](https://cushionguide.com/guides/corduroy-cushions-wale-nap-direction/): A corduroy cushion for a sofa or floor seat should be wide wale, roughly 3 to 8 ribs per inch, with every piece cut so the nap runs the same way.
- [Quarter-round floor cushions: a reading nook without carpentry](https://cushionguide.com/concepts/corner-reading-nook-floor-cushions/): A corner floor cushion is sized by its two straight sides, the ones against the walls: 40 x 40 in (about 100 x 100 cm) suits toddlers, and 48 x 48 in (122 x 122 cm), the standard maximum, suits an…

*Sit well. — Harlan*

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Written by Harlan Pruitt (https://cushionguide.com/masters/harlan/) for CushionGuide (https://cushionguide.com/about/). The site explains made-to-measure cushions and the partner workshop makes them; measurements are in inches first. This Markdown mirrors the page at https://cushionguide.com/masters/harlan/