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[ajnegus]

thanks very much for all the help.

The original covering for this bolster had some kind of scrim foam on the reverse side of the fabric although I'm not sure how thick it was, the foam itself had completely disintegrated and all that was left was the scrim material. The fabric I've been practising with has a scrim backing of approximately 3mm thickness. The original vinyl part of the bolster cover did not have any kind of backing and the vinyl was quite thin, possibly around 1mm. The new vinyl I'm using is a little thicker, perhaps around 1.2mm. Overall the replacement bolster cover I have made is quite taught, there are no loose or baggy areas so it seems about right to me other than the slight issues with the waviness of the seams on the most pronounced curves. I think I have largely addressed this now but if you think that some scrim foam behind the vinyl would also help, I'll give it a try. I'm a complete novice so I don't know much about these things but my reservation with using scrim foam on the back of the vinyl would be that it might give even more bulk to the seam and make it more difficult for it to evenly follow the curve of the bolster foam.

I think my main issues are now with top stitching but I guess improvements will come with practise and the right equipment. I'm just trying to get by with a domestic Singer 4432 at the moment, it punches through the vinyl and fabrics with no problems but the main issue is that the space under the foot is quite tight. As a result, when you try to sew multiple layers of materials its quite tightly jammed under the foot and doesn't tend to feed very well. I think this tightness is probably not helping how the seam sits as I attempt to top stitch as I think it is contributing to the tension on the seams which results in being able to see the seam stitchline after top stitching. I really do need to get myself a better and more capable sewing machine, I'm looking for an industrial walking foot machine but I'm not sure I will be able to find the space to have one set up permanently. Something like a Sailrite Ultrafeed would be ideal for my requirements in terms of space and being able to put it away after use but I'm not sure how good they are, they seem very expensive yet somehow a bit crude.

[John]

Hey ajnegus, Your doing really good!!! so far with the machine you are using. One thing you can do to help with the scrim causing wrincly single reinforced seams is once you sew the base seam carefully cut off the foam in the seam allowance. This will reduce bulk an make it look nicer. Its time consuming but it does work. Also steam! Seam is a trimmers best friend. Steam that seam and get it nice a hot then install that cover. This will help a lot.

[ajnegus]

thanks John, that's a great tip about removing the foam from the seam allowance, that will really help to reduce the bulk. I think I will have to invest in a steamer, as you say it really does seem to help with shaping everything correctly.