The Upholstery Forum

Thank you all for your supportive comments. I now need to start all over on the seat back. I intend to change the seat back to tuck and roll, including on the arm rest as this is how Riley did their rear seats.

My question is, should I do the tuck & roll in three sections (one either side the arm rest and a small section across the top to bridge the gap), or could I make it in one piece but only sew down the amount required to make the bridging part across the top of the arm rest. The unsewn material below the part that goes over the arm rest could be cut and folded into the recess that the arm rest goes into. The arm rest would be covered separately.

I think it would make it a lot easier to do this in a few smaller pieces vs trying to make it in one. ESP if by chance you screw up. It also make for a lot less material waste if you do it this way. Trying to manage all that through your sewing machine wouldn’t be fun.

I figured it would be the same a mount of material as for the seat base, but yes that was quite a lot of material to manage.

Yes it would be the same amount of material but with the base you were slowing pleats and could roll it. And keep moving. You can do that here also. But when you go to do the stitch to diferentiate between the pleats and smooth it’ll be a hassle. This is if I’m understanding you correctly. But I think it’ll come out a lot cleaner done in a few pieces.

In all actuality. The bottom pleats and top should have been sewn at the same time continuous lines. Then cut and added to the material for the rest of each seat. This insures the lines are the same width and helps with making sure the pleats align from top to bottom.

You will need to do that in 3 pieces and calculate each piece out the same like you did on the bottom. The reason is that you need to account for seam allowance. If you make a section like the bottom and cut out the 3 pieces you end up being about 2" short over all and nothing will line up.

The cushion looks fantastic now that its all pulled tight! Its really cool to see this project. Very few people do this style of tuck and roll anymore because its so time consuming. You've done a great job so far

Thanks John. I was talking to a local trimmer (despite being very unhelpful) he was very anti this type of tuck & roll. He stated it takes too long and you can't make any money from it. This is one of the reasons I've learned (from you) to do it myself as I wanted the seat to be done as it was originally. Regards.

It's taking longer than I thought (in my spare time) and it's more challenging than I thought it would be and although nothing is permanently fixed yet, I'm getting there.
It's not been made easy as I've completely changed the style of the leather so had no patterns to work from and the old spring cages are a bit out of shape. Furthermore I had to adjust the pleat width over the top and down the sides of the arm rest. The arm rest in 9 inches wide which was a real shame given I'd used 2 inch pleats :(

My dilemma now is do I keep the arm rest plain or should I pleat that too? I'm thinking it will be easier if I keep it plain?

Looks great @Petticd Dont worry those bench seats with the arm rest in the middle can be challenging. Also choosing to do traditional cotton stuffed pleats is about the hardest and time consuming design you could pick.

I would place the arm rest in the seat and lay some fabric over it and see if you like the look with no pleats.

Thanks John. I have already laid a piece of plain leather over the arm rest and I do quite like it, it breaks up the stripes.