The Upholstery Forum

Here is what I'm struggling with. I started seat re-do with most complex piece I think (headrest)
I have 1/4 sew foam on sides and 1/2 on main piece.
I do have 1/2 seam allowance all around.

But after I did secondary stitch all around (to fix foam) - pieces got somewhat squished. And because now I have to sew over foam I don't have any visible marks. I can go by reference line in machine, but with this rounded sewing everything bulked up and it's really hard to refer by it. I almost need a line on a foam back..

So, how do you do that?

I place a piece of tape on the bed of the machine 1/2" away from my needle and line the edge of the fabric with that while I'm sewing.

Yeah, it's just hard to get it like this when it's very tight radius and much of bulk :(
When you do headrests, what size of sewing foam do you use? Do you put any on sides at all?

You just need practice man. Don't worry, its normal for things not to be perfect on your first try. Thats why everyone starts on cheep vinyl to learn.

I usually copy the factory. But most of the time there is no foam on the head rest.

I agree with John. I don’t think headrests really have foam in them. I’m always learning and have a long ways to go, but every mistake teaches me something new. Keep at it!

Attempt #4. No foam on sides, 1/4 on main one. Much better but still fighting bulk. Maybe not the easiest piece to learn on.

So far mistakes:
1. Alignment marks all the way to the seam line show
2. Little wrinkling on first run but much better, pretty much good.
3. Decorative seam spacing is bad (which I will fix with special attachment, for now I just wanted to try)
4. Decorative seam - I need to make sure material folded and there is some extra so first seam won't show.
5. You can see on top - underlining foam wrinkled up enough to show

Also, do you think lot of this will come off with steam and/or heat gun? I don't have steamer, but I can try heat gun.

I think just by the last picture it looks like your side pieces are too small and the top is wrinkling cause it’s wrapping around the side and forcing the material and foam to bunch as it can’t shrink. In the second pic it looks like you can see a line about 1/2” up from the seam showing through from headrest making me think you need taller sides and take a little off the top.

Ok, you suggest template is not good. I kind of like the way it lays right now and it matches original where big piece slightly overlaps to the sides.

But I do see problems with seams not matching perfectly. It is wrinkling because I try to match alignment marks.. Didn't even stretch it much.

I may give it a shot again and create 3rd set of templates. Maybe make sides just a little bigger.

BTW, in this setup, how would you cut vinyl? I mean, what side should stretch? Side to side or in diagonal?

Looking good IvanD!
Steam will help smooth out the wrinkles. Another thing you can try is using a smaller seam allowance or trimming the seam allowance down after you sew it up. To me it looks like some of the wrinkles are coming from the seam allowance under the cover.

You shouldn't mark your alignment marks on the face of the material. Cut notches in the seam allowance for alignment marks.
Watch how I do it in this video.


Hope this helps. Head rest are difficult when you just starting out

Attempts #4. New templates. Used feet with 5mm guide for decorative seam. Didn't put steam on it yet, but I like it much better. I think next time it will be even better.

@IvanD ,

Great job! Nice vinyl you havethere too.

@BigRig
Thats actually funny because I bought vinyl to practice with :) I just decided not to go with $5 vinyl and got cheapest one which closely matches color I need. I know nothing about characteristics of it, but it feels pretty good to the touch. I just don't like how it shows holes in french seams if you pull a little. Final goal is to use leather. But yeah, not bad for practice material. Maybe I will sell those covers to someone if they come out good - will pay for thread and material :)

https://www.albrightssupply.com/Xtreme- ... Click=3957

One thing though - can't use anything to mark it. Seems like everything stays. I ended up using white chalk and only to mark where I cut. Anything you put on top will stay.

That is is vice vinyl for $5!
The only time I ever mark on the face of fabric is for sewing pleats. Everything thing else is marked on the back. Here a video of the things I personally use for marking on fabric. If your interested.

@John This is $8 vinyl, I decided to pay more than $5 just so I get color-matching practice material and it actually pretty nice for what it is.

I did watch you video, thats why I got chalk (I had other stuff). I don't mark anything on a face now, got better techniques. But I'm thinking what will I do when I need to sew diamonds or in this specific case I will need to put some double-seams in a middle for tensioning. Have to mark on top so I can sew on top. So far seems like white chalk is the best one on this material and comes off with some water/rubbing.

Taking straight pieces and stitching them up is nothing, but when you get into tight turns it's a much different story.

I think this is the type of machine you need to do work like headrests, bike seats and other small parts with compound curves. This one lets the material flow with ease unlike like a regular walking foot on a flat table.

@IvanD
I feel your pain. Having the same issues.

I did 2 more. Much better but not ideal. Maybe I'm overthinking whole thing. I look into people's cars, look at seams on seats, notice all the small factory imperfections..

I decided to do yet another set of templates. Take them from a foam, not from existing covers.
I also think I need to skip foam padding and just do vinyl sewing, it's tricky enough. I can glue layer of foam to existing foam and not deal with sewing it.

I also decided to move on and switch to another project. I started working on a diamond pattern shop chair cover just to practice more and get away from doing those headrests again :)

Head rests can be a difficult first project to learn. You will get there.
Haha I do the same thing with factory cars. You end up noticing a lot of mistakes.

Did shop chair cover. Now I kind of think why didn't I do blue/white on top as BMW logo :)