The Upholstery Forum

Is it common to have shrinkage of your inserts CL when sewing pleats?

Yes its normal on 1/2" scrim foam and up. Its usually about 1/8" shrinkage for every pleat. It can vary on different types of scrim foam. So it a good idea to so some tests to check how much shrinkage you get before you do your calculations for your final piece.

On 1/4 inch scrim foam I usually don't get enough shrinkage to worry about it.

Hope that helps!

Tells me to take the time and sew a practice run and when planning a project order enough material so you have enough to do practice runs with. Do experienced upholsters order more material than they need for a job too?

I usually don't spend a lot of time anymore figuring out exact yardage. I used too. Now I just over estimate and order a little extra. That way you also have room for a mistake. Also if you come up short it really sucks having to wait for the new order. Material is cheep compared to time.

@BigRig
I have my shrinkage calculations sheet at home I can try and send you pics later. Got these from school

@Cody ,

You went to an Auto Trim school?

@BigRig

I went to Wyotech for upholstery but never really went any further with it. Dabbled for awhile then life happened sold everything. 10yrs since I sold it all I’m trying to get back into it.

@Cody
Hey you already have a head start so that is great!

I wish it was a better head start, after taking so long off it’s hard to remember what I knew and even with schooling, wyotechs policy is teach them enough to get their foot in the door nothing more. One of my teachers left cause he was reprimanded for teaching too much.

I found that working in metric measurements was so much easier. My finished pleats are approximately 2 1/4". I divided my pleat area measurement by 5 (I think an odd number looks best so you have a centered one). 29/5=5.8. I did a small test on 1/2" scrim foam. My shrinkage was 3cm. I set up my final pleats as 6.1 and they came out perfect.

The measurements on the paper work for 1/2” like was said before. It’s is about 1/8” of shrinkage. Say you want 3” pleats overall. Your first pleat will be 3” plus, you’re 1/2” seam allowance, plus and 1/8” for shrinkage, so from the edge to your first seam will be 3 5/8” this is also the measuremeant for your last pleat . The rest since you don’t have seam allowance will be 3 1/8” only factoring your shrinkage. Once sewn up they should all be 3”. So to make sure your edge 2 pleats are 3” make sure you see your adjacent panel on with your correct seam allowance or it’ll be off.

@kl4bidn ,

They look really good!

Do you always draw out on paper for your patterns? I see the blue paper you use a lot.

@BigRig

Only when I want it perfect!

I use it a lot with furniture because I want left and right to match. Then I watched a lot of Chefalo youtube videos and he demonstrates with paper patterns. Paper is cheaper then fabric too!

I bought 4 rolls of 2x3 sheets at a flea market. I'm running low and need to figure out where to buy more.

@kl4bidn
I sometimes use masking paper that autobody shops use for masking off cars. You can get it in various width and idk how many feet is on each roll but I’ve yet to run out and I’ve used a lot. Relatively cheap. It’s not the thickest paper so if you try to use it on an odd shape and pin it sometimes the pins tear the paper.

@Cody That's a good idea. I use white celestra when I need to make a flexible pattern. (It is that cheap such they put on the bottom of furniture as a dust cover. It's usually black.). You can ask for white. I like it because you can see your sharpie marks thru it.

@Cody I went to wyotech Sacramento. I really enjoyed it and learned a ton. What location were you?