The Upholstery Forum

Hey Guys and Gals! My lone functioning brain cell sputtered to life the other day and I started wondering if you guys use one stich length for seams and then change the stich length for top stitches? This made me think about tight curves. I have trouble with tight outside curves like at the corner of a cushion. They never look just right. Would a closer stitch work better? For the few years I have been dabbling, I just leave mine the same (around 6mm or about 1/4 inch). Some guys i watch in youtube seem to fiddle with the stich lenght a lot when they start to sew.

I recommend using 1/8 inch stitch length on all base seams and all top stitches with size 92 thread. When I use thicker thread I will adjust the stitch length larger to get the right look I'm going for. I think your 1/4 stitch length is too long and will make it difficult to make smooth curves. Also you should never adjust stitch length in the middle of the seam.

thank you @John , I will do that. Was always affraid to get the stiches too close together but maybe that will help me a lot.

No problem. Let me know how it works out.
1/8" is a good sweet spot for fabric and seam strength. If you go smaller you risk perforating the fabric making it easy to tare. But 1/4 is to long unless your sewing very thick thread.

I topstitch pretty much double the length than if I was sewing panels together

Thanks for the question I have been having the same issue. I will try 1/8 as soon as I find which setting that is on my machine. LOL