The Upholstery Forum

Hi, I'm trying to sew the middle portion of a car seat cover into the surrounding bench seat portion. I watched the 2 videos on Lucky Needle about interior and exterior corners and I tried the technique, but it seems like there's too much fabric bunching upafter the turn to be able to just make relief cuts. I always end up with it being bunched up and the corner is wrinkled or wavy, or the first corner looks good but the second doesn't. I must be missing something. I've tried over 20 times and I'm so frustrated and I feel stupid. Any tips would be so much appreciated.

What types of materials are you using? one material may be stretching more than the other.
Have you tried making the relief cuts first? Making the cuts first will allow for less bunching.
Do you have a walking foot machine? If so have you adjusted the tension?
Have you cut alignment makes so that you can keep the fabric in check? If one material stretches more than the other it is easy to get off and have bunching.
What are your seam allowances?

Yep. What @Cale said. Alignment marks are key. Add alignment marks when you make your pattern and then transfer them to your pieaces when you trace and cut them out. Its even more important when to be perfectly lined up when you have square corners like that. Round corners are a little more forgiving with misalignment.

Hope this helps.

Thank you both for your speedy response. Maybe I will try rounding them a bit and see if that helps; that sounds like a good idea since these corners are not forgiving to an inexperienced hand lol. And John, your videos are great and very helpful!

I did a couple of test pieces to see what might be the issue. One thing that stood out was that when you make the 90 turn is to keep the materials as flat as possible. I noticed that it wanted to bunch up there. Also, I did one with relief cuts and one without. the relief cut materials turned way better than the non cut.

Yes, the relief cuts do make a big difference. It's hard to keep it flat and I know that's where the problem really lies...kinda wish my presser foot lifted higher. Looks like you used a vinyl similar to what I'm going to use for the real attempt. I'll have to just keep at it. Thank you so much for your time.

@Cale, Thanks for that Cale we all appreciate the help.