The Upholstery Forum

Hi Guys,

I’m both new here and new to upholstery. I have purchased a Juki sewing machine to start practicing on. After doing some small pieces I have decided to try and recover some rear seats - thought these would be the easiest to start with.

I have stripped the covers off and picked them apart to make some card templates to then be able to transfer to Alston suede. The issue I’m coming up against is that where the material is so thin (1.2mm I believe) when I’m trying to trace my pattern it’s just bunching up and soo struggling to get something to mark the material easily.

Has anyone got any ideas round this? I have tried to pin the material down with pins around the template and used weights on the actual template but nothing so far has worked.

Cheers

If you use one of those large straight edges they have at Sailrite, along with some drafting french curves, you can put the straightedge or curve on the material and press down while you trace your mark. You need to make sure your material is kept in the same place though. I would iron it with a steam iron to make it all flat.

Can you glue it on to a piece of cardboard or boat window material to stiffen it?

why arent you just putting the old cover on the material and drawing around it.? the old cover is your best pattern ..i dont usually have to put weights on it just use your other hand to hold it still