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#10656
I’m redoing upholstery on my pontoon. I have completed one seat & backrest. Now for my third piece, it is a corner backrest with a radius to it. The old material was too far degraded to use as pattern. I’ve taken two stabs at creating patterns & both times I end up with not enough material after I sew it all together. What am I doing wrong & where can I find out “how to create patterns?” Videos I watched addressed straight seats & when measuring it said don’t add seam allowance, that way finished piece fits snug. Is that where I’m going wrong? Does seam allowance need added to a piece like this? One attempt I made had 4 pieces of vinyl with 3 seams. So that’s 3” of material lost to those seams & I didn’t even do the corners that would have been another 1”. I’ve exhausted google searches & can’t find the advice on creating this type of pattern. I don’t want to make a third attempt & waste more vinyl until I find or get a little advice/ direction on what I’m doing. Thanks in advance!
#10659
In the pics above, I used the old foam to lay out the seams where they were on the old vinyl. I then used pieces of clear plastic to trace lines make my patterns. I did not add any seam allowance. I can’t get the vinyl pulled to each end & the end still need to be sewn on & that would eat another inch of vinyl. There would be no way I’m stretching that over if completed.
John liked this
#10663
pretty sure you will need seam allowances, at least in the middle seams. you might want to not add seam allowance on the ends so they pull pretty snug. I would guess whatever video you saw where they didn't count for eam allowance was a stright piece that pnly have ends without seams in the middle anywhere.
Chris Jovingo liked this
#10664
I think if it was me, I would add the seam allowance to every seam. It is easy enough to tighten it up by taking the end pieces off and resewing a little closer of you think it is fitting too loose. But at least that way you are not having to recut the whole peice again.
Chris Jovingo liked this
#10665
Ok thanks. The videos I watched were produced by Sailrite on upholstering pontoon seats. They didn’t address curved pieces, just straight seat & straight back rest. I didn’t want to make 3rd attempt at it until I got a little advice. When I ordered vinyl, I did order like 10 extra yds of each color. Anybody else with advice would be appreciated.
#10734
Looks good!

Yeah you defiantly want to add seam allowance. You do want the cover tight and stretched I would ad 3/8 seam allowance and sew it at 1/2" seam allowance. With no seam allowance at all you will loose up to 5 inches on that cover.
#10748
Use one piece of the top, multiple piece for the curve. The top piece will follow the curve, the ones below will follow the curve. Google some custom boat photo's, bow riders and look at the corners, multiple pieces. Don't google bayliner.
John liked this
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The Padded Cell

nice job! :grin: