Gonna Give It A Shot (Upholstery)

[JoLin]

By the end of last season, about 16 running feet of cockpit side bolsters on Escapade were literally falling off the boat. The wood backings are all rotted out and the upholstery seams are badly split. Before she was shrinkwrapped I took them off and stashed them in the garage.

After a long search, yesterday a friend gave me a Singer sewing machine she doesn't need anymore. I have a walking foot, new belt and some #18 needles on order. Tomorrow I'll clean and lube the machine. A few minutes ago I ordered 6 yards of Nautolex and a couple spools of Sunguard thread from Gary's Upholstery Supply. I had sent them samples of the 2 colors I need and they matched them up perfectly for me.

Soooo... a brand-new undertaking as soon as everything gets here. I don't sew and never have... just gonna take my time and fabricate a piece at a time. Linda can help some if I need it- she used to sew a bit.

Wish me luck!

 

[Woodonglass]

Re: Gonna Give It A Shot (Upholstery)

Lots of upholstery threads and knowledgeable people here on the forum. This is a Good one...
http://forums.iboats.com/boat-restoration-building-hull-repair/another-one-upholstery-546429.html

 

[JDA1975]

Re: Gonna Give It A Shot (Upholstery)

Good Luck, feel free to ask if you have any questions I can help with, I look forward to seeing you do this!

 

[JoLin]

Re: Gonna Give It A Shot (Upholstery)

Lots of upholstery threads and knowledgeable people here on the forum. This is a Good one...
http://forums.iboats.com/boat-restoration-building-hull-repair/another-one-upholstery-546429.html

Been doing a lot of lurking in a lot of places. That was one of the threads I looked at while I was deciding whether or not to try it. The pieces I'm making are pretty straightforward. There are a bunch of seams, but most of it it fairly straight-line stuff. That's why I thought it was worth a shot. I won't have invested much money if I find I don't have the talent for it. If it works I have some other projects I'd like to tackle.

It's kinda cool 'cause it's all new. Never used a sewing machine before, never sewed a seam in anything before. I do remember sewing a button back on a shirt once...

 

[Woodonglass]

Re: Gonna Give It A Shot (Upholstery)

The Key will be getting the Tension set on the bobbin and Upper. The thick vinyl makes it kinda tricky getting them set correctly so the bottom and top stitch is the same. Also it does not want to feed thru the machine at a constant rate so your stitch length gets screwy sometimes. You will prolly have to pull it along as you go especially when sewing more than two layers of vinyl. We'll be here to help so just post your questions. What model of Singer did you get?

 

[tpenfield]

Re: Gonna Give It A Shot (Upholstery)

You will do fine and gain a skill in the process.

I re-upholstered the rear seat of my 24 footer. . . even added some color to the sunpad portion

Original ( BEFORE)

AFTER

I had trouble with the tension setting on the sewing machine as well as stitching through multiple layers of vinyl.

If you need a supplier, I recommend Gary's Upholstery online.

 

[JoLin]

Re: Gonna Give It A Shot (Upholstery)

What model of Singer did you get?

Don't laugh, okay? It's a model 362 Fashion Mate. Maybe from the 1960's but not sure. I THINK it'll work if I go slow, but not even 100% sure of that yet. It was free...

tpenfield, I bought the vinyl and thread from Gary's. I wrote him just before I ordered to ask what kind of thread to use and what needle size to buy. He answered in 10 minutes. They had already matched my samples with what looks like the same material that Four Winns used originally- exactly the same thickness, texture and colors.

 

[Woodonglass]

Re: Gonna Give It A Shot (Upholstery)

You might find this helpful if you don't have the manual.
Singer 362 Sewing Machine Threading Diagram

 

[Woodonglass]

Re: Gonna Give It A Shot (Upholstery)

You might find this helpful if you don't have the manual.
Singer 362 Sewing Machine Threading Diagram

My research tells me this machine should be able to handle about 4 layers of vinyl. It will probably do fine.

 

[JoLin]

Re: Gonna Give It A Shot (Upholstery)

I don't know if I'll keep updating this thread, but been doing some stuff while I wait for the material to arrive...

Lubed the machine and it seems to run fine.
Bought a few odds and ends- seam ripper, chalk, big box of pins, a good pair of shears.

Yesterday I took the smaller of the 2 bolsters (about 6' long), separated it from the wood backing and worked the foam free. That (foam) at least is in decent shape. The Four Winns people sure like to use staples! Unfortunately, the wood backing is so rotted that sections of it are completely gone, and I'm not sure how to replicate where it makes a radiused turn from the cockpit side to the section that covers a bit of the transom. I'm back-burnering that for now- might have to wait until the shrinkwrap comes off so I can see/measure and noodle how to duplicate it. Pretty sure I'm gonna run into the same issue with the other side bolster. That one's twice as long.

I am making one change to the original design- the top half is gray, the bottom half is off-white, and there's a 2" wide taupe accent piece separating the 2. I decided to eliminate the taupe in the new stuff. I left it attached to the white half when I ripped the seams, so the new bolsters will be 2 colors instead of 3.

I turned the vinyl upside down and marked each piece (8 of them) with letters and arrows where they fit together, then ripped all the seams and ironed the individual pieces to flatten them out for tracing when the new vinyl gets here. Thank god for the seam ripper. I didn't know what it was or how it worked when I bought it, but it saved me HOURS.

I determined that all the seams are 1/2" in from the edge of the material, so I'm going to pre-mark the stitch lines on the new stuff. I plan to pin pieces together so they match up and (hopefully) stay that way as I sew them together. The thread arrived from Gary's today, so the vinyl should be here soon so I can get started. Also waiting for the 'walking foot' I ordered.

Once the new pieces are all cut and marked same as the old, I'm going to use the old material to set up the machine (tension, stitch length, etc) and 'learn to sew' (I hope).