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I have done worse curves than that with standard marine vinyl, plenty of heat and a lot of tugging...like this golf cart seat



it can be done without doing additional patterning, but do what ever is easiest for you, and will keep the customer happy!

on service calls I do the same, I have a line at bottom of invoice "product delivered with repairs completed in good condition on XX date" then the customer has to sign it....its funny the kind of stuff you see on a service call, not just the furniture but the customers houses to boot

glad you got it resolved, and the investment in a steamer will pay for itself in no time reducing things like this happening again....with vinyl heat is nexcessary!

I have never had the chance to speak with Miami mike, but I deal with Ray Edwards and I try to keep all my business with them, customer service is outstanding, I am not a big company, I spend probably on average 1500 a month, so by focusing on one vendor it helps with keeping them happy and you happy...I do order things elsewhere when I cant get it from Miami, but only when they do not carry it...also they can give you better deals if you call your order in as opposed to ordering online

today I got 6 more boats lined up..I am booked solid into June now, and thats not even factoring warranty repairs on furniture which take a priority in my shop, I like having a good full calender but that sure gets stressful when you have so much to prepare for in advance...good record keeping is essential because by the time I get to #4 in line it stands to reason I could forget something! it is crazy that when I started this as a hobby 18 months ago, I never figured I would have a line backed up like this...of course I do have the distinct advantage of a monopoly in my area, being the only upholstery shop within 100 miles

if you changed the thread you may have had it off in one of the threading points...had trouble like that once and it ended up being that somehow I got the thread behind the tension discs instead of between them...so when you rethreaded it inadvertantly solved your problem....maybe....

good quality premade seats run pretty comparable to a recover price, but the cheap seats blow my price away....however the cheap seats do not last, had a customer over the summer who just bought a full pontoon worth of seats and bases for like 1200 bucks, the were not even used a full season and I was already repairing them....I do not even believe they used marine grade vinyl in the construction...the entire set was having vinyl failures at the seams...and factory used T50 staples to boot

stores pay about 275-350 for a 6-700 dollar sofa, so the factory cost to make has to be around 100 bucks to make....they offer a warranty, but I'd guess 70%+ of consumers dont ever go through the hassle of geting warranty work done...in my area there are no upholstery shops, so warranty work has been hard to get filled before I opened, i have spent the last few months doing repair orders that were over 2+ years old, a portion have already replaced the bad furniture, the rest are so happy to see me, but wont ever buy that product again because of poor response times.

in the mind of corporate greed, they bank on the fact that poor furniture means more sales...why build something that lasts a lifetime, when you can sell a new one every couple years...it is also cheaper to pay a few warranty repairs than to build good furniture.

Recently had a set of 6 month old recliners come in, the stuffing in the back rest was inadequate, the foam in the arms were all but deteriorated. I quoted the job at 4 hours labor each, basically had to take them completely apart, replace several areas of foam and add stuffing...the company opted to donate the chairs, and just credit the customer to get 2 more trash chairs...but not after trying to convince me that I should be able to completely disassemble, and rebuild 2 chairs in 2 hours....I told them good luck finding another upholsterer in the area

Thats not a bad idea, but I would think advertising a discount from October 1 through February 1 would be more my liking...February/March is when things start picking up for me boat wise, I think I may try that at the end of this boat season, do a mas mailer advertising special...send it out in late august before everyone has the boat stored

 So boating season is almost upon us, and I can tell, just finished my 3rd boat for this year, I have 2 boats in the shop right now, 3 on the calender for next month, and have appointments to quote 4 more on Monday...of course they all want the boats done by Memorial Day...why cant boat owners get this work done over the winter...I only had a couple during the off season to work on, if they would just beat the rush by getting it done off season!

All complaining aside, I am glad business is this good, but jeeze, it can get overwhelming when you have so many to do

expected life of a sewing machine, who knows! one of my machines is over 40 years old and sews like a champ...the depreciation of value is not based on what you paid, but what the unit costs new at date of manufacture...if you purchased a 5 year old machine that costs 1500 bucks, but bought it for 200 you still value it at 1500 less 5 years depreciation

I haven't had a problem, I have my building coverage, garage keepers insurance (covers damage to boats/cars left in my shop) and liability lumped together and pay like 120 a month...of course every state is different and every insurance company has different underwriting guidelines based on their own risk analysis of companies they have insured in the past and it could be in your area the canvas companies have had a lot of claims....I hope you find something affordable, just be careful with insurance affordable isnt always good, read everything thoroughly because it might not be the greatest coverage

I am surprised heat did not take that out, do not heat directly on the wrinkle, but heat around it, as the surrounding area cool and shrinks it will pull the wrinkle out...I have heated wrinkles far worse than that out...honestly though it look really nice and I doubt a customer would say anything about that, of course it would bother me  still

One of my machines lacks reverse, and it did not take me long to get into the habit of either turning it around and back stitching, or raising the foot and sliding it back an inch as sofadoc said, reverse is convenient, but not necessary, if the price is right....

I have Progressive Relapsing MS so mine is a little more aggressive than yours apparently, it would be nice to have it remit as much as yours does, glad you are getting back on your feet and doing something you enjoy, it is worth it

I am, and have stayed buried since starting this....unfortunately I have misjudged some time to complete a few jobs (mainly because my skilled help doesn't feel the need to show up) and am working my arse off to try and get caught up so currently not scheduling any work until april, but already filling aprils calender, it is crazy right now because noone thinks to have their boats done off-season, they all pull the covers off at same time and flood us with them , wanting it done before boating season is in full swing