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Aaaahhh! Nothing is working, guys!
Randyonr3, I was thinking along those lines, but can't wrap my head around how to put the pieces together.

Also, any ideas on how to cover the tapeworm bolster? It's in four pieces; two are straight and two are curved.

Thanks guys!

I got it on!! (that's what she said)

Yeah, I wouldn't have let anyone see these if I had made them. Not even myself. I would've gouged my own eyes out after creating these.

Mike,

The original was done in a light weight fabric and sewn with a lot of tucks and pleats wherever there was fullness. They also sewed seams every 4 inches or so, and i'm not sure why. they did the same thing to the bolster, which is why it looks like a tapeworm.
I'm sewing the new cover in vinyl, and i guess i didn't think it through. There's just so much fabric left over on that inside boxing.

Hi everybody!

Working on these cuddy cabin cushions. The candy cane shaped piece in the middle is about 4 inches wide on the top, so I traced the shape of it on the vinyl and cut and sewed boxing to both sides. Then I was going to staple the cover to the plywood base, but, as you could imagine, the inside curve will not lay flat. The outside curve is not a problem.



Am I supposed to sew darts in the boxing to take up the slack? And if so, how far up the boxing should I go?
Thanks!
Jo

Thanks Peppy,
I will use this as a last resort. In the meantime I noticed I have some pretty bulky seams where the points are especially. The original cover was sewn with 1/4 inch seam, but I always use a 1/2".
So, do I trim it to 1/4 or topstitch?
The original upholstery was a flannel backed vinyl that seemed to behave better (laid flat) than regular marine vinyl.

The upholstered cover, Mike. It's a plywood structure, one piece. I've already made the cover, and tried to put it on from the bottom, but the seams started to rip in one corner.
I will try DBR's method tomorrow.

would you get a new cover on this steerage??



I had to rip the old crusty dried cover off, so it didn't come off easily either. But, someone got it on once, so it's possible, and yet it seems impossible.
It's always something.

Nice Rich! I have one of these coming up; it's nice to know that even the pros sometimes need to try things twice to get it right.

Aw, crap, he did bring the cushions to me from his storage shed  :(.

Thanks for the input, guys. He does want to go with vinyl, as he is concerned about them being easy to clean and also getting wet. I'm glad for this, because vinyl is much easier to work with, imo.

Fleeced back vinyl is also a good suggestion: is this the same as flannel backed vinyl?

Yes, they are indeed v-berth cushions, with the worst fabric I have ever seen. It's pink, with black and mauve brush stroke patterns on it. It's bad 80's.

Would anyone attempt these in a striped fabric? I'm thinking the bolsters would be really difficult to get the stripes lined up. The bolster is in 3 or 4 separate pieces. We are still in the deciding-on-fabric phase.

Grebo, that's a great story...paranoia runs deep.

Anyone ever do v-berth cushions like this? In vinyl?



How would you handle the bolster?
Thanks for any and all input.

Jo

How about a rotary cutter with the gridded mat? It will probably dull the blade fast, but I found that these combined with the wide clear ruler makes short work of this.

Jo

Wow, sorry to hear that, Chris. I've only had my shingle out for a couple of months, but already I have more work than I can handle. When I was hunting for customers, I posted a question regarding marketing, and got a lot of good suggestions. The best one was to post an ad (with pictures) on craigslist, not in the services section, but in the for sale section , i.e. advertise for auto upholstery in the auto accessories for sale section, furniture upholstery in the furniture section. I did, and within one hour of posting, I got three calls!

Bobbin, I was working for a guy who overcharged his customers because he was the only game in town, and he was a very difficult guy to work with, a micromanager. I finally decided if I'm gonna work for an a**hole, it's gonna be me. And I'm making a lot more money.
It's a little rough at first to get situated, but it's so worth it!

Jo

Thanks Bobbin,
I like the foam idea. I know what you mean about taking your time and blundering through them; I cut away a bit too much on the inside arm bottom and had to redo it. Did I mention that this is the customer's dog's sofa? :-X
Gene, yeah, i probably should have addressed everybody, but when I searched slipcovers on this board, it seemed like Bobbin was the only one who did them!
ok, so the new skirt is not going to be ruffled. I'm thinking I'll just pin the existing one under?