Mooring cover- Patern vs Blank

[timtheboatguy]

Sorry if I'm digging up a dead horse here but I am at witts end. The last few covers that I have done by making plastic paterns first have turned out pretty decent so for some reason I decided to use the old blank method on a morring cover this week. I new the owner was picky so I worked extra hard to get all the wrinkles out by making apparently too many darts and have wound up with a cover thats too narrow and too short!

I now have a couple of days pluss $$ invested in a piece of crap that I will use to cover my wood pile >:( I am ordering more materials to fabricate another cover and I will patern in plastic first. Has anyone else done such a boneheaded thing?

[Mike8560]

When I said that I patterned with a blank I didn't meen to use thenold cover as a pattern.
I'd take a vls k of new canvas  I snap the. Center ans pin the rest of the cs vas using quickfit pins.
As far as fixing the mess I've  een able to add a seam or two a d save most o. The material.

[fragged8]

using a blanket can give a nicer looking cover  vs using plastic first which can result in
less waste .

don't worry about making a dog we all do it , i've got to re-make a cover on a 30 footer
because i tried to do it in the cold and it didn't work out.

Like Mike says snap it on the fore/aft center and get some quick fit pins
once it is pinned on it's almost impossible to make a cover that it too small
unless you really mess up the darts.

I put long darts in first using a P3 hand stapler then the small  darts
if putting a dart along the top of a curved screen use T pins instead

'mark where you need to sew and sew where you mark'

over sewing darts will shrink your cover so aim for accuracy.
if you need to transfer the dart marks to the other side of the fabric
get some dressmakers tracing paper and a tracing wheel it works like
carbon paper on fabric.

Rich

[timtheboatguy]

I used the blanket (new material) with quick fit pins, I think where I messed up is I marked all the darts with chalk but did not staple the darts first plus some over sewing too.

[Mike8560]

Rich if I'm making a cockpit cover on a boat with a curved screen / windshield I don't put darts on the glass area you can I'm I'm not waiting it wrong.  What I do is have a seam along the entire. Length of the top of the window frame so you've got 2 planes of canvas
http://i782.photobucket.com/albums/yy102/Mike8560/covers/Copy3ofmoomba_cockpit.jpg

[scarab29]

Looks nice Mike. Funny , a friend has the same boat as mine 2 years newer. His factory canvas was done like mikes w/ seam along the windshield curve. Mine had darts on the windshield. Lots of ways to skin a cat !!!! I like Mikes way. I blanket , have patterned but prefer if I can just blanket it. After that its just binding and fastners. 

[Peppy]

Bone heads abound! No matter how you make a cover you have every opportunity to screw it up and only one way to do it right. S**t sucks. Best to eat the loss early and don't get caught up in the 'turning s**t into sugar' game. Cut up the screw up and use it in pieces somewhere else.

I do like Mike and cut a 'border' for the windshield. I also try to put all my darts into seams running side to side. I always make a pattern.

You know what they say! Second time's a charm! Good luck!

[JuneC]

Ah, now here's where I disagree with Peppy.  Very many screw ups (except for clear enclosures) can be saved and in some cases, actually enhance the design.  Think outside the box.  Next time I do one of those, I'll be sure to take pics. 

Having said that, I have always made a pattern, never used a canvas blank for anything.  Just my personal preference, not right nor wrong.  Each to his/her own.

June

[Peppy]

Ah, now here's where I disagree with Peppy.  Very many screw ups (except for clear enclosures) can be saved and in some cases, actually enhance the design.  Think outside the box.  Next time I do one of those, I'll be sure to take pics. 

Too right! Sorry to paint with too broad a brush. I heard "too short, and too narrow" To me that sounds like "add a piece here, take a nip there, stitch stitch, take a nip here  add a piece there...ect...= hamburger". But then I don't pattern from blanks so I'm not that good at it. I would always rather 15 extra minutes on a pattern than 15 extra trips to the trim table.

Still your right. You should always make sure you couldn't, say, add a new run or two and use your foul up as a blank before you junk it. But after thought has been spent and it doesn't seem fixable don't be afraid to call it a sow's ear is the lesson I've learnt recently.

[timtheboatguy]

Yep, I already tried the add a little here and there to the point that the cover resembles a civil war iron clad! I have made some covers in the past using the blanket method but for me my best work has involved making a pattern so I will just stick to that for now until I grow up! ;D

[Mike8560]

I've done a cover and maybe goofed up on the side with a cut so rather then thrash it all I've  cut the bad off added a seam and new fabric to fix it then I'll run a seam on the other side to match  and fix my food up as long as the seam is far enough from the center seam it looked fine.

[JuneC]

Mike's dead on.  Cut away small patched up parts with too many seams, and make it symmetric.  But, your cover may be already too far gone.

Without having seen pics of your disaster, I'd probably fix "too narrow" with a 5" wide stripe of complementary color fabric down the center.  Too short, maybe cut off the rear 1/3 and add on a new section.  But then, it's a judgment call.  I've tossed things and started over more than once.  It happens  ::)

June

[fragged8]

i think when he gets confident in his patterning method
he can then look at how to save mess ups.
Adding features to cover mistakes is an art in itself,
i'm getting more confident doing that the more canvas
I do.

from what he said he marked a dart and left it open
while he marked another dart, so he's taking up too much
slack.
that added to over stitching his dart marks will shorten the cover
by loads.

I always staple darts where I can , i mark the start and end
and thats it.
when i get it to the table i turn the fabric upsidedown and mark
where the staples are and a reference mark across the staple line
so it looks like each staple has a X over it.
pull the material apart and you have your dart marked with reference marks.


mike, I like that . its like you would do a dodger seam or a flybridge cover with a curved
spray screen.

[timtheboatguy]

I always staple darts where I can , i mark the start and end
and thats it.
when i get it to the table i turn the fabric upsidedown and mark
where the staples are and a reference mark across the staple line
so it looks like each staple has a X over it.
pull the material apart and you have your dart marked with reference marks.

I put my stapler back in my tool box!  I like your method of marking the staples on the back side of the fabric. I guess I just got lucky in the past with just marking the darts.

[stitchit]

Funny, I've been trying to decide wether to stay with my pattern material, or start going with blanks. Learned the blank method in Ohio, and must admit, much less time spent in the end.

I do a fair amount of over-the-windshield cockpit covers with bow covers as well. I will use double side adhesive tape along the whole snap line of both, as well as on the top of the windshield, and side glass. Then, I will mark the windshield frame from port to starboard, with one straight line at the top/upper most point of the frame. After that, I will add "tick marks" to the long line along the top of the windshield, and then on the pattern I will transfer these to the pattern material.

It "really" aids in fabrication, and the fit is unbeatable. But, with that said, the time consumed is what I am trying to eliminate, thus looking @ going with the blanks instead of the patterning material. I used to use the woven type pattern material from Trivantage, and now use 6 mil shrink wrap.

Fragged8- Does this seem to be something the transfer paper would work with? That is, if one were to put it in betwwen the pattern pieces and the double side adhesive tape?

Thanks Guys,

Great Topic!

Chris