dining room seat covers
this video is brought to you by sailrite.in this video we are going to show you how to make your own pleated motorcycle seat cover.we will be transforming this seat cover into a beautiful pleated or channeled seat usingsupplies from sailrite. this video will show how to pattern, how to sew pleats, createyour own boxing, topstitching and of course stapling. let's get started... we are going to create a pleated top for thismotorcycle seat. to do this we need to make a pattern for the top of the seat. we willuse paper and trace around it with the seat turned upside down on top. fold the paperin half lengthwise and match up the lines as best as possible. then cut the patternout while it is still folded, this should
create a uniform pattern. our seat is rathersmall, so we will not worry much about shrinkage as the pleats are being sewn.however, if you are creating a larger panel which includes pleats we recommend you dosome calculations for the amount of shrinkage that will naturally occur with each pleat.each pleat will usually shrink the project by about an 1/8 inch, depending on the thicknessof the scrim foam. use these calculations to determine the cut length of the fabricand foam, so you do not end up with a panel that is too small for the job when done sewingthe pleats. to create our pleats we will be using thepolyurethane foam with fabric backing this is a â¾" form from sailrite.polyurethane foam with fabric backing â¾"
is a wonderful scrim foam that is often usedfor creating pleats in fabric or sometimes called channeling. polyurethane foam is backedwith a spun bonded polyester fabric and this fabric keeps the stitch from pulling thruthe foam when channeling or pleating is done. in this video we are using it to create apleated motorcycle seat, but it's also great for boat and automotive upholstery applicationsand even for making handbags and purses. polyurethane foam with fabric backing is available at sailrite.com.we will now cut the foam, often called scrim foam, to the approximate size of the seattop, cut it bigger. this should also be done to the vinyl fabric.once cut out we will now glue the fabric to the foam side, not the scrim side. to accomplishthis task we like to use 3m super 77 spray
adhesive. we will spray only the undersideof the vinyl fabric, but you could also spray the foam as well.now simply apply the vinyl fabric to the foam side and press down being sure all wrinklesare removed. gluing the fabric to the foam will ensure that it does not easily move aroundwhile the pleats are being sewn in. it is a very important step, so do not skip it!our desired pleat width is 1 1/8 inch, yours may be different. so, we will mark the undersideof our foam with the spun bond fabric scrim to 1 â¼ inch. why the 1/8 inch more? becausewhen each pleat's top stitch is completed it will shrink the fabric and pleat by aboutan 1/8 inch. so the resulting pleat will be about 1 1/8 inch when done.let's rewind and take a look at the first
pleat marked on the foam. you will noticethat this first pleat marked is about an extra â½ inch away from the edge of the fabric.that space will be for the seam allowance of a â½ inch. so do not just start right atthe edge of the fabric marking your first pleat 1 â¼ inch away, but add a â½ inch forseam allowance for that first pleat. this â½ seam allowance should be factored in forthe last pleat on the opposite end as well. always be sure your bobbin is full beforesewing pleats, you do not want to run out of thread in the middle of a pleat. angelawill carefully position the needle over the line she marked on the panel and then willslowly sew down the length of pleat being diligent to guide the fabric so the stitchstays as straight as possible over the line.
since we will be cutting the edges off thispanel we will not do any reverse stitching to lock the stitch in place. sewing thru foamand vinyl fabric will possibly play tricks with your tension, so it is best to test onscrap first. too much tension will cause excessive wrinkling of the fabric.just because we marked the underside of the foam for our pleats does not mean you haveto do that. if you like to keep a close eye on your tension and how it looks from thetopside. you can mark the fabric pleat lines on the vinyl side and sew with that side up.just be sure the lines will easily come off the fabric so you may want to use a greasepencil or other fabric marking pencil. next we will lay our pattern on top of thefinished panel and trace around it. we will
not be adding any seam allowance here sincethe pattern is a little on the large size and will be pulling it firmly over the seatbottom to make a tight fitting cover. this should position our boxing seam right alongthe outer edge of the seat when finished. to cut our boxing to size we need to takesome measurements off the seat. we will measure from the top edge to the bottom side of theseat where it will be stapled. do not short yourself, better to have extra width thannot enough. then we will measure around the seat sides to ensure we have enough length,again go extra by a few inches at least. now simply cut a boxing strip to the widthdesired and the length. fold the assembly in half and mark the centerlocation. do the same with the seat top that
is pleated.we will sew the boxing starting at the front side of the seat positioning the center linesdirectly on top of each other. we want to sew our straight stitch about a â½ inch awayfrom the raw edges of the fabric. and we will do some reversing here to lock the stitchin place. as it is being sewn down we will carefully line up the raw edges as we sew.notice that angela is pulling ever so slightly on the pleated panel and the boxing. thisis typically not something that is done with regular sewing, but with a channeled fabriclike this we want it to laying fairly flat when the boxing is secured. so, a slight pulloften results in a better looking finished project. watch carefully to see how much sheis pulling the fabric, too much pulling and
your project will be ruined, so be careful.when she gets to a corner she will carefully line up the edges and sew around slowly.here we are coming to the backside of the seat. we have only sewn down one side, theother side is still not sewn. we want to stop short of the center line by about 2 inches.this unsewn area will make it possible to sew the two half's of the boxing ends togetherat the rear of the seat in a later step. here's the unsewn part you can see it is approximately2 inches from the center line. to sew the opposite side flip the assemblyand again start sewing at the front of the seat's center line. sew around just as youdid with the opposite side stopping a few inches away from the back of the seat's centerline yet again. you notice now the boxing
is on top and the pleated fabric is underneath,that is because we flip the assembly to sew this side.also take note to see how much angela pulls the boxing and the pleated fabric as she sews.just as she did earlier. ok we are coming up the seat's back center position and westop a few inches from the center line. to join the boxing ends together try to determinewhere they should come together by walking them along the unsewn section of seat top.then hold them together at that location and take them to the sewing machine and sew downthe boxing length at that exact location, being careful to keep the stitch at a 90 degreesfrom the boxing's bottom edge, another words straight.here it is sewn and you can see it is perfect.
cut away any extra length of boxing, but leaveat least a â½ inch or more going past the stitch we just sewed. we will cut a stripfrom the left over boxing that is about 1 inch wide.we will splay the backside of the boxing seam open and place this 1 inch strip of fabricover the splayed section of the fabric. we are creating a french seam here. a frenchseam has a top stitch on both sides of the main center seam.here is a quick illustration to show how we will accomplish this french seam.with the fabric spayed open and the extra strip of fabric on the bottom side angelawill now carefully sew a stitch about an 1/8 away from the first stitch using here presserfoot as a guide to help keep it straight.
as with any top stitch as you sew be sureto pull the center seam apart to keep it flat and in the center.once the top stitch is done on one side switch to the next side and repeat the process. itis always a good idea to sew on the same side of the presser foot, if you're using thatas a guide. that is why she flipped the panel around here.now go back and finish off the area which was left unsewn. after this is done we willsew a single top stitch to the boxing where it is sewn to the top of the seat. we willdo that in the next step. to sew our top stitch we will need to turnthe cover right side out. and then we will sew about a 1/8 inch away from the first stitchbeing sure to catch the bottom flap of fabric
as we sew. it is best to place this top stitchon the boxing and not the top channeled plate. here angela is starting at the back side ofthe cushion where the french seam was just created. she did a little bit of reversingand then continues to go around using her presser foot as a guide. note, as she sewsshe pulls on the two halves of fabric so it is nice and flat and laying open on the centerseam. when we get to the back side do some morereversing and you are done. next up we will staple this cover to the seat.we have fit the cover over the seat and will now staple it in place. we will start be staplingthe front and rear of the seat first. we are using the eze â½" crown stapler with stainlesssteel staples. this is a pneumatic stapler.
these â½" crown staples are wider than normalcrown staple of 3/8" so they resist splitting the vinyl fabric. here's a demo showing staplingthe same vinyl fabric the first is a standard 3/8" crown staple and now with the eze â½"crown stapler. watch as we pull on the vinyl, you can see the â½" crown does not pull thruthe vinyl as easily as the 3/8" crown does. also because we it is a pneumatic stapleryou can turn down the psi amount on your air compressor to reduce the force that is appliedto the staple which in turn helps to keep the staple from driving in too deep and thuscutting the vinyl fabric. now that the front and back are stapled inplace we will secure the sides pulling the fabric over the seat and checking for a goodfit and look.
the eze tc-08 staple gun with â½ crown isa reasonably priced staple gun for upholstery applications and it is sold at sailrite.com.if you do not want to spend the money on a new staple gun you can use a standard arrowbrand stapler to do this job also. we recommend using stainless steel staples or monel staples.once stapled in place just trim away the excess fabric with scissors.our pleated or channeled motorcycle seat is now complete. coming up next is the materialsand tool list that we used to make this pleated or channeled motorcycle seat cover.for more free videos like this be sure to check out the sailrite website or subscribeto the sailrite youtube channel. it's your loyal patronage to sailrite that makes thesefree videos available, thanks for your loyal
support! i'm eric grant and from all of ushere at sailrite, thanks for watching!