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[fibersport]

New sewer here - I recently sewed up a sample seat cover bottom and everything looked fine until I looked closer. I found that when sewing a panel with skrim foam to a panel without, it seems that one of them moved. I would have to make some other sample parts to tell if it's the top or bottom that's moving but I do remember my witness marks ended up moving about 1/4" in about 12-16". I'm assuming it has to do with the presser foot tension? Could use some suggestions on what to look for and how to adjust for it.

[LLeeT]

Could you post a photo? Is your foam glued or stapled to the panel?

[fibersport]

Not much to take a picture of, it's all together. I didn't glue the foam to the vinyl, only glued the muslin on the bottom of it and then sewed it around the perimeter of the vinyl piece.

[BigRig]

@fibersport , you following some marine tutorials?

[fibersport]

BigRig - Not sure what you're asking.

[JimmieJoe]

Were your witness mark before or after the upholstery and foam were sewn together?
The upholster shrinks when you sew foam to it.

[fibersport]

The witness marks aligned before I stitched it together, they moved during the sewing process. My guess is that one of the layers was slipping under the foot.

[WILD BILL]

Whenever I've done anything that required scrim foam such as pleating or diamonds I glue the vinyl to the foam. do all the pleating, then cut the piece to size.

When pleating, everything "shrinks" a bit as the foam compresses.

[JimmieJoe]

If there is slipping under the foot as you say I would expect you alignment markings to get progressively worse as you sew further.

[fibersport]

I'm just glad I made a practice cover, better to ruin some vinyl than the leather I have for the final ones. I think what made it worse is that one side was sewn from one end and the other from the opposite end, any creep was then just made worse since I sewed from opposite ends. I'm thinking I should probably make more witness marks so I could watch it more often and be prepared to pull one piece or the other. I'll give the glued up approach a try too, it can only help -

[Rhonda]

making pleats or diamonds if you have Johns courses make sure to use the mark up sheets so you know the measurements to start and finish at . it will save you a headache later.

[BigRig]

@fibersport , that is far too much movement foam or not. I use clips and stay with my alignment (witness) marks always. A slight shift is ok but there is a lot of fabric adjusting to do when sewing. Keep those marks lined up.

[MalcolmM]

You can use a "plyer stapler" to baste the material together while sewing, easy to remove the staples later.

[fibersport]

When I was stitching it up, I really didn't realize how much things were moving. Had I realized it I might have stapled it. It was odd that there were a lot of witness marks on one piece but only two on the other. Call it inexperience -

[BigRig]

@fibersport . each time you get better than the last. I sew covers for a major seat cover company everything has to be spot on.