The Upholstery Forum

Hi all,
this is my first post can I say thank you for all the tips and help available on this forum. I’ve used John’s tuck and roll tutorial and created some inserts for my Chrysler upholstery i’m working on. Really happy with the outcome, thanks John your video has been a lifesaver
The stock headrest is quite plain so I wanted to extend the pleats up and over the head rest but what I’m finding is I get some puckering between the pleats. The pleats for the insert are nice and puffy but don’t handle folding over the head rest very nicely...I’ve tried using a 3/4 inch standard foam but get same results.
Any ideas to help me get the pleats to be smooth over a curve?

Here’s some pics, the seat cover is a test piece only sitting on the seat..and the shot with my hands is me stretching over the headrest

Thanks
Andy

The reason they are doing this is cause they are sewn on a flat plane. When you wrap it, they want to crease in the bends. One way to possibly combat this is glue the material to the foam while it’s curved around the headrest. But idk how youd sew it with the curve still in it.

Thanks Cody, I’d seen curved pleats on seats and thought I was doing something wrong but I guess they may have been foam stitched pleats not stuffed. I’d like to have them look the same as the inserts so wouldn’t change to foam pleats...I’ll have to try something else

You could try adding some heat after installing to relax the material. Could also alter the design so the pleats are on the front but changes to flat material when you get to the curve. I have some pleated scraps that were sewn pleats. The material was cloth not vinyl or leather. When I pulled them over a round surface they didn't pucker. Just some random thoughts. The seat covers look great! Keep posting pictures as you go.

Hi @Andy_M Welcome to the forum! Happy to have you here and fantastic job on the covers so far! I hope you eill post pictures when you finish.

Can you please tell me what style of pleats you did here? It looks to me like they are cotton stuffed but Im not sure. Cotton stuffed pleats have a big problem with this. Foam pleats form a lot better.

Also steam can really help as well.

what @Cody said is a spot on suggestion as well

Thanks so much for the replies I decided to scrap the idea of pleats on the headrest as there will be a lot going on in the car with door trims etc.
I did have some success feeding a steel welding filler Rod down fold between each pleat which gave me an 8 out of 10 for smoothness without too many wrinkles for future reference.

@John
Yes they are stuffed pleats but I couldn’t find the cotton batting similar to what you used in the video and tried a few different fillers until one day at the fabric shop they had memory foam mattress toppers and I thought I’d give it a try and now I have big fat plates that bounce back to the original shape but do take a bit of trimming on the edges and ends to give the pleat some roundness and I 45 the ends so they are all uniform. plus extra time (but im a hobbyist not charging money!). Happy with the results.
Andy

Great Idea with the welding rod. I have never seen anyone do that before!

Doing the pleats with foam is a better option in my opinion. I only recommenced cotton stuffed if its required for originality reasons.

I have a really good video on doing pleats with thick foam like that if your interested. Its in the Advanced Top Stitches course.
https://theluckyneedle.com/products/adv ... s-inserts/

Cant wait to see the finished results!