The Upholstery Forum

What is the reason for using scrim foam on car seats. I understand the reason for using it on pieces that require a padded look but why use it on all the other pieces. I'm sat on a leather sofa and the leather on this doesn't have any scrim foam on any of the pieces, just unlined leather on top of the foam. It's not even glued permanently to the leather ( this I've learnt from here) so I'm struggling to understand how it helps. I'm still at a very early learning stage and sewing small samples but finding sewing french seams and flat felled seams very bulky.

I’m in the same boat. And was about to do the same post. Im about to start re doing the interior in my dads street rod and the Vinyl that I’m looking to use is somewhat stretchy. I was looking at videos online and all the “top” guys seem to back everything in scrim. Is this standard practice? It seems like scrim helps my alignment marks line up better in general.

Also lookin to incorporate tweed into the job. Should I use scrim on that as well?

The scrim foam is used on the back of you material to help "fill out" the cover and make it fit a little tighter without having to actually making your pattern tighter. It basically makes your material stretch a little bit so the cover doesn't look loose or baggy. It will also help hide any imperfections in the foam underneath. When I am going to top stitch something that has scrim foam backing I will sew up the seam, then trim the scrim foam back close to the stitch in the seam allowance. This will reduce most of the bulk that will be under your top stitch and make it look a lot nicer and be much easier to handle while you do the top stitch. Its a little extra work but totally worthwhile.

this would make a great practice piece for you. Make a couple small cushions. Do scrim on one not the other and see how you like the differance. Scrim is not necesarry but does add to the quality look of the finished job.

John

Thanks for the replies. Will try cutting foam back to the seam and see how easier it is to sew
Kuph-Good luck with your seats. It looks like we've had some good advice given. I'm hoping to use leather for our seats in a vw camper and have been given some off-cuts of leather from a local sofa manufacturer for practice.

It just depends on the style you are going for and how much effort you want to spend getting the foam perfect. Scrim foam hides all the imperfection in what ever it is you are covering. You can defiantly use no scrim foam if you are looking for a really clean sharp look on like a sports car or something you just have to make sure the underlying foam is perfect.

Its similar to painting a car if you do a poor job on the body work the paint will only highlight the imperfections.

Hope that makes sense

@mrstee ,

The inserts that are pleated or sew onto are 1/2 foam in most cases. The rest of the pieces you are talking about are usually done in 1/4" scrim. It just blends the seat cushion so you are not dropping off from 1/2" into nothing. I like to use it to protect the seat cushions from being abused, that layer of foam between the fabric and the cushion can extend the life of the seat. I really do want mown work coming back for recovering and have to deal with the foam repairs. If I can evade it I will.