Jerry Feather

The next set of pictures simply shows Doug french seaming one of the front side pieces that is now sewn to the center front piece.

Technically speaking french seams are sewn with a piece of the same or similar material backing it up underneath. Otherwise there is no real reason to be sewing the seam allowance down to the leather by top stitching along the sides of the sewn line that is holding the two pieces together. Without the backing there is simply nothing to be gained in strength by the extra sewing; and if having the seam allowance laying butterflied either side of the original seam in the back is some advantage, it can be glued that way.

However, we have come to like the looks of french seams and don't want the bulk of the extra layer of backing, so these are simply faux french seams. They are used only for decoration becasuse of the nice look of the extra top stitching. Personally I like the look of french seams, but would prefer that there be no seams at all, if that were possible. Usually it isn't; but I still don't like to put seams where seams are not needed. That's just me. Others put faux french seams just all over the place.

These pictures of the french seaming are pretty self explanatory. However, in doing this sewing I should point out that there was some level of decision making involved here. One could use a contrasting color of thread, and that is fairly common. We chose to do these french seams in the same color as the leather. One other choice could have been to use black since the top cover is going to be black. but we decided differently in this case. More on that in some later pictures.

Jerry Feather

Here Doug has completed the french seaming of both ends of the front piece; and then these other pictures show him trimming off the excess of the seam allowance underneath. This will keep the edge of the leather from making a slight ridge just outside of the top stitching when the leather is glues to the pod.

You will need to trim about an eighth of an inch off along each side of the stitching underneath. Any more or less will indicate that you have not been very careful to maintain your seam allowance when you did the basic seam.

Jerry Feather

Now, Doug has positioned the front of the cover with the black top of the cover (underneath) by lining up the little darts he and I have cut in the center of the "B" edge. He is going to simply sew these two together by starting at the center and sewing each way down to the chalk mark I put on the tan front side pieces which tells the limit of the "B" seam. Be sure that you have put that mark on your pieces either with chalk or you can even cut a tiny dart there off your pattern.

The second picture shows Doug hammering the top of the french seam down flat after he has butterflied it underneath. This is so it will lay flatter as he does the topstitching for this french seam.

Then Doug has topstiched the tan side of the seam first. After he did that we had a decision to make and that was about what color of thread to do the topstitching on the black side of the seam. We decided on the tan, not because is was easier without chaging the thread, but because it just seemed to make the most sense, from a taste standpoint. How do you like the contrast with it done this way?

The last picture shows the amount of seam allowance the Doug has cut off this last french seam. It amounts to about an eighth of an inch worth of seam allowance.

Jerry Feather

The first of these final sewing pictures shows the backside of the final seams at the juncture of the front seams with the top seam. You can kind of see how well these all lay flat because of the careful skiving we did earlier. Doug was really impressed with working with these skived seams.

The next two pictures shows that Doug has sewn the last of the seams, the "C" seam, and it is also frenched. Then we have sort of posed the pod cover the way it is going to be put on the pod.

The last picture is one I took after I got home from Doug's shop where I have put the cover over the pod where it will finally end up. You can see that there is going to be a lot of stretching fitting and glueing to get this cover to look right on the pod. Doug and I are going to do that next Sunday, or at least he is going to do it while I watch and take pictures.

That's all for now.

Enjoy,

Jerry Feather

Jerry Feather

I have some follow-up discussion in regard to the french seams or faux french seams, as it were. While I watched my friend Doug, doing all of the sewing on this pod cover I had to take note that anyone trying this themsemves will need an industrial sewing maching and one that they can "throttle down" to the point of doing one stitch at a time, since that is about the speed which Doug was able to do much of the sewing, particularly on the "A" seams and the french seam stitching for those also.

It also occurs to me that Although I have two such machines I still don't feel very competent in trying to do this sewing myself, particularly in regard to the frend seam top stitching. I think what that may translate to is the suggestion that for those of you who are actually brave or at least eager enough to take this project on yourself, you may very well want to strongly consider doing without the top stitching for faux french seams.

I think that a very pleasing result can be had with this cover design by simply sewing the pieces together and not bothering with the top stitching. I think you may want to trim the seam allowance down to about a quarter inch on each side and then butterfly the seam allowance on the back and glue it down so you don't have to worry about having the edges in the wrong place.

The reason is that although, as I discussed earlier, the faux french seams are really just for a pleasing appearance, I think that if not very expertly done they will be very unpleasing in appeaarance.

Just a thought.

Jerry Feather

Dean_Fuller

I agree Jerry about the French seams being done right. I have tried this myself on a spare pod 2 or three times without success. BUT...after reading some of your write up I can already see a couple areas I went wrong.

For those at home playing along...before you waste leather...if this is your first time..I would HIGHLY suggest making a practice cover out of something cheap and throw away. It won't be the same sewing leather BUT it will give you some insight as to how the machine works, how to turn corners and adjust sew speed and stitch length.

Jerry this is some GOOD stuff here.

Another note worth mentioning again is the tension on the sewing machine must be set RIGHT. Other wise when the seam is stretched you will see gaps. ( tension too loose). Also it takes a lot of hand strength to stretch the leather flat as you sew...another lesson I learned the hard way. But that is what it takes to get NICE FLAT French seams like Jerry shows. Another reason to practice of cheap vinyl or scraps of leather.

I really wished I was HALF as good as you on this. You would think the "hard surface parts" like the dash and pod would be easy to cover...but I have found they are MUCH harder to do than seats...But thats just my own very limited experience.

jwillman

Jerry,

I know all this discussion has been about using leather. Any thoughts on using vinyl for the process rather than leather? Seems it would be easier to sew and work with as it is more pliable. I have my pod out for instrument refresh and may tackle this now but was planning on using vinyl.

Jim

Jim

Jerry Feather

Hi Jim. Good to see that you are going to give this project a try. My thoughts about using vinyl are that I don't see any reason why these patterns cannot be used with vinyl just as well as leather. One thing that you will find different is that vinyl usually will stretch only in one direction and not the other, or at least not much in the other. I'm not sure which direction to suggest that you lay out the vinyl in order to get the stretch where you will need it to get the sewn-up cover on the pod. Maybe next weekend when we do the actual covering with this one we can develop a better insight into that concern.

Another thing I mentioned in the instructions is that you will need to skip the skiving step. On the other hand, if you were able to skive the back of the switch openings to the point of just removing the cloth backing from the vinyl, you might get away with it. You might at least try to skive only that much at the upper corners of the front pieces where they are sewn together in order to reduce the thickness there so the seam will not be so thick when you are done.

Finally, I am not sure how much forming of the vinyl you are going to be able to do into the switch openings with the process I described in my instructions and will be showing here. You may end up only forming into the openings a little and/or snipping the vinyl down inside like the pro's do.

I think Dean's suggestion has a lot of merit in regard to practicing this project in vinyl once or even twice. For you the second or third try in vinyl may very well come out JFB. Maybe even the first.

Good luck. Stay in touch with your progress.

Jerry Feather

Jerry Feather

One small point I neglected to make yesterday when I posted this latest progress is that when you get to the point of trimming the extra seam allowance in the back of your seams, either with or without the frenching, you will need to do something to preserve your center mark made with the little darts in the middle of your "B" seam. Doug used a very tiny ink mark on the tan side of the seam before he cut the darts away. This was even against the usual advise of not using any kind of ink to draw on or mark your leather because of the risk of it eventually bleeding through. Doug felt that with the mark as small as he made it and being two layers of leather from the outer surface, the risk of the bleed is very small.

The reason to preserve this mark or location is because we are going to need to locate that very spot on the center of the top of the pod when we start to put the cover on the pod. If you don't have the mark you are going to have a lot of difficulty trying to re-establish it to start the covering.

Small item, but it's important.

Jerry Feather

Randy V

That's some artistry at work.

Definitely not for us amateurs!

Jerry Feather

WOW! A really nice compliment for my friend Doug Corson, and a big wet blanket for the rest of us. With his kind of horsepower giving us guidance we are obviously at an end of this project. On the other hand I am reminded of the old saying about the man who is successful, but always having a woman in the background telling him he can't do it.

Jerry Feather

Randy V

You are the wet blanket, sir.

I was complimentary of the work, yet you still find a way to take it negatively.

Dean_Fuller

Jerry,
Got your tube today. THANKS. One of the endcaps were missing but nothing fell out!! Now i can follow along much better with your demo your so kind to publish for us.

Jerry Feather

That's good to know about the end cap. Every other one I sent I taped the ends on. I just thought that as tight as they seem to fit I would try one without the tape.

More on this project on Sunday if I get to keep the appointment with Doug. Sometimes he forgets these non cash flow projects of mine.

Jerry Feather

rgs944

Got mine as well a few days ago. Thank you, Jerry. I guess the first thing I need to do is get everything laid out and source how much leather I need. Maybe I missed it in the thread but does anyone have any suggestions on the best place to get the leather and how much is needed?