There are numerous approaches to stitching tuck and roll upholstery, but everyone develops their style. The technique we’ll discuss today involves packing 2″ pleats with cotton batting. You can make it any size you like.
Many people are afraid to tackle the chore of upholstering. That’s understandable, given that the vast majority of those people would never consider darning their socks. While there is an art to upholstery, it is not rocket science.
What Are Tuck and Roll Pleats
Pleats (quilting) tuck and roll have been employed in car interiors since the invention of the enclosed interior. They not only improve the appearance, but they also preserve the material. Pleats, or quilting, are the process of attaching upholstery material to a layer of padding with backing cloth.
True tuck and roll required attaching a top fabric to a backing fabric, such as denim. The top fabric was cut into strips or folded face to face and sewed to a backing fabric. After sewing all of the tucks, they were stuffed with horse hair or subsequently cotton (straw if you weren’t watching in Tijuana) using piping tins.
How to Sew Tuck and Roll Upholstery
The quick tips that you can follow to sew tuck and roll upholstery are given below:
- To get great clean and crisp lines, keep your pencil sharp.
- Mark the back of the cloth and muslin with a charcoal pencil.
- To discover how to modify the pleat size, watch the calculation video.
Now perform the following steps:
1. Prepare The Top Fabric
The first step is to spread your top fabric out. We’ll utilize the numbers to make 2″ pleats. In this example, we will create a piece that is 14″ tall and 24″ long when completed. Because it’s 24″ and our pleats are 2″, we’ll have a total of 12 pleats.
2. Mark Your First Pleat
For 2″ pleats, make your first mark at 3 14″. This is because you require a 12″ seam allowance, a 2″ pleat allowance, a 12″ inch roll allowance, and a 1/4″ fold allowance. The roll allowance is responsible for the puffiness.
3. Mark The Middle Pleats
Mark 3″ on all of the pleats in the center. As a guide, we are now marking all of the fold lines. Later, we’ll flip it over, sew a line, fold it back over, and sew the next pocket or pleat. To sew your tuck and roll, simply repeat this step.
When you fold over a pleat to sew it in the middle, you lose 1/2″ each time. So you must subtract it from your 2″ pleat and 12″ roll allowance. That’s where the “3” comes in.
4. Finishing Your Marks
The final pleat will be 3 14″ long, the same as the first. Finish constructing your 15″ tall square at the last pleat mark. Mark the top edge of your cloth with the lines you marked at the bottom edge. Now you’re only 14″ ahead of all the marks you just made.
5. The Base Material
Your base material is what holds your tuck and roll together. This is where you will sew the top cloth to construct the pockets and stuff the cotton batting inside. As a base material, you can use muslin. Any lightweight woven material would suffice.
6. Sewing
Begin at the “S” marked side of both pieces of fabric. Begin by aligning up the two pieces and sewing them together a tad less than your seam allowance. This will hide all the stitches you’re about to create when you come back to sew it to your true seam allowance as you finish the item.
7. Filling Your Panel
After you’ve finished sewing your panel, it’s time to stuff it with cotton batting. It’s cotton harvested fresh from the field and rolled into a sheet. We must cut it into portions so that it will fit inside the panels. A 4″ pleat usually fits perfectly into a 2″ pleat.
8. Finishing It Up
After you’ve filled your panel, begin by removing the extra cotton on the ends by plucking out the bit of extra that’s left. This is required to fold and stitch it. If you leave the extra cotton in, your seam will be way too bulky to stitch well and will not look as nice.
How Do You Sew Pleats in Upholstery
On most sewing machines, a 14″ is usually right on the edge of the foot. So, marking your sew line isn’t entirely necessary. Because you can fold it on your fold line and line the edge of your foot up with the fabric. But adding the sew line can be a secondary visual guide to keep things straight and even.
As you sew, make sure everything is even, smooth, and lines up properly. Allow your base material to bunch up while sewing. Allow yourself plenty of time. Sew it a little less than your seam allowance at the end, just like you did at the beginning.
How Do You Make Rolled Pleats
Fabric is pleated by sandwiching it between two sheets of cards that are set flat on a table. The sandwich is formed by the lower card, the fabric, and the higher card. These are then folded into form and tightly coiled up.
The parcel is then wrapped in an outer wrapper before being placed in a steam cabinet to heat the cloth and set it into the desired form. After the pattern has cooled down sufficiently the fabric can be removed and it should now maintain the shape of the pattern used to pleat it.
How Do You Make Channels While Sewing Tuck and Roll Upholstery
Upholstery channels need a little more effort than simple upholstery for a straight-back chair or sofa. Gather your fantastic new fabric, glue, knife, and pliers, and toss that mud-brown couch cover in the garbage. Perform the following steps to sew upholstery channels:
- Remove the to-be-replaced fabric as you would for any re-upholstery job, storing it to use as a template for the new fabric.
- Purchase a huge piece of upholstered foam that is slightly thicker and wider than the existing channel padding. You must select a density that feels comfortable to you.
- Divide the foam into equal sections by measuring from the center to the top and bottom ends. To outline each segment, draw lines with a yardstick from the top points to the bottom points.
- To score the dividing lines, run a box cutter or craft knife down each line, using the yardstick as a guide. Repeat the process to deepen the cuts to about 1/2 inch.
- Place the foam on a piece of buckram or another tightly woven backing material and cut around the form, leaving 2 inches on all sides and 6 inches or more on the bottom. Using spray adhesive, adhere the foam to the backing, taking care to keep the backing borders intact around the foam.
Conclusion
Fortunately, traditional upholstering hasn’t lost its popularity, and it’s unlikely that it ever will. However, since the days of the earliest tuck ‘n’ roll projects, when pleats were stuffed with newspaper or even horse hair. The methods of making this type of interior improved with age, and so have the materials.
Leave a Reply