Have been busy sewing anything I can think of to learn as much as possible. Lots of making mistakes and working through them. I want to learn as much as possible before I start me seat project. Practicing 90 degree corners, which I’m pretty comfortable with now. Round corners, not so much. Also trying to determine seam allowances coupled with the top stitching. Seemed like had to add 3/4 inch to get the top stich to sit right, but now thinking even less after today’s trial and errors.
Told a guy at work I’d make a cover for one of his shortwave radios. I actually ended up making two as I learned a few things from the first design. He wanted a flap along the back, so I cut it all the way out, but then realized that I should have cut out inside the rear panel. That way it keeps its shape vs. not having the lower fabric section for support.
Much better with the connected lower section:
He wanted a little flap in the front for a power cord:
Next I decided to make a glove box insert for the half-ton Dodge WC’s. The box tapers in as it goes deeper. Thought it would be neat to have something that could pull out like a drawer. I had some floor mat rubber I had saved from my Dodge WC16 project, so I used that and sandwiched it between two sheets of canvas for the bottom:
Why make one. I made three for a couple of my Dodge Brothers:
I even added a little handle just to see if I could:
The little drawer in the glove box…guess what? It fits like a glove!
I also decided to make a miniature canvas type seat cover. About 3” x 3”. I top stitched it as well, but really tedious due to the small size, but turned out pretty good:
While I was sewing the handles to the glove box drawers, the machine started acting up. It would come to a grinding halt and jam up. It would rip the bobbin thread, or lose the needle thread. I was sewing through 10 layers of canvas. It just kept acting up and making a rat’s nest. I kept having to take it apart to clear the nest. Spent at least an hour with this happening over and over. I thought that maybe it was the stitch length or the tension, but not sure how that plays into everything yet. Eventually, this happened:
Machine crunched and the needle was ripped out of the holder and stuck in the fabric. I tried plyers and I could not get that needle out. Totally stuck and wasn’t sure what to do. Finally realized I could remove the screw for that center foot and pull it off to access the needle. I yanked it out of there. After looing at the needle for a while because I wasn’t sure how it went back in, I noticed that it seemed just barely bent, but wasn’t sure. Figured I would just insert a new one. Well, after all back together, it worked fine. Weird. Slightly bent needle do that? Must be very sensitive if so.
After that mess, I wanted to make a pad that was basically exactly like a seat cover, foam, etc…, to see how that goes before I start the seats on the Dodge Carryall when I get the canvas. I needed a pad that was missing from a piece of exercise equipment I have. Was a good project to see how a seat would come out. Only difference is that I cut the foam to be 2” thick vs. the 5” thick it was:
Sewed up a cover like a seat cover:
A little rail roading to compress the foam and batting so I could staple:
The pad:
My margins, or seam allowances, may have been too large. I used 1 and 1/2 inch as my allowance. I think 1/2 inch may be the way to go. Not a good representation as the foam was on 2” tall. I think I need to learn more on stapling the batting and fabric to the plywood. May go better when the foam is 4” and 7” thick. At least I hope so. I think I’ll look up some videos on that if I can.
Burned a lot of thread this weekend. Learned a lot, and realized I need to learn a lot. All enjoyable, however.
I did catch a couple of them wearing them recently, so that's something.
