I have always wanted to do a tutorial on tuck and roll techniques, and finally have some time to do it.
Tuck and roll is simply an upholstery technique to create vertical, angled, or horizontal "rolls", or "channels" in an upholstered carriage or auto seat. The first part of this tutorial will deal with the original concept and methods. The reason this first method was used is because the original carriage makers did not have latex or polyurethane foam at their disposal. If they did, I guarantee they would have used it, and not filled their channels with cotton, horsehair, kapok, or any other filling material which has been used. Yes, I've heard all the stories about tuck and roll interiors done in Mexico filled with everything under the sun, and I'm sure that some of those stories are true. The one I don't believe has some interiors filled with (hopefully) dried manure. Anyway, here is how tuck and roll was originally done.
First, you need a piece of backing material. The old timers used canvas. For this demonstration, I am using a synthetic product called Versare. The reason I chose it is because it is thin, strong, will hold stitching, and does not stretch. The backing should not stretch, or the rolls could end up being all over the place. If the tuck and roll is going to be just inserts and not all the way across, it is much easier to make the inserts first and fit them to the seat, rather than trying to fit the inserts to the rest of the seat. The next step is to decide how wide the channels should be. These are 3" wide, so I left some extra material at each end, and drew lines 3" apart and perpendicular to the top and bottom edge of the Versare. Once I knew how wide and long the whole area of channeling was going to be, I cut a piece of fabric, in this case soft, pliable black vinyl, wider and longer than the area of channeling. Then I drew a perpendicular line on the back of the vinyl, folded the vinyl at that line and sewed it down to the backing material 1/4" to the left of the line on the backing material. The next step is to decide how thick you want the channels to be. I chose 1" thick foam. Then you need to determine how much vinyl goes between each of the lines on the backing. I put a 3" wide piece of 1235 1" foam down on the backing, and folded the vinyl over the top and down to the backing. Then I marked the vinyl accordingly, and came up with 4 1/4". So.........for every 3" channel, it will take 4 1/4" of vinyl. I then marked the back of the vinyl 4 1/4" and drew perpendicular lines for each corresponding channel.
Tuck and roll is simply an upholstery technique to create vertical, angled, or horizontal "rolls", or "channels" in an upholstered carriage or auto seat. The first part of this tutorial will deal with the original concept and methods. The reason this first method was used is because the original carriage makers did not have latex or polyurethane foam at their disposal. If they did, I guarantee they would have used it, and not filled their channels with cotton, horsehair, kapok, or any other filling material which has been used. Yes, I've heard all the stories about tuck and roll interiors done in Mexico filled with everything under the sun, and I'm sure that some of those stories are true. The one I don't believe has some interiors filled with (hopefully) dried manure. Anyway, here is how tuck and roll was originally done.
First, you need a piece of backing material. The old timers used canvas. For this demonstration, I am using a synthetic product called Versare. The reason I chose it is because it is thin, strong, will hold stitching, and does not stretch. The backing should not stretch, or the rolls could end up being all over the place. If the tuck and roll is going to be just inserts and not all the way across, it is much easier to make the inserts first and fit them to the seat, rather than trying to fit the inserts to the rest of the seat. The next step is to decide how wide the channels should be. These are 3" wide, so I left some extra material at each end, and drew lines 3" apart and perpendicular to the top and bottom edge of the Versare. Once I knew how wide and long the whole area of channeling was going to be, I cut a piece of fabric, in this case soft, pliable black vinyl, wider and longer than the area of channeling. Then I drew a perpendicular line on the back of the vinyl, folded the vinyl at that line and sewed it down to the backing material 1/4" to the left of the line on the backing material. The next step is to decide how thick you want the channels to be. I chose 1" thick foam. Then you need to determine how much vinyl goes between each of the lines on the backing. I put a 3" wide piece of 1235 1" foam down on the backing, and folded the vinyl over the top and down to the backing. Then I marked the vinyl accordingly, and came up with 4 1/4". So.........for every 3" channel, it will take 4 1/4" of vinyl. I then marked the back of the vinyl 4 1/4" and drew perpendicular lines for each corresponding channel.
