Marine Fabricator January/February 2021 - 16

Photos: Sand Sea & Air Interiors Inc.

WELTING/PIPING TIPS
FROM TERRI MADDEN
* Piping cut along the bias makes your piping take
curves easier and achieves a smooth edge. It
provides an overall cleaner look than straightcut piping, which is cut along the length of the
fabric parallel to the selvage, as the selvage edge
has the least amount of ﬂexibility or stretch.
* Welt cord ﬁllers come in assorted sizes like
a #5/32 " standard " in materials from cotton
to polyester and polypropylene. Experiment
to know which best works for your needs
and for interior vs. exterior projects.
* Set up your machine to switch to one or two
standard sizes of welt feet. A welt foot set allows for
a single welt cord to pass to the left of the needle.
Choose a size slightly larger than your welt cord
size to allow room for the fabric. Various sizes are
sold per set (inside and outside foot). Practice
until you are able to sew the piping strip directly
over the welt cord onto your fabric in one shot.
This will not only save you time, it will eliminate prestitches from showing, especially around corners.

Of webbing and buttons
Webbing can be used to strengthen
the edges of canvas for fasteners or tiedown straps. " Polypropylene and nylon
are both very common for webbing, "
Hirsch says. " Nylon is a little stiffer-a
little stronger-but they're both used for
the same application. "
" For webbing, polyester is our first
choice, " Griffin says. " However, cotton
twill is our first choice for Frenchseam backing [which encloses the seam
allowance on the inside of a sewn item,
so no raw edge is visible], as cotton will
conform to the shape of the skin much
better than paper or plastic twills. "
As with other materials, project application and use guide its selection.
" In the world of webbing, nylon offers
strength of material and polyester carries greater UV resistance, so it depends
on your greatest need for each project, "
Daegling says.
Buttons may not be the first things
that jump to mind when thinking about
marine finishings, but the truth is they
are more than an aesthetic choice.
" Although they are often seen as simply
an embellishment, they have a job to do
as well, " says Kathryn Maisto, MFC,
owner of Fairwinds Canvas LLC, a
marine canvas fabrication shop and
training center in Racine, Wis. " Buttons
are one of the main trimmings we use.
They are prevalent in our industry and
hold a functional purpose in addition
to aesthetics. People tend to forget that
their real purpose is to assist in keeping
fabric from shifting with use and wear. "
Color options
Clients typically want trimming
to match the primary fabric or to
contrast and complement it. Trimming
manufacturers continuously add colors
in an effort to provide fabricators
with more options. " We're constantly
communicating with customers and
other fabricators to learn more about

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Marine Fabricator January/February 2021

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Marine Fabricator January/February 2021