I know this has been discussed before but I can't find the videos/tutorials. I've seen a lot of cars where people claim they have tuck n troll but it is really nothing more than a sewn over foam -- that has then been back sewn to hide the first stitch. OR even worse, it is a sewn pleat with the sticking exposed. I would like to do my own tuck n roll in a 56 Chevy I recently acquired. I have a Consew walking foot, have stitched a few interiors. I once saw video of a guy doing the real tuck n roll: Does anyone have pics or this video???? Technically "real" tuck and roll involves hand stuffed individual tubed pleats that are then sewn together. I know they used to use metal half tubes to stuff with cotton and the slide this in and then hold the cotton and slide it out. ----- Being a purist of sorts, I would like to create the real deal. It seems like a "lost art" in many aspects because of the cost and time consumption of doing it correctly. I see to many interior that look "FLAT" and not "stuffed" and "rounded" This is an example of the EASY poor tuck and roll that is commonly seen, notice how "flattened it looks....hardly any foam. REAL Tuck n Roll with "PRONOUNCED, STUFFED ROLLS"
I was thinking about thicker or denser foam, but wondering how it holds up , knowing that foam turns to dust and deteriorates. I was thinking some heavy packed cotton might hold up better and give it more authentic feel??? I don't know. Looking for answers and what others have done.
Tuck and roll refers to the process of tucking the material back on itself and sewing it , then rolling the material over to the next sew line. Just because it's flat doesn't mean its not tuck and roll. Tuck and roll can be done by slicing your material into the appropriately sized strips and can give you better control while sewing. You can play with the roundness of the roll by changing the width of the pleat and by changing the thickness of the foam. Some times you will have to keep the foam trimmed back from the piping line to keep the thickness manageable for sewing on the piping and next panel. You can channel the higher density foam for a nicer affect. The process of stuffing the pleats after the fact is usually referred to as fluting . Fluting usually require a larger pleat size and the stuffing is cotton. I made my fluting spoons out of stainless pipe and polished the edges to keep it slippery. Larger flutes can be done with a strip of wood and strips of cloth to shroud the cotton. The fancier you want it , the more time it will require. Time is money so charge lots. Hope this helps, but sometimes the best way is to get a local trimmer to show you first hand.
You can also use a yardstick to stuff the pleats if they're not too wide... worked well when we did the interior on my roadster.
desotot - I appreciate your comments. I understand what you are saying, but when I think of 50's Tuck n Roll , I think of how it began and the process used. So when I see a flat foam job that was sewn as one piece the rolled back and re sewn.....it just doesn't look right to me. I know it's labor intensive. But most things are if you are trying to achieve a certain look. Thanks for understanding . I would still love to see some pics of the old school process being done.
My understanding is originally done by sewing individual pieces of fabric together face to face then sewing each seam to a piece of backing material and then stuffing the pleats. Probably not many pictures of it around unless someone did a sample for you as pretty much everyone seems to use the modern method as it looks much more polished than the old style and as with most aspects of building these days perfection is the expectation.
I started doing a little "tuck & roll" in the late '50's. We would lay a layer of cotton on a backing and sew the hide to it, first seam to hold it together, then fold the hide back over and make a second seam to make the first one invisible, fold the hide back again and continue for hours. Very monotonous and difficult to manage but it was cheap and it worked.
I have used all methods of sewing and stuffing pleats over the last 60 years...even stuffed some with original horse hair like in Antiques...(yes,horse hair is still available) the puffiest pleat is by using cotton,no foam.
Yep big bundles to run thru the throat of your sewing machine, check out Ray Everham's new ride the 58 Impala from American Graffiti lots of old school tuck and roll. Lots of old rides with horse hair filling, usually wider pleats, great post
try fiber-fil (cushion wrap) over 1/2 in. high density scrim foam. then sew the pleats like choffman41 said. for 2in pleats mark your first line 3in in from the edge of your material. then mark all your following pleats 2 1/4 in apart. sew on top of your first line, fold material back and sew with your needle foot sewing along the edge of the folded material. whatever width pleat you decide to go with add 1/4 in.. spray glue keeps the fiber-fil from shifting. I started out sewing material to a backing cloth the stuffing the pockets, then using channel foam when that was was big (but like you said the pleats look flat) . I now go with the scrim foam and fiber-fil because it looks like old school rounded pleats an is easier and faster to do. hoped this helped. you might check out thehogring.com for upholstery questions they have a forum for beginners.
I thought you could only get real tuck-n-roll in Tijuana. That's the only place that I've heard of that's synonymous with tuck-n-roll.
I'm just an amateur and still learning a lot but I get good results from using 1/2" scrim foam spray glued to quality Vinyl. You can also pencil the lines on the scrim and fold over the Vinyl on itself and sew through the folded material. I think the old style tuck and roll only looks right if done in leather. When you see an old original '40s convertable with the weathered pleats they have the wonderful little wrinkles that you just can't duplicate. I remember tales of people that took their cars across the border for cheap upholstery jobs and found out later the pleats were stuffed with old newspaper.
Somewhere I have a old how-to book from Rod and Custom. It shows a pattern of sewing the pleats so the threads didn't show. As I recall it also shows a yard stick and or using blinds strips to insert the filler. Use two strips with filler between and insert. then pull out strips. I will try to find my book. It had photos of the process.
The sewing of the pleats will really differ as every stitcher(upholsterer) has his own way of doing things..just as with any chore on your car, Let me throw a curve ball in here and give some of you something else to ponder...Is there any OLD upholsterer here that knows how to do a REAL diamond tuft seat?,NO sewing at all..just folded and buttons to keep in place...Like in early carriages and many classic antique cars...I used to have a "tufting needle" back in those days.. Attn aaggie....reason genuine leather sews up so nicely.Leathr has no bias.like man made vinyls.
I saw a video on youtube of this guy doing real diamond tuft with no stitching, it was very labor intensive to get the look just right, but amazing when he was done.
Here is some tuck & roll I'm doing for my Mercury. I'm still learning the upholstery trade so the tuck & roll is with the foam. To chop, or not to chop. That is the question.
That is some great work @Kustomkid! I was an upholstery apprentice a few different times in my life, and unfortunately I wasn't able to stay with it for very long each time. I remember in the early 2000s I was working in a shop and I got to help put a tuck'n'roll headliner in a chopped Merc. If I recall, the owner wanted 8 to 12 rows of tuck'n'roll in the center of the headliner, and the rest flat vinyl--all in pearl white. I had to cut the strips and the foam to make the t'n'r rows. The strips were something like 120 inches long, and the guy I was working with was a perfectionist, so the strips had to be nice and straight. The strips were so long they hung over the sewing table, so I had to hold them up while he sewed them so they wouldn't be on the floor and get dirty. That was pretty much an all day job. I also remember how much of a pain it was to hang the headliner in the car because of the weight of the headliner with the tuck'n'roll center. It was a lot of work but it turned out awesome! Yours looks great with the two tone green and white. Definitely work to be proud of! E
"I see too many interiors that look "FLAT" and not "stuffed" and "rounded." Ironically, many of the early (late 40's - early 50's) upholstery work done by the masters such as Gaylord's & Carson/Houser, had a semi-flat look to much of the T&R areas of the interior. The pleats were made first, and then as discussed already, the pleats were stuffed with cotton. It's difficult to stuff much cotton in there to get a nice 'round' pleat, although it can be done. I personally love the old photos of T&R upholstery that looks somewhat to me like a deflated balloon. But, even in the interest of being authentic/traditional, I wouldn't want it in my car. While doing the sewn-over pleat-with-foam method, which I think can make for a very nice and traditional look, you could put in the extra effort to 'sculp' the foam for each pleat for a 'rounder' look. ...and yes, leather would be awesome for those "weathered pleats that have the wonderful little wrinkles". New cars have just enough leather for the wear areas of the seats, with the backs, sides, door panels, etc. being a matching faux leather material. After time you get that weathered look of the leather and still have that wonderful leather aroma.
Right! The Hirohata Merc is a fine example of a 50's tuck & roll upholstery job and it has flat rolls. Some of the differences is probably what the customer wants to pay for. To chop, or not to chop. That is the question.
Hello, We watched a neighborhood upholstery guy do that method and it took a long time to finish a simple seat back for an old Ford sedan. By the time we were able to save up money for someone to do the real tuck and roll job in Long Beach, it was priced out of our range. So, the only alternative was to head south to Tijuana. (3+ hour drive) It doesn't all rhyme with tuck and roll, either, but it was a scary place for young teenagers. The food was cheap as was shopping for needless crap. We got a couple of great guitars out of our shopping trips. After stopping at several shops and getting the best price and rules, this one shop allowed us to watch the seat back of our 53 Chevy hardtop sedan being done. They put in cotton backing, and thick foam. So, we left to go the beach and sightseeing. We came back in 3 hours and the white tuck and roll plus a white headliner, door panels and package tray looked outstanding. We all left happy and it looked like a show car. A was a little smelly, but looked good. It took several days of open windows in the garage to get the new smell out of the car. But no "pucky" here... The second episode was a silver 2 door post 56 Chevy. It had chrome rims on blackwalls, so the contrast was there. After the new silver paint, the interior looked terrible. So, another trip down south to get all white tuck and roll pleated inserts on a smooth, wide, edge surround. This time, the package tray was pleated tuck and roll. After the 56 Chevy was finished, the white interior was perfect with the silver outside. The springs were cut for a California rake look. This time, the new upholstery smell took longer to leave the car. Still no "pucky" here... The final trek down to TJ was with a 46 Ford Coupe. The outside was painted a shiny purple flake with chrome wheels. The inside needed something other than the poor quality black interior. So, our friend opted for an all-white look with the purple paint and chrome wheels. He got tuck and roll pleats on the door panels, seats, and just about everywhere else including the headliner. He was going for the total custom look. But, it took the longest time down in that crappy town to wait around. When it was finished, it was almost dark and we were happy to get out of there. But, on the way through San Diego and at a burger place, we noticed an odd smell inside the cab. Experience from the 56 Chevy several months earlier told us to roll down the windows and it would be gone in a couple of days. Was it "pucky?" Jnaki These three custom TJ upholstery jobs looked nice and were within reason for a teenager’s savings account. But, in the last 46 Ford Coupe, we found something sticking out of the pleats near the back of the rear panels. When further investigation made us pop off the panels, we found some hay or straw sticking out of the side panel pleats. Upon taking the other side off, the same hay or straw was sticking out behind the panel. So, now, we knew what that smell was, from a hay bale. (added in the smell of "pucky"...) The front seats were done with foam, but the rear seat back did not crush as smoothly when sitting back. It had cotton wadding stuffed inside the long pleats. We guessed that the upholstery shop thought no one would sit in the small back seating area of the coupe and would not notice anything different. Little did they know where teenagers like to be when stopped !
Hellshotrods I am no where near the level of some of the stuff the guys have posted but here are a couple shots of some of my interior. When I did my seat I did 1/2" foam under marine grade vinyl backed by an old bed sheet. Hand stitched all of the seams. Did the same on the door panels. I think it came out all right for a first time effort. I too was looking for the old time look. One thing to do is to decide your pattern in advance. Will you carry all pleats right up to the edge of the panel or stop short of it? I did mine right up to the edge, but to get the door panel to lay flat on the door I am going to have to cut the foam out of the back of it even with the edge of the door panel and then I can pull the vinyl tight around the bottom and fasten it in back. It is a small thing but made more work for me in the long run.
Just sitting here thinking about how to make the rolls round and coming from the construction industry the Guys that caulked up the expansion joints on a brick job would stuff the joint with a round foam then caulk over it. I believe that round rod they used came in a few different sizes. I'm thinking something like that would work...????
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