Dave got a new grill for his birthday last year. It came with a grill cover but that cover kept blowing off and eventually ripped. Our area of Colorado can be very windy. This year there were some record high winds. So he asked me to sew a new grill cover.
I was happy to have another sewing project to use the vinyl that I bought at Repurposed Materials. I have several bolts of vinyl and white material. So its good to have a project that can use both the vinyl and the industrial walking foot Sailrite LZ-1 sewing machine.
First I took apart the old cover and looked at how it was put together. Basically one piece of plastic material from front to back and then added sides. I decided not to use it as the pattern but cut a more tailored pattern from plain interfacing. This can be pinned together to build a custom fit.
I unpinned the interfacing and used the pieces to cut the vinyl. Even vinyl can shrink so I washed it in the washing machine but hung it to dry.
The vinyl is a heavy duty weight so I needed to use the Sailrite sewing machine. But first I oiled it because it needs frequent oiling unlike my home machine, it’s supposed to be oiled before every major project.
I asked for advice on the Facebook user group for Sailrite machines. I was trying to decide on the seam finish. Although there were several suggestions, the easiest was the single or semi flat fell seam. I watched the Sailrite video to see the directions for this seam. They make everything look easy.
The seam is just sewn as normal right side to right side. Then the seam is spread to one side. It is pressed by hand into place. I have a roller to help spread and flatten the seam. Then the seam allowance is sewn again over the seam allowance to one side of the original seam about 1/4” away.
This was a pretty easy seam to sew. I used special vinyl seam tape for the curved edges but not for the straight. The seam tape pulled away from the vinyl too easily. I had good luck with the edge clips by themselves. Vinyl cannot be pinned.
After each section was sewn I took it out to see the fit and double check the measurements of the next piece.
It was the most difficult to create the corners. I ended up sewing darts in the front corners. The right side fit better than the left.
The old cover cinched with a cord and pull tab but the vinyl was too heavy to use that so I just hemmed it.
Last week was windy. One day it gusted up to 25mph but the cover stayed on. If the wind does not blow it off and tear it that means success.