How does a company go from simple box cushions to complex designs? It is not as hard as you might think. Our shop, Paul’s Custom Canvas Inc., was opened in 1979 by my father, Paul Charpentier. Like most fabricators, I “grew up” in the shop and started full time in 1998. We currently operate out of a 16,000-square-foot building located in Denver, Colo. 

Paul has always run a successful canvas shop, which has given us the opportunity to try new things to expand production and still be able to maintain the same level of quality and timeliness on marine projects. We expanded our marine canvas business to include carpet, SeaDek flooring and upholstery. Our upholstery business started out on a card table set up in a corner of the shop and has eventually expanded to its current dedicated area of 4,000 square feet. My favorite project so far is the 32-foot Fountain we did back in 2010.

The initial challenge

The customer wanted a bid for upholstery and a new cover. My brother Scott and I went out to the storage lot to look over the boat. The customer told us he just wanted to duplicate the current design but change the colors. I told him it would be better to upholster the Fountain logo on the large sun pad and headrests as opposed to embroidering it. That way, it will last longer in the sun, and he would not have to do this again in a few years. 

He agreed, and I told him we would get some prices figured out and give him a call with an estimate. At that point, we had only been doing simple box cushions with simple designs. After we left the storage lot, I looked at Scott and said, “How in the world are we going to do this?”

Seek help as necessary

A couple of days later, I was reading Marine Fabricator magazine and came across an ad for the 2010 MFA conference in Orlando, Fla. The conference agenda showed that Carol Racine from Racine Design was doing a presentation on the refurbishing of a captain’s chair. I convinced Paul this would be a great conference to attend and that it would be wonderful to visit Orlando in January and escape cold, snowy Colorado.

Carol did an amazing presentation. She started with rebuilding the base and went through rebuilding the foam, patterning, design, cutting, sewing and finally installation. What really piqued my interest was the design, cutting and sewing.

Break it down into small parts

The key to fabricating a complex design is to break it down into smaller and smaller parts—similar to quilting. Put together as many smaller pieces as possible to make multiple parts. Then take those parts and put them together with other smaller parts, sewing as many long seam lines as possible. After sewing these together, you can sew all the smaller sections together with bigger pieces to complete the cushion. Try to avoid sewing too many sharp corners. Whenever possible, when coming to a corner, make that a different section.

Anticipate problems

For complicated designs, we like to lay everything on the table to see where we are going to have problems in the sewing. We will then either rearrange the sewing order or alter the design to avoid ending up with a sharp corner. We find it easier with the project laid out on the table to sew the small sections together and place them back on the table in the area they came from. After we have put together all the small sections, we will start to group the bigger sections, grabbing only what needs to be sewn at that time. 

Having all the pieces in a pile at your sewing machine is not only daunting but could be confusing and lead to sewing yourself into a literal corner, which is exactly what we are trying to avoid.

Add richness with sew foam 

To enhance our upholstery projects, we use ¼-inch sew foam. This gives the vinyl a richer look than the flat seam you get with pieces put together without it. Some of our customers refer to this as “thicker vinyl.” They do not want any of that thin stuff that feels cheap. 

We cut all the pieces with a ¼-inch seam allowance and sew them with a 3⁄8-inch seam allowance. You could also cut the pieces and sew them with a ½-inch seam allowance. When installing them, you will notice a big mound at all the seams. You will need to trim off about an extra ¼ inch of material under the seams. Sewing with a bit more seam allowance than you cut will make the vinyl a little tighter on the cushion and take away some of the frumpiness that can happen when there is too much vinyl. When this is all complete, you should have an amazing design staring back at you.

Add complexity with patterns and textures 

You can make a simple design look more complex by using vinyl with a pattern or texture such as carbon fiber. One of the MFA Marine Fabrication Excellence awards we won was for an older MasterCraft. We did a full boat upholstery with only two colors, gray with a black carbon fiber stripe. Not a lot of extra seams, nothing super fancy. Just a classic look on an older boat. 

A lot of the newer boats have quilted embroidery in the upholstery. These designs make the cushions look super complex when in reality they are maybe a three- or four-piece box cushion. Some of the patterns are easier to replicate on your own, but some of them will require a quilting machine. Talk to your local vinyl supplier to see who has a quilting machine in your area.

Choose colors carefully

Try to choose colors and a design that will complement the features of the boat. Make sure to choose a white that is not too white because it will make either the hull of the boat or the upholstery look dirty. Clean the hull before installing the new cushions. You do not want to have a dirt line showing on the side of the boat. Even if you have done the most beautiful upholstery job ever, the customer will focus on the dirt that did not get cleaned. 

One of the vinyl manufacturers also has a line of solution-dyed acrylics. Use this to your advantage, and let the customer know that you can pick an accent color that will match their bimini top. This can also be used to upsell. We had a 24-foot cabin cruiser in for new cockpit upholstery, and we were able to sell an enclosure to the customer because we could match the vinyl to the enclosure canvas. 

There are many resources, mentors, workshops and other opportunities available to improve your upholstery skills. The key is to educate yourself and keep your designs simple and elegant. We are the experts, and our customers are looking to us for our guidance and expertise. 

Michael Charpentier was born and raised in Colorado. He has been working at Paul’s Custom Canvas Inc. for 25 years, and his shop has won several MFA Fabrication Excellence Awards. When Charpentier is not working, he enjoys boating, running and spending time with his family.