Sewing with vinyl

[Risu]

I'm working on a costume right now (build thread will be up once I make some more progress) that involves an awful lot of black vinyl, and I was hoping somebody might know of a good trick to sealing up stitch holes. Part of the costume is a modified vinyl jacket that has some unnecessary stitching on it that I would like to remove, but I know that there will still be holes in the vinyl. Is there any working solution for this?

 

[the_batdemon]

NO secret that I know of, once it's perforated that's it. The only thing that I know of to do is take i slightly larger seam allowance when re-sewing. Trying to re-sew through the same holes would get tedious, ugy and weaken the seam.

 

[Risu]

The stitching is actually nowhere near a seam. It's a decorative line down the front of the jacket and a patch pocket at the top of that line. I heard something about using a hair dryer and rubbing it to slightly close up the holes, but I don't have a hair dryer so I can't test it out.

 

[Shylaah]

The stitching is actually nowhere near a seam. It's a decorative line down the front of the jacket and a patch pocket at the top of that line. I heard something about using a hair dryer and rubbing it to slightly close up the holes, but I don't have a hair dryer so I can't test it out.

Yep, you're both right, the holes will always be there. You could try going over the area with a very, very barely turned on iron and a pressing cloth. As always, try that on a scrap or inconspicuous area first! That will shrink the size of the hole by expanding the vinyl that was pushed out of the way when the needle went through and the thread caused to be depressed, but there will always be that little pin hole.

If you absolutely have to, absolutely must use the piece, I'd suggest painting on the wrong side of the vinyl the line of former stitching--after you've healed it as much as possible with some mild heat--paint along the line with some kind of adhesive and lay a narrow strip of bias binding along the line. The holes will still be there, but the adhesive will strengthen the weakened perforated line and keep the holes from opening up and showing more when there is pull on the area.

I'd have to check to see what kind of adhesive to use, something compatible with vinyl and with how/if you'll be cleaning the finished costume. Maybe that ye old barge cement, or something else you're familiar with from working with leather might work.

Good luck with your project.

Shylaah

 

[Corsairgryl]

I had success with using a vinyl patch kit ( as seen on tv) and a woodburning tool when I wanted to remove the stitch marks after removing pockets on a vinyl jacket. I used a narrow strip of the same color vinyl on the wrongside and very carefully touched the tooltip at each stitch, then did the front side to blend. I practiced on the removed pockets first, takes only a few seconds touch and smells horrible, you probably should wear a mask. Burn risk! You could also cut the patching vinyl into tiny bits and hold with a tweezer while heating. It will not be perfect but quite unnoticable unless you look closely. It is difficult to remove the vinyl from the tip afterwards...