Whip stitch vs Double corded

[Kudzu]

Reskinning my Cast Away so I can do some fishing this spring. I am using the Premium 6 oz. fabric which as I have said before, because of the tight weave has very little flex or give in the weave.  The Mess About and Cast Away are wide boats with big curves and not smooth flowing like most of mine. When I started pulling the fabric tight and stapling it around the coamings I started to get a little concerned about wrinkles on the ends.

 

As I pulled the fabric snug around the ends I could see a lot of potential for wrinkles since I couldn't shift the weave around like the old 8 oz fabric. I was afraid I had made a mistake using this fabric on this boat. It looked as if I was going to bunch up and I could see I was going to have be very careful sewing it.

 

I decided to go with the whip stitch because I felt it was faster and I want to get this done quickly so I can back on a clients boat and I had a hunch I could do a better job too. About half way through the rear deck I started to notice something. I had small puckers between virtually all the stitches.  Even on this fabric with it's limited shrinkage they would iron out so it wouldn't be a problem. Then I realized that each little pucker was taking up some of the excess fabric I had to deal with. So instead of one big wrinkle to fight with near the end, I have a 2-3 of dozen of very small wrinkles right at the seam that will never really show and I am betting they will iron out even with this low shrink fabric.

 

Hope to finish up sewing today or Monday and we will see if this hold up.  If so it is one of those little tidbits to keep in mind when choosing which stitch to use.