Theres a lot of boat videos on tops and covers. Sailrite has good tutorial videos and products too. They concentrate on boats tops, covers and interiors, but the concept is similar. Cechaflo videos are geared more for car interiors but is real good on patterning and detail. A member on here did a top a while back that offered a lot of good info. I don't recall his name. I found a decent used industrial sewing machine with a walking foot and reverse that can handle heavier material and larger thread. I did our boat, then I decided to keep the machine. It comes in handy.
