I had a problem using the Simonis DVD. They tell you how much slack to leave for the side pockets, something like 13/16" on the glue down side and 11/16" on the stretch side, do not quote me on that, I don't remember exact numbers the DVD supplied but I watched the DVD at least 4 times and took notes. It also said a little less for antique tables but as I recall it did not say how much, I did not give it much thought because I did not think my GCII was an antique table. As it turns out I should have used the "a little less" figure because my felt is a little loose in the side pocket area. You can not see it but you can feel the felt move in the side pocket area sometimes if you slide your bridge hand there. Oh well, another lesson learned, if I can find someone in my area to recover the bed I will have that done, but that was the whole reason I did it myself, I could not find anyone in my area that I really trusted to do it right.
In order to ballance the stretch out in the side pockets, you must stretch the cloth lenghtwise from the side pockets to the corner pockets tight. The tighter you stretch it to the corner pockets, the more it pulls the slack out and away from the side pockets, yet leaving you just enough slack to finish off the side pockets without coming up short. So, in other words, when stretching across the slate to the corner pocket you also pull hard away from the side pocket at the same time, and you have to know what your stretch index is. To tight side to side means you won't be able to pull and move as much cloth end to end, to loose side to side and you'll pull all the slack out of the side pocket and won't have enough slack to finish it off. When I install Simonis 860HR or the 860, my side to side stretch is 1.75 inches side to side, the rest of the tightening of the cloth comes when it's stretched end to end on the sides of the slate away from the side pockets.
