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Not exactly sure what the endgame is here. I know my driver upper cushion was in bad shape so I found (a beige) one on eBay for cheap. Partially bought it for the foam, partially to tinker. I’m tinkering now. Starting to strip the various pieces off. Thinking maybe if I cut out all the pieces, iron them, adhere my leather right over the paper thin **** infinti leather then all I gotta do is find someone to stitch it back up. The back piece with the zipper and net I could just leave as is and that it the most tricky spot. I may even try to to get a couple pieces ready and go to a local seamstress to see if they can do it. I feel like an Upholstry place is still gonna rape me but honestly, it’s just a little sewing and I think grandma at the dry cleaner may be the key to the super cheapo custom leather seats.
But like I said, just kinda cutting and brainstorming right now. Hell, maybe I hand stitch this SOB back together.
you can stitch that up yourself, i did it. just get a very strong needle, an awl and some pliers.
You stitched the entire seat by hand!!?? Wow, tell me more. I was thinking about trying to stitch two pieces together to see how long it would take me. You use a backstitch? What’s nice is all the pilot holes are there already so aside from spots where you have like 3 pieces joining it’s just a watch tv and slowly do it sort of thing. I was worried it wouldn’t be strong enough of a stitch.
Yeah you need to turn the whole thing inside out and just try to follow the holes, for the spots where you have multiple joining or overlapping is where you can force it through with pliers. I only had to do the sides of the seat, and it probably took 3 or 4 hours if I had to guess.
@iCrap , you clearly have too much time on your hands LOL.
I've talked to local auto upholstery places and the prices are insane. If you're not willing to spend 5K on an interior redo they aren't interested. Maybe I should approach a furniture reupholstery place. Maybe I should just buy a leather-capable HD sewing machine LOL
@iCrap , you clearly have too much time on your hands LOL.
I've talked to local auto upholstery places and the prices are insane. If you're not willing to spend 5K on an interior redo they aren't interested. Maybe I should approach a furniture reupholstery place. Maybe I should just buy a leather-capable HD sewing machine LOL
I feel like I’m on to something here. No special skills required to take seats out of the car, remove seat skins, cut threading and dissemble into individual pieces and adhere desired upholstry to each piece. Now what we have is perfectly sized pieces and all they need is to be stitched back together. How long do we think it would take someone with the skills and a sewing machine capable of sewing leather to sew it back together? 1 hour for a front seat? No measuring, no cutting, just follow the lines and sew it. What’s an hour of time worth for a skilled artisan? $100? Just trying to gauge what the “fair” cost would be to complete this project assuming you go about it how I am describing. The challenge is finding that person that can do it but like you say, auto uplustry places are too busy overcharging insurance companies to stitch seats where airbag went off to care about this kind of work. It’s a burden and that’s why they charge so much for custom type work (had a guy actually tell me this). So I think a seamstress (or a furniture repair place, good idea) is the key here.
I thought about buying a sewing machine too and learning how to sew (my mom can sew and can teach me but she only sews light fabrics). Sewing machines are stupid expensive, especially one that can do what we are trying to do. The $250 heavy duty singer is the cheapest but that’s like trying to bake your own cake with an easy bake oven or so I’ve heard.
I always used to hear that there were two kind of guys that knew how to sew - drag queens and medieval recreationists. I think that's patently false, because every GI I've met can sew too, at least patches and name tapes on. I used to do SCA stuff and being able to sew 16th century costumes was quite handy, and it served me well when I joined the USAF since it seemed they changed uniform requirements every couple of years. It is funny - I can sew, and we bought a decent (cloth) machine off craigslist for $100, and I've taught my daughter - but my wife can't sew the simplest things even with pre-punched holes. Her dad can sew, he's a Boy Scout leader, and has been for decades.
Look on ebay or other used items sites for heavy duty sewing machines - they come up pretty often for a few hundred or less. The big thing with leather is that the machine has to go slower; the needle is slowed down by the thick leather's drag/surface friction. You can buy Singer style leather/HD needles in any sewing shop, and there's upholstery thread that is super strong in a ton of colors.
However... I like the idea of using the existing leather as a template for premade holes. Only thing is I'd like to replace the center back and seat with suede or alcantara, perforated like stock, and the perforations wouldn't be useful if the new material was glued over the old. I suppose the side piece seams would guide me if I was to hand-sew. Still think machine is the way to go except on exposed seams where there is a complicated over-stitch.
I made a canvas hammock when I was younger by hand-sewing. Never again LOL - that was like a whole month of my life I'll never get back.
If you used substantially thicker leather, Tandy sells these stitching hole awls that cut 3-5 holes at once; you overlap the last hole/first prong to keep spacing right going around the edges.
//inspiration - maybe I should see if there are local SCA folks around here that work in leather. I'm not adverse to paying an artisan a reasonable wage but I don't want to subsidize someone's insurance ripoff deal.
@iCrap , you clearly have too much time on your hands LOL.
I've talked to local auto upholstery places and the prices are insane. If you're not willing to spend 5K on an interior redo they aren't interested. Maybe I should approach a furniture reupholstery place. Maybe I should just buy a leather-capable HD sewing machine LOL
Figure on spending about a grand on a capable machine to do car upholstery.
I feel like I’m on to something here. No special skills required to take seats out of the car, remove seat skins, cut threading and dissemble into individual pieces and adhere desired upholstry to each piece. Now what we have is perfectly sized pieces and all they need is to be stitched back together. How long do we think it would take someone with the skills and a sewing machine capable of sewing leather to sew it back together? 1 hour for a front seat? No measuring, no cutting, just follow the lines and sew it. What’s an hour of time worth for a skilled artisan? $100? Just trying to gauge what the “fair” cost would be to complete this project assuming you go about it how I am describing. The challenge is finding that person that can do it but like you say, auto uplustry places are too busy overcharging insurance companies to stitch seats where airbag went off to care about this kind of work. It’s a burden and that’s why they charge so much for custom type work (had a guy actually tell me this). So I think a seamstress (or a furniture repair place, good idea) is the key here.
Check out Etsy. I contacted one of the vendors there to construct and sew a ballistic nylon "go bag" for my own use. It seems quite a few are willing to do "custom work"
I'd used Tactical Tailors when they did custom stuff cheaply - not so much any more.
It is hard to find ANY seamstress/dressmakers around here, there just isn't a market for it. Clothes are disposable, or you get bespoke stuff from a bigger city. But I think I'll try the SCA crowd - I've got two new upper leather OEM covers (well, not new, but might as well be) that will go on for ZNationals, and that will leave the ones that came with the car, side panel cracks and all, to experiment with.
Only thing is I'd like to replace the center back and seat with suede or alcantara, perforated like stock, and the perforations wouldn't be useful if the new material was glued over the old.
Just for those 4 perforated rectangles you could
a) take the foam backing off the oem pieces (rather than gluing it over) and have them sewn onto your material
b) if it’s the same pattern, just line up the perforations, the glue won’t seep through.
c) just still go right over it. I don’t think those perfections actually do anything functional, I think it’s 100% cosmetic.
Are you trying to match something with your seats? What’s driving your interest in this? Like for me it’s that my entire diy custom interior is rich black pebbled leather and the oem seats are like smooth charcoal leather and don’t match at all.
Well, basically I like suede or partially suede seats. They help you stick in place when you don't want a full 6-point harness and roll bar. And from pulling the leather/pleather uppers off the salvage yard car, it looks like there are ventilation channels in the upper foam - nothing like forced air through the perforations, but maybe passive evaporation. Now that you mention it, I still do get sweaty in my car even with the AC on full blast -but then again, it's 80%+ humidity here and has been for weeks.
Your telling me. It’s hot as ***** here in south fla. I wonder how feasible it would be to wire in a seat chiller🤔. I don’t even know how those work, I guess they are like hooked up to the AC lines?
I think the convertible with cooled seats basically had a computer muffin fan on the bottom blowing air through foam channels and ultimately through the perfs. Here in SC I think you'd need a leaf blower or actual refrigerant.
I think the convertible with cooled seats basically had a computer muffin fan on the bottom blowing air through foam channels and ultimately through the perfs. Here in SC I think you'd need a leaf blower or actual refrigerant.
maybe we can buy some mini fridges and work the guts into the seat cushions, lol. Not sure if you saw it b/ I edited the post, but check out that link. That supposedly blows cold air.
07-20-2021, 09:56 PM
