Beginner Upholstery

I thought it might be useful to share my recent experience in upholstery work to get some advice and maybe some tips from folks who have more experience. I'm a big fan of trying to do things myself if the tools cost less than the actual work. Half the fun is learning new things and picking up some skills and appreciation for folks who do this type of work everyday. Keep in mind this is my first thing I tried and the first time I've used a sewing machine.

Anyway , I want to eventually do the interior of my Belvedere and thought I would test the water on something small and easy enough to do more than once. I got an old buddy seat and started here...


Then I took it apart and tried to keep the panels intact...


I got an old Singer to do the sewing as I heard these were strong enough for the upholstery work from an amateur DIY perspective...


I was really hoping to use this type stitch on it, but I couldn't figure out how I would get into the small pockets of the covers. I also still need practice in keeping it nice looking. Eventually, I'll use the small piping that was original, but I didn't have it yet and was too impatient to wait.


Some stitching was just too complicated and I just skipped it with a whole piece. What is this stitch?


Anyway, here is my first upholstery project and it didn't look too bad. The heat gun helped remove a few wrinkles and I need to do a better job cleaning up the pads first as those little missing pieces of foam show through. It was a fun project and I'd recommend giving it a go if you're so inclined.


I'm looking towards the bucket seats now. I'm sure I'll have lots of questions. For starters, if I don't just order new seat buns, what type of foam is needed for seats?

Comments, questions, advise?

Thanks,
Jon

A regular upholstery sewing machine would be a big help. They have a "walking shoe" that feeds the material thru at a constant spaceing . Keeps your stitches from getting bunched up. Also, I think you can set the length of stitch you want. Good Luck..................MO

I can appreciate your efforts. I too started down this road. Bought an old upholstery sewing machine and did a little practice work but could never get the hang of it or find anyone local to teach me. I'm with you on learning being part of the fun though. I love to pick up a new skill when I can even realizing that I will probably never master it.
By the way, I'm working on a Belvedere myself. '66.....

Hi Jon. There is a bunch of good info here and some pro's on here too. Good luck.
http://www.hotrodders.com/forum/interior/

The stitch you were talking about not being able to figure out how to do it is a French seam. Once you see how it's done, it's really easy to do. Put the material together, outside faces towards each other and sew them together with a straight stitch about 1/2 to 3/4 inch in. lay out the material flat outside face down and open up the seam you just created. Flatten it out with an iron and or a hammer, depending on the thickness of the material. Cut another strip of material the same width as the seam so an inch to an inch and a half and lay it on top of the seam. Sew together on each side of your original stitch about 1/16 inch and walla, French seam. You can always youTube it, "French seam automotive" or some combination like that. Your buddy seat was a good start now just practice on other things till you get the hang of it. I'm doing the same thing you are doing with my interior.

I like it! nice job for a first attempt

Nice work, I made my own covers for my A100. Not the greatest work for a first timer but they work and are a lot more durable than what I had on them. Go to the library and get some books on the subject, watch youtube, study all you can on this subject, it'll help in the long run. As for missing, split, dry rotted, etc. foam and can't find exact replacements, your either going to have to salvage what you have or make your own. Go to a fabric/upholstery/artsy fartsy type store and use the type of foam they have. To repair missing foam, I have just taken a piece of foam and cut it to size & shape to fill the void and take a piece of muslin [it's like a bed sheet] and glue it over the repair to help blend it in and help hold it in place. 3M Gen Purpose or any good Upholstery spray glue will work. You can use cotton batting to help build up slightly sucken foam. Just study the subject and get creative, if the foam doesn't look perfect, don't worry as if your covers turn out good they will cover any eyesores underneath. Good Luck

Not bad for the first time. The old time Singers are tough but I use a newer model golden touch an sew. Has more stitch selection and a cording foot. Still a pretty tough machine but would also like to have an upholstery machine someday.

good job for the first time and with a old sewing machine. if you were close by where we are we would be more than happy to show you some things as we do auto upholstery. we use a singer 926 model sewing machine. we've had it since about 1984 and is still going. they'll last for ever if they are taking care of. I have learned over the years that the more you sew things up the more you teach yourself about different ways to do things to make it better. for your seats your getting ready to do I would order new seat buns as if you use nice heavy foam you will have to cut it to shape. and it don't always cut that easy with scissors. you would need a foam saw and they run about 300.00 and up. so I would go that route. make sure if you are making you pattern for the seats and don't have something to go off of to make it about a 1/4 to 1/2'' bigger all the way around so when you sew it that it's not to tight and you can't get it on or take a chance of ripping it. so good luck on your sewing. hope this helps some. ps you can look us up on goggle at Car Crazy Interior's and see some of our work.

An electric carver knife as used to cut up ham or turkey , works very well to cut and shape upholstery foam ...........................MO

Cornpatch MO said:

An electric carver knife as used to cut up ham or turkey , works very well to cut and shape upholstery foam ...........................MO

Click to expand...

Yeah it does! Just ask Gabe from American Hot Rod!

Superstock,

Cool work on your Facebook page, how do you keep the lines so straight?

-Jon