1st attempt at re-upholstering my seats myself

In reply to RealMiniParker:

Yeah that post got interest really quick. lol thanks for the welcome

jere wrote: Cool stuff! I am surprised that new age household sewing machine made all the way through. No walking foot or anything. The new age singer my wife has can barely sew 2 pieces of sweatshirt material without getting shut down. What machine is it?

I'll confirm when I get home today and let you know. The most important part is the size 16 needle or denim needle as some have suggested

dean1484 wrote: I so need to learn this skill. I have a set of Recaro seats in my 924s that the material on the drivers side has all but disappeared in to dust and the foam is shredding. If I could re do them it would save me MANY $$$$$ as new ones are very pricey

Yeah man $32 will get you plenty of material. I really have a lot to mess up on and retry with. But I got to say that after taking the time to try it. It's really relaxing if you go at it in project mode. I'm going to keep doing it over and over to get way better, it's such a useful skill.

Looks great, something I always wanted to try. Time to look at sewing machines.

In reply to jr10cross: Yeah, when your friends see that you can do upholstery then they'll want you to do theirs. Get good at it and you can make some $$ for projects.

Dr. Hess wrote: It's not hard, Dean, just time consuming. Take the old one apart, split every seam, lay the pieces out on the new material, mark, cut out, sew the new pieces back together, put it back on. You can get a Singer like mine for about a bill, or get an electric machine. Use upholstery thread, and I use a "denim" needle. Buffalo hyde was used extensively for drive belts during the industrial revolution. That's what created the demand for killing buffalo, almost exterminating them. It's supposed to be pretty strong.

I will give it a try this winter. The car is stationary. I can pull the seat and bring it in to the basement and see about tearing it apart and doing as you say with tracing the old pieces of material. I have a sewing machine that should work I just need to pick up the needle and some thread. I was thinking button hole thread as that stuff is really strong. I will see what the local store has as I am sure they will have something better.

In reply to dean1484:

Go to a sewing store, and just start asking questions. I was going to make some leather mittens (as you can't get good warm ones easily), and they steered me to a leather needle + some very high strength thread (which is also UV durable).

There are a LOT of choices.

jr10cross wrote: In reply to Ian F: Or garage sales, I go this one from my mom but she has like 8 from buying them at garage sales for like $10. lol

But those are usually home units. Sometimes they'll work doing upholstery sewing, but it can be on the upper end of the design criteria. My ex- burned out a reasonably good home machine sewing duck cloth (canvas) for her side business.

Trimming interiors is something I really want to get into doing.

wlkelley3 wrote: In reply to jr10cross: Yeah, when your friends see that you can do upholstery then they'll want you to do theirs. Get good at it and you can make some $$ for projects.

Yeah DrBoost UltimaDork is going to need a refresh on his 948 checkered flag interior one of these days.

In reply to dean1484:

Do it man do it (Ben Stiller voice, Starchy and Hutch) you'll love the project.

Ian F wrote:

jr10cross wrote: In reply to Ian F: Or garage sales, I go this one from my mom but she has like 8 from buying them at garage sales for like $10. lol

But those are usually home units. Sometimes they'll work doing upholstery sewing, but it can be on the upper end of the design criteria. My ex- burned out a reasonably good home machine sewing duck cloth (canvas) for her side business. Trimming interiors is something I really want to get into doing.

Yeah I really don't know for sure so I'm not the authority on this, LOL. I just know the one I have worked pretty good for the material I was using, but I'm sure there is material that may be much tougher to go through that could cause issues.

jr10cross wrote:

wlkelley3 wrote: In reply to jr10cross: Yeah, when your friends see that you can do upholstery then they'll want you to do theirs. Get good at it and you can make some $$ for projects.

Yeah DrBoost UltimaDork is going to need a refresh on his 948 checkered flag interior one of these days.

Tell me about it! Maybe I can replace that pascha (sp?) with some polka dots or horses jumping over clouds!!

Nice work!!!

My wife has tried her hand at some reupholstery. She has a nice sewing machine (a Brother, I believe) and all the goodies to do this stuff. She has a small obsession with having a 50's style dinette set in our kitchen, so we grabbed a nasty yellow and green set off of CL with 6 chairs for $25 and a free repro circular retro table from a local FB group. She has only done one chair so far, but she has bought all the materials to do the job for around $30. So, for $55 and a few hours of her time, she will have the dinette set of her dreams.

Where am I going with this?

I have multiple sets of car seats I want to reupholster. One of those sets are a rare set of late Starion/Conquest seats. Not the ones that look like a giant alien wiener, but the cool, Recaro-style ones that have the adjustable bolsters and stuff. They are pretty complex, but I'm hoping that between my wife and I we can come up with a DIY solution so I can run them in my Trans Am eventually.

In reply to SilverFleet:

I'm thinking about posting a video on how to use a sewing machine. Like calling out what all the parts are called, showing how to set the footer and release the tension to sew thicker material. How to load the machine with threat from the top and the bottom. For the guys that have never sewed with a machine before. I'm sure everyone can do it and a much better job then what I did. Looking for feedback to see if anyone is interested though.

jr10cross wrote: In reply to SilverFleet: I'm thinking about posting a video on how to use a sewing machine. Like calling out what all the parts are called, showing how to set the footer and release the tension to sew thicker material. How to load the machine with threat from the top and the bottom. For the guys that have never sewed with a machine before. I'm sure everyone can do it and a much better job then what I did. Looking for feedback to see if anyone is interested though.

I can sew just fine... as long as my better half threads the damn machine first. So I might be in your target audience.

Yeah that part gets on my nerves, I'll put an "Insert Wife help" step for all of us. LOL

jr10cross wrote: In reply to SilverFleet: I'm thinking about posting a video on how to use a sewing machine. Like calling out what all the parts are called, showing how to set the footer and release the tension to sew thicker material. How to load the machine with threat from the top and the bottom. For the guys that have never sewed with a machine before. I'm sure everyone can do it and a much better job then what I did. Looking for feedback to see if anyone is interested though.

I'd love to see it.

In reply to jr10cross: Good job, most people would appreciate that you did it yourself.