Hot Rods Learning upholstery

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Wow, better and better.

 

Finished the seat. Happy for my first one.




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I asked my salesman one time. How many of the upholstery shops that you sell to, how many of them wouldn`t you take your delivery van to too have your seat fixed. He said about 50%. Kind of a sad fact. You on the other hand are doing a great job, much better than when I was first learning the trade.

 

Wow, that looks awesome!

 

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You can certainly be proud of that seat!

 

Starting another seat. This one I will do completely at my place ...we'll see what I remember!


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Foamed it


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Lookin' great! Keep it up & you'll be in Carnagie Hall in no time. (Practice, practice, practice)

 

The foam is cut with a special cutting tool that keeps the blade at 90 degrees. The front edges on this on were sanded by hand with 36 grit for a rounded shape

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Can you please tell us about the foam? What is it, and where did you get it? Thanks

 

There is an upholstery supply warehouse near me. They sell foam in 4ft x20 ft rolls. 1/4 in all the way to 9 inches in thickness . Soft, med, and dense. Most pleats get sewn into 1/2 or 1 in fabric backed foam.



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So how thick is your foam? And what density did you choose? Thanks for answering my questions.

 

The seat foam thickness depends on the type of car as well as the height of the owner. For this model A I'm doing it's going to be kind of stock height so I'm using 4 inch foam. Dense. Pleat material get sewn into half inch foam that's about medium density. All the side pieces are sewn into quarter inch foam.

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Just made a roof insert for a friends Model A coupe. He English wheeled a steel panel and then gave it to me to sew a cover and wrap it. This is the car that I did that black seat for.



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Or for real old school, use jute cord. It is made with a twist so it works well. Twisted welt cords go around corners and radius' better because the twist either tightens or relaxes as it goes around the corners.
Fiberflex does the same but is softer than jute. Good stuff

 

Your build from scratch seats are great!
But, I would love to see your version of a set of naked seat frames like from a 54 Ford Country Squire. Yes I have a set with nothing but springs and I stare at them and get my belt loops caught on them when I sit on them to move the car,,,, Help Me!!

 

I only use premade plastic colored welt. It`s a little more durable than vinyl covered cord.

 

Problem I've encountered with the premade vinyl welt is color matching. Not always a suitable match.

 

I have over 35 colors to chose from. It is much more durable and will outlast vinyl covered welt by a long time. Well worth a little color contrast between the vinyl and the welt. After it`s in the car, you don`t notice it as much. But the owner of the project always has the last say in what to use.

 

The guy who is teaching me works with both kinds of welt cord. However he thought it was important for me to learn how to make my own too. This is been a really cool journey in learning. Thanks everyone for your input

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I have been watching your thread. Really great that someone with great skills is willingly sharing his trade with you. It is one thing to show someone how to do it and another to have the other person master it. Some either have it or don't. Looking at your work to date it looks like you have it and are a quick study. What an amazing opportunity.

 

Along with being a natural and good student, Richard Gerwer is apparently a good teacher!

 

I see your using a Juki, are non industrial machines not strong enough. I got an old one and took it to get rebuilt at a sewing shop they told me it was real strong, stronger than the new stuff. What do you recommend?

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Good old cast iron domestic machines are indeed sturdier than the modern plastic ones. The problem is that they all only use feed dogs coming up from underneath to feed the material you are sewing. Most of the time that's fine with fabric, but with fake leather, real leather and other materials that are harder to feed you might get problems like the upper layer of the material sticking to the presser foot while the bottom layer gets fed through, uneven stitch length and so on.
Besides, while the old machines are sturdy and often CAN sew thin leather and similar materials (sometimes with workarounds to help it feed better), they are NOT designed for it - if you need to do it a little every once in a blue moon it will probably be fine, if you reupholster cars with it don't be suprised when it quits on you.

Industrial machines suitable for these materials often have what's called compound feed or triple feed. It uses the feed dogs from underneath just like a "normal" machine, but it also has a walking foot that moves just like the feed dog moving the upper surface, and the needle moves with them at the same time when pierced through the material. So instead of just pulling on the bottom side, you've got it all squeezed and pierced by parts that move to feed the material.

 

G-SON Great advice, most beginners get discouraged, because material will gather and start missing stitches.
I've had my Pfaff 545, since 1987 and does great. had to replace parts over the years, due to wear and doing Jeep tops, which collect dirt and grime in the seams. (Usually replacing the burned windows). Good luck to all newbys, to the ART

 

Back on the Model A seat for my buddy Eli. The bottom seat frame edge was missing some wood and jagged. Sheared and bent up a piece of aluminum, countersunk holes and screwed it fast so there was a nice even edge for the fabric. Then got it wrapped it up.

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