Thinking of buying a sewing machine and s***ching my own interior. Any feedback on how to get started? Can it be done with no experience?
I bought a used machine and started doing seats and now I doing complete interioers now . Helps pay for the hobbie.
Make sure the machine you buy has reverse... much easier to lock those s***ches at the end with reverse. Can it be done with no experience... Yep. It ain't rocket science, and if you mess up... cut it apart and sew it again. My first interior had 24 pleats on the seat. I probably s***ched 120!!!!! Practice, practice, practice. Ask questions... I'm sure any of the interior guys on here would be happy to offer suggestions. (I even make stuff up if I don't know the answer! ) Also... BUY THESE BOOKS>>>> Custom Auto Interiors by Ron Mangus and How to Restore and Customize Automotive Upholstery by Dennis Parks. Then...BUY>>> Both of Sid Chaver's videos (seats and door panels). Additionally, don't forget to check out your local Jo Ann Fabrics (or any fabric store) for cheap material to practice with. They do carry contract quality vinyls and cloth suitable for automotive use... Check out the "Rave" vinyl. Good stuff for auto use and you can buy it when it's on sale for about $12-$15 a yard. Good luck, have fun and post PIX!!!! S***ch
Yes I have tried it on a few cars back when I was broke looked like ****. Know I pay for the work to be done .I can weld and fabricate that's all I will do now if I have to do the other stuff I save my money and wait .My 2 cents
I bought a used industrial sewing machine for $50. Has a walking foot, and sits in an oilbath. Better bet than buying a household machine, which wont last five minutes.
I made a t&r seat for my model A pickup, spent $100 on vinyl, foam and plywood. Took me along time, was crooked and retarded, and I could have payed a shop $200 to do it for me much nicer. If you are going to do it all the time, I'd say sure, but just one car, I wouldn't bother.
hmm think for a min..no experience...if its a showcar then obviously no...but if its just a driver then sure why not..id do it good luck
There is a lot to know just to be able to do a half decent job. It's kind of like welding, you can't expect to go buy a machine and start laying down pretty beads. Like everything else, just takes a lot of practice. If what you're thinking is buying a cheap machine and knocking out one job to same money, forget it. Your results would probably be better off with blankets and safety pins. My first few projects looked like ****, and I had expert help. If you really want to learn it, go for it. Best advice for learning would probably be what so many advise for welding also, tech school. Best way to learn on your own would probably be to tear some old stuff apart to see how it's put together. Start on small projects with some cheap vinyl. Try to cover a small wooden box, etc. Learn to work on your machine, fix it when you screw up and knock it out of time, etc. To do something as large as seat covers, you really need the machine installed in a table large enough to have out-feed for what you are working on. Lots of space and specialty tools involved in this.
Ummm... really a 4 x 8 table is fine to lay stuff out. In a pinch a kitchen table would work. And most industrial machines have a table with them.... FWIW, don't start with a wooden box...LOL, who wants and upholstered wooden box . An old bench seat from an S-10 would be a good place to start. Decent foam to start with, no coil springs to repair/replace and no big bolsters to pattern... just a flat base and back. Nice and Simple. Here's a 10 second tutorial: Cut a piece of 1/2 inch scrim back foam (has thin cloth glued to it from the manufacturer). Cut it oversize by 4" on each side from your bench seat base. On the back side of the foam mark a center line with a ballpoint pen. From there out... mark pleats every 2 inches. Next, lightly glue your material to the surface of the foam. Make sure it's smooth with no wrinkles. Flip it over and sew on your ballpoint marks.... go as slow or as fast as you are comfortable with (turn the machine by hand if that's what it takes to start with to stay on the lines). Flip it over when you're thru and you'll have straight pleats. (Not tuck and roll... but it's a start! ) That is how to do a simple seat face.... oversized and ready to pattern.
The next 5 minutes.... Mark a centerline on your seat foam. Line up you newly pleated piece on the center line. Make sure it's square and use stick pins to hold it in place (pinned in the pleat s***ches). Take a Sharpee marker and trace around the foam onto the bottom side of your piece. Un-pin it. You will have a piece with the shape of the seat surface..... Head back to the sewing machine and s***ch on the new line. Flip it over and cut the excess material off. Hope that makes sense.....
I'm thinking an industrial machine is the way to go. My wife has an expensive Joann Fabrics type machine and it will struggle sometimes to get through upholstery.
20 minutes later... Head back to your seat with a length of material (for conversation let's pretend you can make it around the seat face with one piece of material from right to left). This is the boxing. I over size it by 3 or 4 inches.... so if the seat is 6 inches tall, you'd need a piece 10 inches tall. Lightly glue it with some Super 77 all the way around (LIGHTLY GLUE). Mark it along the seat face with a marker (unless you are using white or light tan...then use a pencil...TRUST ME). Mark the center line. Pull it off the seat. On the work bench (or kitchen table) add 3/8" to the piece PAST your line. This will give you a selvage or sew tail. Cut it with your scissors on the new line.... You now have Boxing for your seat cover.
Now... let's say your pleated face is 48" wide... cut strip of material as wide as your face as tall as your boxing (10" as per out discussion) and sew it to the rear of your seat face. This creates the tail on the back side of your seat. For the fun part (and a simple cheat for the beginnner). Lay the seat face on your sewing table face up. On top of that, lay your big boxing panel face down... line up the center marks. Start at the center and sew to the end... keeping the edge of your boxing material and the edge of your seat face lined up... AND sewing on the existing 3/8" line you drew earlier. When you get to the end..... Flip it over and start again on your center line. Pretty soon you will have a seat cover sewn!
eBay always has good upholstery how-to books for sale. Check with your local community college for evening adult education cl***es. That's how I learned. That's how I saved a whole lot of time and errors learning the hard way. I didn't even know what sort of machine or tools to look for until I took the cl*** and asked the instructor many many questions. Cl***es are cheap, and with the hands-on learning, if you ask a lot of questions of the instructor, you will be miles and months ahead of learning by yourself. When it got to be fun, I did my own restored antique chairs for the house, my boat seats, car headliner..... For a few bucks I made stylish fabric awnings for my front and rear porches. I even got daring and made my own heated linings for my winter riding gear for my motorcycle. It only takes a few bucks to make "expensive" things you couldn't otherwise afford when you learn the basics and work carefully.
From here... you could sew on attachment plastic or sew in welt to hog ring to... But as a beginner. Here is what I suggest.... Buy some good industrial contact cement (DAP from Lowe's will work). Line up the seat cover and pull it over the seat. ON the underside, brush glue on the boxing and seat frame. Allow the dry. And then pull the cover tight, sticking the boxing to the frame. Make sure to keep things straight and don't pull one section more than another or your seat will be lopsided.... Cool thing about the glue is you can pull it up and and re-glue if you're crooked. When you are happy with the fit, I'd suggest grabbin' a hog ring tool (you can get 'em on E-bay) and some hogrings (e-bay again) and ring the cover into place. This will ensure the cover won't move if the glue let's go... Ta-daaa... you have a seat covered!
Thanks skips***ch! While you were typing up all this last night, I was trying my hand at sewing for the first time in my life. I recently bought a Juki industrial machine that they were getting rid of where I work. We were making a temporary cloth insert for the top of another HAMBer's car. Being a temporary deal to get him through the Roundup, we had pretty low standards! I had loads of trouble keeping my s***ches straight, so what everyone says about needing practice is spot-on. I'll probably try making a seat cover for my 89 Chevy p/u before I try to tackle any "real" jobs. I expect to do that set more than once!
Old 'ping-pong' tables work great.... lightweight, at a good height and when you're done, fold it up and roll out of the way.... CC
Another great book is the Automotive Upholstery Handbook, by Don Taylor...has sewing machine basics, layout, seams etc. for beginners. http://www.amazon.com/Automotive-Up...=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1206823338&sr=1-1
My first...and it wasn't too bad...but no thanks on doing it for a living. Skipstich is the guy to listen to.....
just a couple threads in the tech archives... UPHOLSTERY, Upholstery 101 - Seat Covers INTERIOR, Making door panels INTERIOR, Tuck&Roll Tech INTERIOR, My home built interior...no more cheeta skin seat! there's even more if you search the whole board.. but whatever you do... do***ent it and share...
LIke skips***ch said..get the books. They are a big help. I was broke and needed an interior to finish the car. Borrowed the machine, and spent around two hundred dollars on materials. My wife got me started, then I was on my own. It was fun, but kinda nerve racking......
My mom and bother did his '39 Ford coupe except for the seat. She used the old headliner for a pattern. I always liked riding in that car because the interior was so cool. A few years later when it was time to do my '38 she didn't volunteer. He was always her favorite! So, Dad and I took mine ti TJ! What a trip! Years later s.he and my wife did the seat in my '53 pickup.
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