Seat restoration_ New upholstery and foam

northmurena · May 30, 2016, 08:32:17 AM

Good job ;-)

Moes · May 30, 2016, 06:44:49 PM

Thanks!

My material supplier is sending me a large leather skin within a week, so it is not as bad as I expected

Meanwhile I have time to prepare the rest of the Alcentare, and maybe make some new door panels this weekend.

Today I made the Alcantara back rest pieces.

My "old" door panels are only a few years old, but I would like to make some new whitout holes for speakers, and in an other color combination, maching the new seat upholstery. And all of my original door panel clips were broken, so I fixed the door panels with visible screws and countersunk washers, which did not look that bad, but i would prefer if the panels were fixed with standard clips.

- Frederik

northmurena · June 01, 2016, 10:24:05 AM

Clips unlimited:
http://www.ebay.de/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=p2050601.m570.l1311.R5.TR10.TRC0.A0.H1.Xclips.TRS0&_nkw=clips+verkleidung&_sacat=0

Moes · June 02, 2016, 06:24:45 AM

Clips ordered!

Moes · June 04, 2016, 08:04:37 PM

First door panel and some of the other panels finished

I bought these door panel clips: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/DOOR-CARD-PANEL-TRIM-CLIPS-PEUGEOT-106-205-306-405-/350221149522?hash=item518acea552:m:mELE1m6tOfvJMbwzCP0ovkw

And they did fit pretty well. But because of the thick fabric wrapped around the edges the clips might have been just a little bit better if the "distance washer" was a little thicker like on these: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/10PCS-PEUGEOT-WHITE-PLASTIC-DOOR-CARD-TRIM-PANEL-CLIPS-/311484247541?fits=Car+Make%3APeugeot&hash=item4885e86df5:g:W4sAAOSwsFpWROaU

- Frederik

Moes · June 13, 2016, 12:33:05 PM

Progress on the panels

- Frederik

Moes · July 28, 2016, 05:17:59 PM

Finally I got going again.

It has been a bit hard to get started, and I have been rather unsure on how it would turn out. I have made paper templates direct on the foam, and been cutting the leather after the templates, but with 20 mm over-size for the seams. And it seems to become better than I expected a few days ago.

The drivers seat is as you can se a steel sheet bucket seat. And I have been drilling some holes for attaching the upholstery through the foam. These holes have sharp edges, even if I sand them, and I have made the straps to hold the upholstery down of leather. Therefore I have made some "bushings" of an old 10 mm plastic air pipe.

I have still not tighten the upholstery down!

And as a rookie, and have found it very helpful to clips the leathers pieces together before sewing! Why I find it hard to get into the right shape at the sewing machine. And of cause removing the clips after the sewing.

JL · July 28, 2016, 06:44:18 PM

That is really starting to take shape - well done

John

Moes · August 04, 2016, 05:16:52 PM

Hi John, Thanks!
--------------------
Today I got some more done, more than expected

I can feel that I am getting more use to the sewing machine and the fabrics, which is nice.

Today I got most of the back piece to the drivers seat done, only missing a couple of smalle pieces, and the large cover piece behind the seat.

If the local weather stays on the dry side, I hope to complete the drivers seat tomorrow.

- Frederik

Moes · August 30, 2016, 07:03:43 PM

Today I finished the upholstery for the bottom of the passengers seat, and I have started tightening it down to the frame.

I am looking very much forward to get it all finished

And I guess I can rid of some of the wrinkles if I retighten it all efter some time. I have also heard about a trick to get rid of wrinkles in leather, but I think it might only work on seats with hard foam and real tight strapped upholstery. It is to place soaked and boiling hot cloths over the wrinkly leather for 10 minuts, it should soften the leather, and then tighter the leather as It cools down. Worth a test

I am also running out of leather, hope I have enough to do the back for the passengers seat. I bought one black large hide, at 4,93 m2.

- Frederik

northmurena · August 31, 2016, 08:07:44 AM

Will it be ready for coming weekend ?

Moes · September 01, 2016, 05:52:04 AM

Hi

Sadly I won't be ready for the Matra meeting this year.

- Frederik

Moes · September 11, 2016, 05:00:45 PM

Hi

Today I got the last sewing done, but I will need to take the upholstery of again to make some adjustments, add some more straps, and maybe add a little foam before I am completely satisfied

- Frederik

JL · September 11, 2016, 08:12:33 PM

That is looking very good, additional foam should remove the creases - well done!

John

Moes · September 13, 2016, 05:29:06 PM

Thanks John!

I was lucky with the amount of leather. I bought one large hide of 4,9 m2 and I have done my absolutely best to make the most of it, and I ended up with a single piece of leather left, 40 x 20 cm.. At first the supplier of the leather shipped me the wrong size, a small 4,2 m2 hide, so I am glad I took the time waiting for the right size

So far my best tips for sewing upholstery will be, to be thorough making the distance from the stitching to the edge of the leather/fabric piece the same on all pieces, it makes it all so much easier when lining the pieces up before sewing. At the beginning I just made sure I at least had 2 mm, but it made it difficult to line the pieces up correctly. Making the distance from the stitching to the edge 20 mm all around took some additional time when cutting the pieces, but I did catch it up again when I was linning up the pieces. And the end result clearly got better

My second tip when being a sewing rookie, will be to used a plier type hand stapler to staple the leather/fabric pieces together before sewing, without it I am not sure my work would have turned out useful.

Regards Frederik