5 replies to this topic

[tomsbluemini]

Hi Guys

I've got some Corbeau Clubmans sitting in my shed not doing a lot... I had a thought today about the possibility of learning to re-trim them? I was thinking of perhaps trying to re-do them in leather, just to learn how it's done and then maybe do some more one day. Just wondered if anybody's done it and if there's any decent guides out there that people can point me in the direction of?

Cheers

Tom

[captainjack15]

I don't know about guides and stuf but there is a member on here called Emalee who does the standard seat covers...

[foxfan]

Like a lot of people on here, I taught myself to weld, spray, mechanics etc but re-doing upholstery ?? I've read about blokes who have done it in mini mags but even tho i'd love to have a go, I reckon its got to be one of the hardest skills to learn for a resto project. Good luck mate, If you get good at it then i've got some work for you

[jayare]

If it's the first time doing something like that I'd steer clear of cow skin and have a practise with vinyl - if it all goes well you'll be much more confident if/when you do a leather retrim and if it doesn't, you won't have ruined several hundred quid's worth of materials,

JR

[northy]

It's seriously hard, my dad has a degree in textiles engineering and even he can't (or more likely - won't) do it.

It's much harder than clothes for people for example, because it has to be a really tight fit and the contours are often quite strange to you need a massive variety of stitches and techniques.

That's why reupholstery is so expensive.

[minisilverbullet]

I see that its gonna be pretty hard, but hey othre can do ot so not immpossible.

The hardest thing will be to get the fit and the contours right.

I havent re upholstered car seats (yet) but i have done a couple of sofas, and some chairs. And used to make jackets etc

The best advice i can give is to remove whatever trim/cover is on the seat at the moment and then unpick all the stiching so you are left with individual panels, these can then be used as templates. Always pin the parts which are to be sewn together first. you can sew straight over the pins, and remove them when finished.

Do you have a machine? overlocke type or?

I would stay clear of leather to begin with, apart from being expensive it is harder to work with than vinyl. Vinyle will strech so it is possible to achieve a nice fit.

Oh i think you will also need to think about some sort of lining/pading material.

Its gonna be a hard job, but def possible with a bit of patience!
looking forward to see the results.