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Hi all, Its been a while since I've been on here, I restore cars and bought a Highlead walking foot machine a few years back for upholstery portions of my miscellaneous car / boat adventures. I'm purely an amateur upholster-er but I find it fun and challenging - especially since I bought a servo motor and chucked that monster of a hypersensitive clutch  motor, what a difference that made in my skills - it actually made me look good .

Anyways I have a 71 Plymouth GTX with bucket seats and I cant do the cheater method of pre made seat foam cuz there isn't any and according to a Co. I bought a Legendary Interior cover kit from I shouldn't bother buying the 72 - 74 seat foam as I'll have to rework it anyways to make it work well.

So, my question is what is the best method to recreate seat pads that'll duplicate the originals? I realize its a cut & glue method but what density of foam works best, is it a layering method, are the side bolsters usually denser material - I've tried searching
you tube for "how to" video's w/o too much success so any advice is greatly appreciated!

Thanks & here's a pic of the car.
Evan  

Hi all, as I poke along on this project I ran into another head scratcher. I've done both the toe kicks & rear seat panels in black vinyl backed with cotton sheeting for a bit of body. I'd like to do the door panels in a two tone of black & gray but I'm having a hard time figuring out how to mate the two pieces together properly. The inset material (gray) I'd like to have subtle radius-ed corners but I'm not visualizing how to really get this accomplished.

here's the rear panel & door...


the pattern, material & raw panel...


backside..


I assume I need to face these together & sew a seam that'll be hidden on the backside - I guess my question is how do I do that & keep the whole thing flat? as you can all see from my question I dont have a lot of experience doing this & am fumbling my way through it all.

Any help is really appreciated!

Thanks, Evan

PS - I also cant seem to figure out how to get the clickable thumbs posted up or change the image size ???- I was able to do it before but not this time for some reason...... EDIT - now their clickable

where can I buy aftermarket seat pads & foam ? I'm looking for the pre-molded factory kind other then buying thru the GMC dealer, are there suppliers like that around?

I'm after the seat cushion foam for a 2002 GMC Savana drivers seat, I did call the dealer & its available for about $300  :o :o - that seems a little too golden for me.

Who do all you auto upholsters deal with?

Thanks, Evan

Hi all, hopefully someone can tell me why I cant get bobbins to spool up properly. I've been using the pre made ones I had in white but wanted to change thread color & tried loading my own with the winder mechanism today /no luck. Its seems like there should be a wedge pin or something that goes into the end of the split shaft the bobbin slides over to create tension between the two so it'll be held in place on the shaft - the winding shaft just spins in it & doesn't turn the bobbin hence no thread is wound onto it.

winder.......


full pic




end of bobbin shaft - should this have a pin or key of some sort to stop the bobbin from turning on the shaft?


hopefully one of you experts can help me figure this out as I'm not sure if the winder is setup properly, its the way it came when I got it.

Thanks all, appreciate it!

evan

Does anyone know of an instructor / professional that teaches as a side line or full time for that matter in the Seattle area? Its awfully hard to find someone for industrial sewing instruction.

I have a Highlead walking foot machine & I'd like to be a little better then rank amateur - suggestions??

Thanks, Evan