Pleats in car seat?

[gatsby989]

Greetings all,

I have a pair of seats for my Morris Minor that I want to recover. As you can see in the picture, the old seat covers have pleats, which have "opened." I like the look of the pleats, but I'm afraid of them being a weak link so to speak. Of course, these are 50 years old, so if it lasts half that long, I'll be happy. But do you have any advice for preventing the pleats tearing open, or worse, just tearing up, like on the seat?

I plan to do the new covers in a vinyl called Endurotex. For the piping/welt, do I need to cut it on the bias, like with fabric?

Any other tips would be appreciated. I am a novice, and this is my first project with vinyl.

Thanks!

[JuneC]

Just set your stitch length no shorter than 8 or so stitches per inch.  If your stitches are too short, your vinyl will turn into "microperf" (remember that computer paper with a series of shortly spaced holes that enabled the edges to be ripped off cleanly?).  Your new seats will likely outlast the car.

June

[fragged8]

What ever June says, listen to it :-)

Moggy Minor  !  how many guys in here know what that is hehehe

They look almost exactly the same as my Mini Cooper seats,

If you cut the piping on the bias it will sew around the curves easier
and not wrinkle so bad, if you cut it straight it will still work ok but wrinkles
more at the corners.

Where abouts are you gatsby ? you haven't filled in your location on your
profile.. tut tut :-)

i'm in Norfolk UK.

Rich

[gatsby989]

Thanks guys!

I'm in Nevada, USA, where it is unfortunately not real easy to find Moggy parts. I'm saved by luckily living not too far from a guy who is something of a Minor legend around here. These seats are not original to my car, and are a couple years later. (Mine's a '59 - I think. Titled as a '57) The original seats for my car are MIA.

Sounds like I better cut it on the bias, since there are lots of corners on the covers, which may be challenging. Any other tips to prevent wrinkling / puckering on the corners? I've noticed the vinyl stretches pretty good in one direction, but not in the other.

[RocketmanMH1]

Are you using Enduratex from miamicorp?  If so I would not worry about cutting on the bias,  If you are using endur o tex  I know nothing about that material.  I am in the process of doing a set of mustang seats now in enduratex and the material works sweet.

[bobbin]

I would also suggest that you invest in some wedge point needles.  A wedge pint needle  perforates the fabric with 4 neat slashes, not a punched out hole.  The whole idea is to minimize fabric damage and allow for the fabric to close snugly around the thread, minimizing water penetration and allowing the seam tension to move freely without gnawing away at  the original needle hole.   This is preferred for vinyls and leather; where needle holes become part of history!

Smaller needles are always better.  I would suggest an 18 and #92 thread.  If there is topstitching in the plan, bump up to a size 20 and use 138 for the thread.  Practice first! check tensions carefully.  Personally, I continue to use #92 on the bobbin but I do adjust the top tension to reflect the size of #138.

[fragged8]

cool . it must be a pretty rare care in Nevada.
  I've owned mini's for about 30 years so theres not much
I dont know about them but never had a moggy.

Rich

[gatsby989]

Thanks everyone for the advice. The vinyl says "Authentic Enduratex" on it, and "CGCP" I got it from a local mill end fabric place. I learned a lot in this process, and the results are far from perfect. Like on one corner I didn't get close enough to the piping, and so it's not as even as it should be. I think I should also take the back off again, and maybe add some padding near the top, since there appears to be some "space" left, and it's not quite straight across. A friend is welding up a broken piece on the passenger seat, so when he's done, I'll have another one to practice on. It looks like I need to pay more attention to how I do the foam / padding.

I'm a novice, and this is just for my own car, so I think it is good enough for me. I won't be making a living at this any time soon!

[RocketmanMH1]

I think they look very good for what you started with.  Did you use sewfoam ?

[fragged8]

look pretty good to me.

I must admit like Rocketman my first thought was some sewfoam would
have made a big difference.

It looks like you nailed it on your first seats though.

Rich

[gatsby989]

Thanks, guys!

I did not use sewfoam, and I only have a very vague idea of what it is used for or what its purpose is. Since I'm a total newbie, would you guys kindly explain just what it is, and how I should have used it? Feel free to point out how it would have made these better.

When I took the old seats apart, I didn't find much left of the padding. What I could discern was some horsehair or rubberized horsehair type stuff and some cotton on the back. The bottom seat had some foam that looked like the eggcarton stuff you put on a bed that's too hard. Not that I'm going for originality. I'm more concerned with functionality (and of course, good looks don't hurt either!).

[JuneC]

Sewfoam is used to add depth to the seams.  Look at the seats in this car.  This guy has to be one of the best out there.  Amazing work.

http://www.interiorsbyshannon.com/1967_camaro_leather_interior.htm

Sew foam is a thin foam (usually 1/4 or 1/2") with a fabric backing glued on.  It's layered under the vinyl or leather to achieve the "pouffy" smooth look you see in these seats.

June

[bobbin]

A very respectable result, Gatsby.!  I don't work with vinyl very much and I tend to forget how much ease there is to the stuff.  There are so many really great products out there today that weren't available when those seats were originally done. 

June, that link was a perfect example of what using sewfoam can do for a project.  And isn't his work just a joy to behold? wow, that's some attention to detail and I don't think one thing was overlooked in any of those interiors!

(no pressure there, eh, Gatsby.?! lol)

[gatsby989]

Yes, those seats in that link are beautiful! Thank you all for the information. When I get the passenger seat back, I may get some sew foam and try it on that. But I don't want the two seats to look radically different from each other, of course. The passenger seat doesn't get used that much either.

[fragged8]

the thing is gatsby with the results you got on your first attempt
you have a good eye for detail because your radiused corners look great
and there doesn't appear to be any wobble in the welt ?

if it was me i'd have to do them again with the sewfoam :-)
and the results would look superb, but thats just me ..

Rich