Special sewing machine for redoing seats?

[davis911s]

Ok I now am in the mood to one day make my seats new again. I nhave an old set of seats and thought I could use the pieces as a template and make new "covers" Now I don't want to wreck my wifes sewing machine so is there anything special I should look into first?

Thanks fishcop for getting me thinking of sewing

Shawn

[Doug Zielke]

Do you think you'll have the seats finished in time for the SCWDP Rainforest Round-Up, Shawn?

I hope so.
You'll have a rough time sitting on a box, trying to drive the rally.

[davis911s]

Doug I am lucky enough that these are "spare seats" that I have. I have newer black ones installed in there now. They are in way better shape than my old ones were.

But I think if it came down to it, you would see me at the roundup on a milkcrate and pillow!

BTW I am debating on vinly or leather if I redo these seats. Would either be easier?

Shawn

[Doug Zielke]

Shawn, I wish I could help you with upholstery issues, but things like sewing machines scare the hell out of me!

Reminds me of the time I was m/c touring in California with Mrs. Z. We decided we needed a Mike Corbin custom made saddle for the Harley.

We pulled into the factory, told his foreman what we wanted, and *6* hours later had a beautiful, touring seat, finished in Conolly leather, no less.

We had quite a bit of time on our hands, waiting for the job to be done, so watched much of the process. I had a deep respect for those craftspeople after that.

Good luck with your project!

[Fishcop]

Vinyl is going to be easier and cheaper to repair the enevitable mistakes.

I'll be honest, I thought of doing my seats myself, but it looked too complicated.

I think a normal machine will cope with vinyl, but I have reservations with leather.

I look forward to seeing your results

[Dean71S]

Hi Shawn,

I lecture in Fashion Design and Clothing Manufacture and have done quite a few interiors of cars over the years using industrial sewing machines. The ideal machine would be an industrial walking foot, which feeds the material from both top, and bottom sides of the fabric. All home sewing machines will only feed the fabric from the under side and the top layer can get stuck and not feed smoothly. If the fabric doesn't feed at the right speed the needle will penetrate the leather too many times and weaken/perforate the seam. I would be surprised if many home machines could satisfactorily sew really thick seams such as the edge of seats that have piping on.

On a home machine this will help:

a Teflon foot will help the fabric slide.

Teflon spray

tracing paper on both sides, this will assist with feeding the fabric easily and the paper once it is sewn will easily peel away.

use the largest stitch size possible

only sew over the stitch line once

purchase a leather needle and strong polyester thread


Hope this helps
Dean 71S
Australia

[pwd72s]

And then, if you're fanatical enough, there is the issue of the spacing (length) of the stitches. Not all machines do the same. Evidently the machines used by Porsche were among those..

[Fishcop]

Damn Dean,

Where were you when I needed you!