Hi Guys At the stage of getting the seat,door panels and kick panels etc covered,I've managed to get some cool old leather off a old leather lounge suite that my wife's grandma had,,,l need some thoughts on what would be a good width on the pleat ,I've looked at some that are 2" apart,an some up to 4" apart,,the seat is the original model A seat that I'm recovering, the door panels an cowl kick panels will be the same,,, and I'm thinking that I will do a firewall panel the same,,my thoughts are anything under 2" will look to much,specially if door panels and kick panel are done the same,, I'm thinking 3"spacing,,any thoughts , ideas or photos ,cheers
Maybe customs are different than hot rods. Wide pleats scream “street rod” to me. My cars have 1 1/2” pleats. Except the outlaw clone, it has 1” pleats
3-4” pleats are fairly standard for 30-40’s stock cars. Pleats got narrower as time went on as a rough rule, exceptions apply.
Hello, Of course, MORIARITY has great samples of tuck and roll upholstery. He has just about everything stored away, but drives them, too. We all appreciate his knowledge and cool hot rods. But, something like upholstery does not have any standards. The choices are all up to the builder/owner. Look around, sit in some that are finished and then make up your mind on the final decision. Some ideas to watch for are ones that we experienced in our teenage hot rod upholstery adventures down south. When we were teens, there were several cruiser/hot rods that got good old tuck and roll upholstery. The pleats were the common, 1 ½ inch wide filled with an assortment of stuff. By stuff, we mean straw, cotton, wool strands, etc. just about any thing that was available to stuff inside of those pleats. The stuffing did make the pleats stiff and when 4 teens sat in the Chevy sedan, we all sat up straight, as the narrower, stuffed pleats did not give away much. By the way, there is no standard width of pleats. Most fall in the 1 ½ width, but as always, it is up to the owner of the custom car. We found out that the narrower the pleats, the stiffer the comfort and what else is done while seating. The wider is more comfortable, but takes longer to rebound. There is a limit as to the width, style, comfort and rebounding of the semi rounded pleats. Of course, we are talking the unsuspecting teenage customer hanging around TJ for the least expensive tuck and roll upholstery job. We tried staying around to watch the second car and third car later on, but it was a tiring job, just watching. We tried to keep busy by wandering around the neighborhood looking at the trinkets and stuff. Jnaki By the time the third hot rod/cruiser went down to TJ, we were old hands and the owner wanted to have wider pleats. We specifically requested the cotton stuffing for the wider pleats, thinking they would soften with use and be more comfortable. Immediately, on the way home, they were more comfortable and felt great. No more straight backs and sitting straight. But, as it would be, cotton was used in the seating areas and the seat backs. The problem was the wider the pleats, stuffed as normal tuck and roll, the longer it took to pop up to rounded pleats, again, when we all got out of the car. In the areas like the package tray and door panels, somehow, they put in straw as a filler. Well, what about that? After all, it was TJ and the whole car interior completely done with white tuck and roll including the seats, inside roof, door panels (one car includes trunk lining) and package tray was affordable to the ordinary teenager with an after school job. The finished look always impressed everyone as the cruiser just sat in the driveway. With the sun shining on the paint and the white tuck and roll just gleaming from within it was a fabulous moment. We could not wait to drive a 100+ miles back to Long Beach and cruise those teenage hot spots on Friday or Saturday nights.
On my recently finished interior on my old beater I again used the "4" pattern on the seats but opted for a simple design on the door panels and headliner. HRP
It all depends on the build style of your car. Early 40`s. Late 40`s. Early 50`s. Mid 50`s Early or mid 60`s. Ect….
I’m with Moriarity. The wide pleat billows are for 30’s/40’s stockers and with the wrong material...ie. leather or tweed...venture into bad street rod territory. My preference for a hot rod is a tall/pronounced 1-1.5” hand-stuffed T&R pleat. Good luck finding an upholsterer to do it right!
I did mine in 2" because that's how wide my straight edge was and it looks pretty good, sewn through 1/4" foam.
Just like with all the other parts of your hot rod (wheels, paint, engine dress up, etc), you need to know the era and style you are shooting for. A 40's look would be a simple wide pleat with no big rolls at the top or bottom. A 50's look had a 2-3" pleat and a nice simple roll. Later 50's to early 60's had narrower pleats, and lots of variety to the rolls. Moriarity's cars show how wild it could get. Not very many straight lines except for between the pleats. Pick your poison.
Thanks for your thoughts,advice and pics,, some great info,the car is being built as a early 60s hotrod,so I understand about the pleats narrowing up,,,,,, I'm thinking 3" to 3 1/2" width pleat going the full length of the seat back an the full length of the seat base as in the pics below F
yup, look through some 1960's magazines. 1- 1 1/2" pleats were the norm. If you care anything about period correctness do some real research (magazines) before you start
Do you know why 1 1/2" was the norm? I watched the upholsterer use a yard stick and a piece of chalk to lay out the pleats and sew them up. They conveniently came out 1 1/2" wide. Most yard sticks are 1 1/4" wide.
https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/social-forums/upholstery.153/ This might confuse you even more. We found a 7 foot long tuck n roll leather bench seat out side a antique shop ,it was on a wooden base from an old billiards room . couldn’t get the $50 out of our pocket fast enough ,used that in our 32. Our friendly upholstery guy has given us a couple of full sets of leather from some boring old Pommy cars he was redoing in new fabric. Up cycling at its best and cheapest.
Hi Guys, Well I did take in your advice,,did some research,photos, etc,,,, so here is the end result,,pleats are 1 13/4" spacing,,, very happy with the result,again thanks for the feedback on my post,,cheers
When I redo a seat it depends on the width of the seat and the style I am going to do it in that determines the width of the pleats,2 inch pleats usually work the best but if there is going to be all pleats and nothing to split them up 3 or 4 inch do fine.
The Jalopy Journal
