Im sure a lot of good tech and ideas get buried in the middle of multi page build threads. this post was just added to my build thread but I really wanted to share it. I know not too many people are clicking on a build thread for a 51' Plymouth, lol, so heres the headliner part. this is what got me started, I bought a stock headliner and they sent me the wrong one :-( (Pm me if anyone wants a good deal on a 51 ford headliner) knowing that even if I waited the 2 weeks for the correct stock liner, I would have to cut up a $189 headliner to fit the chop top:-( So why not just start from scratch here's how it went down: The cost was $32 for the wedding dress fabric (yup, I had a coupon, and 20 for a sewing machine off craigslist (ha, blew up the last one on the pleats for the door panels). My first step was to figure out some dimensions, may as well use up some old bed sheets as a template. [/URL] W/ promising results from the bed sheets, it was time to start laying out the good stuff (just as a reference, most fabrics cost about $4-$5 yrd, this crap was $14 yrd! (glad I had the coupon "torque" is just waiting to put paw prints all over it, haha [/URL] Its really not that hard to do and I gotta admit, it is kinda fun to sew, Mostly since you can say you did it. [/URL] All the bows had to be cut and widened to fit the chop top, so now there all welded up and going in for the last time. Or so I thought, they ended up having to come apart a couple more times to fix some ooops's. [/URL] trying to work out the wrinkles (this stuff dosent stretch and that makes it tuff to work w/ as a headliner) [/URL] not too bad for a first attempt, and I kinda like it. (my Grandma says its beautiful so that has to count for some thing.) [/URL] jeff
Well done! I'm a bit worried about the longevity of a brocaded fabric like that in a car, though. Just be super careful with it and keep it out of the sun and heat as much as possible.
In the late 60s early 70s I did quite a few brocade headliners. Some heavy velour, some light weight, They held up fine.. Jack Looks good!
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