Gonna try to do my own homemade upholstery. Gonna keep it simple to build some confidence. I’ve owned this comsew for years and have only been able to produce some very simple shitty examples with lots of imperfections. I have enough material now to do about 10 cars due to I keep changing my mind. My basement looks like a pro upholstery shop with old patterns and foam, carpet pieces laying around and a couple of shitty seats. Looks good from the courthouse
The skills the pros have weren't acquired the first time they stepped on the pedal and fed material through the foot. Keep at it and don't beat yourself up! You NEVER get better by not doing.
Like Thomas Edison said, I never failed when inventing the light bulb, I just found a hundred ways not to do it. Looks great! Keep it up and keep the pics coming
"Looks good from the courthouse" has me laughing. I too, would like to be able to do upholstery, but I am pretty certain it is just like paint and body work, and we weren't born knowin' it. That said, that cushion looks pretty darn good, and I'd keep after it. Practice may not make perfect, but it goes a long way towards it.
Back in the 80's and early 90's I did partial upholstery jobs on several of my 32 Fords. I'd have the upholstery shop do the seat or seats plus I'd give him the measurements for the headliner. I would install the headliner, make the interior panels, door panels in a simple pattern that required no sewing and do the carpet all myself. I was pleased with the result and a couple of the cars were magazine feature cars. If I knew then what I know now I would have worked for free for the upholster and learned how to sew and do nice interiors and went into the upholstery business instead of the chassis business.
Trying to get this door panel tweaked and not 100% on what I’m gonna use for fasteners. Got the Corvette door knob figured out and wondering if I can shorten this trim without messing it up or just use piping. Again over thinking everything again.
For my uses it depends on what level the whole build is about. I bought an old commercial machine and sewed my interior on my '39 Chev coupe a couple years ago, but it's not a show car and I simply wanted nice interior, not roadster show interior. I'm happy with how mine came out, and would do it again if I build another car. I may not use my sewing machine again, except for repairs, or small jobs, but I'm glad it's here if I do need it.
These two fasteners not my favorite. I need to go find the metal one that doesn’t slide into the panel but has more of just a round head. I liked how it popped in and wasn’t to bad of a hassle getting out using a generic tool.
I did the same thing as Krylon. I bought a Juki machine and do everything but the seats. I am still practicing and learning. YouTube is your friend.
Having worked with a lot of fragile door panels (trim pads), I have learned to love plastic retainers, and just shear them off and replace them if I need to get behind there. Cheap and easy, a lot cheaper than tearing up the backing board or breaking an unobtainable piece of plastic.
dsiddons: I have always used the metal spring clips you show in your hand. They are also what the upholstery shop that now does my interiors uses. I have found it easy to remove the panel with the proper tool. Over the years I've built quite a few cars and external screws, buttons and any type of fastener that shows have been taboo. I like them clean and smooth.
Bought a Chinese binding tape attachment for the sewing machine for carpet. Wasn’t happy and the tape wasn’t wide enough so reordered a better one from Sailrite and got another 1/2” wider tape coming. See what I can do as far as edging carpet. You can see the stitch is a bit to close to the edge and the tool is just for 1” binding. By time I’m doing buying useless shit I will have enough tools and parts to open up a full blown upholstery shop minus the labor talent end of it. Maybe I can launder $$$ thru it some how.
Here's some free advice for you new guys. I once did a headliner for a '37 Chev coupe using a cloth type fabric. After I got the thing nicely installed and was patting myself on the back, the owner noticed the material had a "nap" and one section of the headliner was backward from the rest resulting in a perceived color change. A hard lesson learned.
How you guys trim out this panel board? Shit is a bastard. I’m using a box opener. Any good suggestions please. Don’t have air in my basement.
I use an electric metal shear (Bosch 1500A) or you can use a jigsaw. Bought the Bosch 30 years ago for $300 +. Glad I did.
Band saw hood idea thanks. Have a bunch of welt cord feet and found out my 3/16 foot won’t fit. Mounting hole is a bit off. Another lesson learned buying cheap shit off the internet. I would compare it to harbor freight and Snap On kinda mistake. I’ve been repurchasing the tooling from Sailrite and so far it’s been pretty good. So maybe tomorrow instead of using welt cord for the door panel I’ll watch some videos on the French seam unless I can get this trim shortened.
Just chop off the left side of the foot if you are using that large welt cord shown in the pic. Buy the sponge rod, it`ll stretch, that large stuff won`t.
Howdy Ledbetter in Normal wanted to upholster his car, bought a upholstery grade sewing machine , read all he could, and then went to fabric stores and bought cheap remnant fabric. Since the fabric was super cheap, he experimented over and over until he figured out what to do. Once he figured it out, he upholstered his car. It looked so good, he started doing upholstery for other guys and the next thing you know, he's in business. It's an idea worth considering if time isn't a problem.
for door and other panel patterns, use spray glue and chip board (beer cartons to the layman). Use clecos to fasten the main body of the panel to the car, these cleco holes will end up being your panel clip holes. Cut and spray glue the finer details of the desired shape to the main body of the panel. Once your panel pattern is sorted, engineering clearance for the material to wrap around everywhere of course, transfer it to abs panel board and cut it out with a sheetmetal shear, some folks call it a double cutter. transfer your cleco holes and try it on for size on the car. make any adjustments with a flap wheel and a flet file. Next, remove one cleco at a time and drill out the hole for 7/32? cant remember, anyhow use auveeco 807 or 808 japan clips. These go straight in, no offset. work your way around the panel until you have all the clips installed, check the fit. Upholster to your wildest desires after that.
I'm learning upholstery as well. I also like the Auveco 808 clips. You drill a 1/4" dia. hole straight thru the door panel and the door, and the clips go straight in. They are metal and come out nicely if you need to remove the panel. To me, upholstery is like painting and bodywork. Lots of ways to do things, and they all (mostly) work...
As said above, electric sheetmetal shears for panel board. Not the scissor version, not those "muncher" types. For dressing the sides I've put self stick 80 grit board paper on a paint stick, "file" the edges to final shape sometimes. Yes I have run some thru the bandsaw a time or 10 as well.
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