Been watching a ton of YouTube and bought my own Sailrite from Craigslist for cheap. This things gonna pay for itself! (I hope). Who does their own upholstery? Where's a great supply site for vinyl? Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
Can't say I did my own as I made up seats for my T bucket, glued foam to them and stretched and stapled vinyl over them for seats that didn't look bad but sure didn't sit good. That machine is the boat owners go to machine so if you tire of it you will never have trouble selling it. It looks like there are several supply houses in the Houston area including http://www.diyupholsterysupply.com/ http://www.walkersupplyco.com/ When my buddy did my truck in Waco in the 70's he took me down to a supply house in Waco and said take your pick, the 2 buck a yard stuff is there and the 30 buck a yard stuff is over there and every thing else is in between.
I think there is an upholstery group on here. I never searched for it. There have been a few threads about it.
My wife and I plan to start on our 1954 Chevy in January. We are choosing the materials now. I traded for an older Consew industrial sewing machine. The plan is to buy the carpet and headliner premade. We plan to do the door panels and seats ourselves. It will be a very basic design in the seats and door panels, not plain, but not to fancy. The big problem seems to be buying seats belts, carpet, headliner, and material that match or complement each other. We have purchased several books and we are watching videos on the net. I belong to a social group here on the HAMB for upholstery. There are tricks to learn, but it is similar to much of the fabricating that most of us do daily. John
My grandfather started doing upholstery back in the 50's for restorations. He did many cars in the area. Dad and mom took over when he passed. Just a few months before Dad passed he purchased a new Juki machine. My wife and I have done a couple interiors for my everyday and our sons truck. We are looking forward to putting a full interior and top on our coupe this winter. We are lucky to only live 100 miles from Denver and are able to use a couple of the supply houses there. Colorado Auto Trim is a good one we have used. They have a lot of old stock materials. I have also talked to an upholstery guy in town and he offered to help me with materials if I needed.
I bought a machine to do my own as well and just so you know it isn't as easy as it seems and I now understand why an award winning interior costs so much! Grab as many scrap pieces of any kind of vinyl as you can get and start practicing your sewing. Heck cut up an old couch if you need vinyl material. Just getting the feel for the pedal so you can get a consistent stitch will take you some time to master. Try all different type of seams. Work at getting them straight. Then work on joining 2 panels together. After that try it with piping in between. Try sewing 2 panels together going around a corner. Once you can do that with consistency then your on to actually doing your actual panels. I layed out all my panels for my tuck and roll job which took some time, and with my buddy who does awnings and boat sails and interiors for a living watching, my stuff is coming out ok. I was looking for an old style interior for an old style car tho and not a show winning interior. Here are a couple pictures of the Dodge caravan seat I cut down 6 inches and covered.
I have only known 1 person that did what you have in mind. His car turned out very nice, he said it was like everything you do learning something new, some trail, error and time. The HUGE positive of this, IF you want, perfect part time business or career change. Every upholstery shop is busy, backlogged and there seems to be customer for all Price's, low to high. Good Luck !
I'm trying...I got an old Singer industrial machine for free, but it doesn't have a walking foot. Testing has shown that I'm limited to 1/4" sew foam...I'm going to attempt door panels, but leave the seats to a more skilled person... My first practice piece...Hobby Lobby black vinyl and 1/4" foam
That looks like the newer version of the Thompson I picked up. It did a great job for me, but I modified it to slow it down and offer a bit more control http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/upholstery-a-beginners-journy.755207/page-8#post-8740681
There are lots of upholstery supply shops around the country, there should be some in your area. It is nice to be able to go in and buy whatever you need at once. They have a button machine to cover buttons with your choice of material. Suggest you start with cloth as it is more forgiving, you can rip out a bad seam and do it over which you can't with vinyl because of the perforations. You want to be really good before you tackle leather. Upholstery is easier than body and paint work, or rebuilding engines. You need a good book or two, and some videos, then practice. Take your time and think things through, you will soon get the hang of it.
I have done all of my cars for the last thirty years. Do all my paint and bodywork work, frame and engine work also. I don't hire anything done for my cars. Even have my own tire machine. My son and I are building A 31 ford roadster now. Flathead juice brakes 35 wires like it just came out of the fifties. It will be black on black on black.
Your Auto Trim Store and Gary's Upholstery were very helpful and had good stuff for good prices as I did my '31 interior myself. I bought the PVC foamboard (Sintra) I needed from a sign shop and used heat guns to form it and Permatex instant glue to fasten the compound curves together. The back corners of a '31 A go from square to a curve at the upper 1/2 and I think it really came out well.
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