DIY leather re-trim

[KADVR6 0]

well i have decided to have a go at doing a leather re-trim, the front seats i'm gonna dye with a proper leather dying kit,

 

but for the rears i will be doing it myself 8) i took the rear seats out, and parted the material from the foam, theres about 20 clips holding them on, and some wire attached to the material that helps pull the covers into the recess in the foam. getting some thick paper to mark out the panels, some proper leather thread. and off we go :)

 

i will post on here the procedure i'm doing, but it looks quite easy.

 

i have opted for the blood red colour in the end. the leather for the rears cost me £18.50 delivered of the bay. so think this will be the cheapest re-trim ever :D

 

karl

[yalan 0]

good luck dude.

I too will eventually get round to my DIY retrim too.

I went the slightly more extreme route though:

 

 

eBay brother walking foot industrial sewing machine - 1/2 hp motor and it will sew pretty much anything that will fit under the foot. Just a shame my sewing is ****!

 

you planning to dye the black seats red? I can imagine a cream leather turning a darker shade of red - but black taking on a much lighter surface colour?

[ben16v 0]

have a look on the coupehaus websit, doug had a go at doing his own with quite good success, i had a good chat to him at stealth a while ago

[s.g 0]

have a look at this web site leather dye

 

its professional pigment dye that will colour any colour to any colour.

[24V Renshaw 0]

If you are going to sew it yourself you need a pukka leather sewing machine. Anything else and it will bunch up and not be man enough.

 

Doug did all his on a big ass industrial leather sewing machine.

 

Jay

[KADVR6 0]

cheers guys, i have the use of a proper sewing machine at a saddlers, so the machine is more than up to the job. i have made the templates today for the rear seats.

 

then gonna cut the leather out, then on saturday its sewing time. :oops:

 

and yeh yalan the leather dying kit will dye black leather virtually any colour, it may not be so good going from black to white, but the red is a good rich colour i have been told, so it will dye fine (i hope)

 

karl

[herisites 0]

Whoa good luck with this Karl, i imagine you will have your work cut out! Looking forward to see how you get on with it 8)

[Trig 0]

Good luck, will be interesting to see the results. Do you think the colour will match ok front to back?

[KADVR6 0]

just a quick update, i have sorted the correct thread for doing this little job, making the templates is very easy, cutting the leather is very easy, sewing the bloody stuff is another matter :x

 

i have had to copy the seat base padding, and the guides for the steel pins, that was fairly easy, but the leather is kinda bunching up on the sides, its not to bad, but will be trying another method soon,

 

still its not bad, seeming 2 weeks ago i could not sew a button on a shirt :lol:

 

karl

[CorradoVR6-Turbo 0]

Good progres Karl,when ya done come and re-do mine :-P

[KADVR6 0]

no problem James, it will cost though.

 

done the other seat this morning, its loads better than the first one. i have mastered this sewing malarky. it only took me 45mins to knock out the base. will get pic up soon. then its onto the doorcards :? cant decide on all red 8) or just pick out the cloth section in red leather :?

 

karl

[Goldie 2]

Youre a brave man taking this on but it sounds like its going well...

 

Looking forward to seeing the results.

[Phil K 0]

Looks good matey - this is the same colour I wanted to do mine if I'd kept the C 8)

[lottysvdub 0]

KADVR6 ive retrimmed quite a few cars over the last few years in different dealerships ive worked for , a little tip on how to get rid of any saggy parts or rucks in the leather is to if possible leave the seats outside on a sunny day ,this will cause the leather to shrink back slightly and you will lose any small imperfections I.E creases , rucks and saggs the longer you can leave them the better they will be :D

[KADVR6 0]

cheers for that little tip lottysvdub but when are we gonna get a sunny day in the UK :lol:

 

karl

[herisites 0]

Looking good Karl, i will get a closer look when you come and help me fit my charger (when i get one :() the colour goes really well with the moonlight blue imo 8)

[coolrado 0]

if you are having problems with the leather dragging on the sewing machine try using some saddle soap on a damp cloth to lube it up :wink:

 

also if you need to shrink the leather a bit you could wet a towel and leave it on the leather for a while until it gets damp and then either chuck them in the tumble drier or leave them in front of a fan heater, you will need to treat the leather afterwards with something to stop it hardening and restore the shine though.

[KADVR6 0]

getting there slowly, but its going well :) should have them all done by next weekend hopefully, i have got the proper leather dye also, so the fronts will soon be blood red.

 

i will of course be showing the results of the colour change.

 

karl

[herisites 0]

Whoa thats really red :shock: looks good tho 8)

[blue95 0]

WOW, that looks pukka!!

 

Looking forward to seeing the finished article.

 

And you say you have never sewn before this??

[Niges16V 0]

Have you sussed out how to do the door cards yet? I was looking at this some time ago and gave up as it looked quite tricky

[KADVR6 0]

if it was not for fixing relatives cars :( i would have got more done. but just a little update. all the rear bases and the centre rest are done. the templates for the backs are done. just gotta do some cutting/sewing. i hope they will all be done by next weekend.

 

Niges16V yeh the doorcards do look tricky :? but i have a few ideas of how to do them (i think)

 

blue95 never sewn before in my life mate, could just about sew a button on a shirt :lol:

 

karl

[neil20vtc 0]

good work karl hats off to you for doing it yourself and just think how nice it will be to stand back when its finished pat yourself on the back and think i did that !

[mrbeige 0]

That's some good work there Karl, fair play to you 8)

 

Looking forward to seeing the end result. Isn't it much better to find a way to do thing yourself, much more satisfying!

 

 

 

[/edit] Where did you get your sewing machine from? I'm guessing it isn't a standard one?

[KADVR6 0]

cheers guys,

 

well the actual sewing machine is about 75 years old, i'm just borrowing it for a while. but the person i have borrowed it from says that any old industrial singer sewing machine will do the job.

 

such as this one, http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Singer-Industrial ... dZViewItem

 

i will get a pic of the antique i'm using later.

 

karl