Seat Recovering

Body parts, seats, dash, headlining, windows and stuff!

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rbgosling
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Seat Recovering

Post by rbgosling »

Well, if I wasn't filling my enforced hometime well enough with the Gearbox Rebuild, I've embarked on a second Lockdown Project - re-upholster all my seats.

I have part-leather part-cloth seats. The plan is to replace only the cloth bits, and re-use the existing leather - it's the cloth that is torn, and shows the most staining and wear. I hope to get the leather clean(er) and use something to bring back the colour where it has started to crack.

The original mottled grey woven cloth is long since unavailable (AFAIK), so I was never going to achieve something that looked like the original. I opted for a much darker grey, almost-black, that will contrast with the light grey leather rather than trying to match it. The dash has dark grey leather around the instruments with the rest in light grey, so it does at least mirror that contrast. Also, hopefully, won't show up grease stains!

After a discussion here I reckoned I needed just under 5m of fabric for all the seats (ignoring cloth inlays in the doors and rear side panels), so I ordered 6m to be on the safe side. I ordered from Martrim, they seemed to have a wide selection and affordable prices, and chose the Charcoal Merlin. All the cloth has a thin foam backing to it; I actually liked the Light Grey Heavyweight, but it came with much thicker foam that my seamstress/wife Heather reckoned would not work, at least not with her sewing machine, and would make it tricky to fit the seats back in place too. The standard thickness nylon with foam backing is about the same thickness as the original cloth, so no problem there.

First job - rear seat base. Because it's simple so good for practice, there's two of them so we can strip one and use the other for reference, and because it's in the back (and usually has a car seat on top of it) so if it's less than perfect it's not so noticeable! One evening's work to strip the old fabric off. It seems that the fabric was probably glued to the foam once, but the glue has long since given up, except where the stitching is, where it is doing its best to hold on with determination. Nothing we can't overcome!

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"Farmer" Richard

1990 Lotus Excel SE (Lilith)
2022 MG MG5 EV (not due to be a classic for quite a few years...)
2011 Nissan Leaf (Ragly - EV pioneer, must be due to be a classic one day)

Pete Boole
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Re: Seat Recovering

Post by Pete Boole »

Brilliant work Richard/Heather! When can I send mine!!? :lol:. Looking forward to seeing the results.

Pete

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rbgosling
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Re: Seat Recovering

Post by rbgosling »

Pete Boole wrote:Brilliant work Richard/Heather! When can I send mine!!? :lol:. Looking forward to seeing the results.

Pete
You can save the praise for when you see the finished results... :?
"Farmer" Richard

1990 Lotus Excel SE (Lilith)
2022 MG MG5 EV (not due to be a classic for quite a few years...)
2011 Nissan Leaf (Ragly - EV pioneer, must be due to be a classic one day)

richardw
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Re: Seat Recovering

Post by richardw »

So where are you doing the gearbox if the seats are being done in the kitchen?!

Great work!

Cheers, Richard
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MetBlue
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Re: Seat Recovering

Post by MetBlue »

Looking forward to seeing this progress. I've been tempted to give my car some attention on the trim at the suitable time (not yet, far more important jobs to tackle). Bought a book a year ago on car trimming, and it doesn't look that difficult if you have the old patterns to work to.
Good luck.
Tony
What goes together.... Must come apart.

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rbgosling
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Re: Seat Recovering

Post by rbgosling »

richardw wrote:
Sat Apr 11, 2020 21:30
So where are you doing the gearbox if the seats are being done in the kitchen?!

Great work!

Cheers, Richard
Ahhh.... Since I did my kitchen engine rebuild I have moved house, I now have a garage!! Big enough to fit the Excel or do some work on the workbench, not both, but that's still a significant improvement.
"Farmer" Richard

1990 Lotus Excel SE (Lilith)
2022 MG MG5 EV (not due to be a classic for quite a few years...)
2011 Nissan Leaf (Ragly - EV pioneer, must be due to be a classic one day)

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Re: Seat Recovering

Post by Ray-s »

Hi Richard I too am thinking of redoing mine look forward to seeing your results , I've done my leather work with TRG one.. Leather renovating balm, used ivory on mine,they were badly scuffed with small cracks it did a really good job got it on e-bay £8:95..Ray
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Why is there always bits left over ?

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rbgosling
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Re: Seat Recovering

Post by rbgosling »

Ray-s wrote:
Wed Apr 15, 2020 10:14
Hi Richard I too am thinking of redoing mine look forward to seeing your results , I've done my leather work with TRG one.. Leather renovating balm, used ivory on mine,they were badly scuffed with small cracks it did a really good job got it on e-bay £8:95..Ray
Hi Ray - do you remember the brand of the leather renovating balm? Always good to go with something I know someone has had a positive experience of!
"Farmer" Richard

1990 Lotus Excel SE (Lilith)
2022 MG MG5 EV (not due to be a classic for quite a few years...)
2011 Nissan Leaf (Ragly - EV pioneer, must be due to be a classic one day)

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rbgosling
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Re: Seat Recovering

Post by rbgosling »

Fabric finally fully seperated from the backing foam for one of the rear seat bases.

New fabric measured and cut, and glued to the foam using aerosol glue. Heather tried sewing the ribs across the seat, but the sewing machine wasn't handling it. A stronger / sharper needle may be called for; another attempt will be made in due course...

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"Farmer" Richard

1990 Lotus Excel SE (Lilith)
2022 MG MG5 EV (not due to be a classic for quite a few years...)
2011 Nissan Leaf (Ragly - EV pioneer, must be due to be a classic one day)

Pete Boole
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Re: Seat Recovering

Post by Pete Boole »

When I used to sew stuff I often used a dry silicone spray to help the needle get through thick stuff. It will probably be the stickiness of the foam that is causing the issue. You can also sew through some brown paper on the foam side and tear it off afterwards.

Pete

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rbgosling
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Re: Seat Recovering

Post by rbgosling »

“Dry silicone spray” - like what? I’m assuming WD-40 counts as “wet” silicone spray.
"Farmer" Richard

1990 Lotus Excel SE (Lilith)
2022 MG MG5 EV (not due to be a classic for quite a few years...)
2011 Nissan Leaf (Ragly - EV pioneer, must be due to be a classic one day)

Pete Boole
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Re: Seat Recovering

Post by Pete Boole »

It's silicone in a quickly evaporating carrier - just leaves a thin film of silicone that lubricates as you sew. Leaves no trace.

Pete

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Re: Seat Recovering

Post by Alan_M »

Hi Richard, assume you’re sewing the ribs using a scrim foam on the rear to give the ribbed effect. Ideally you will need a walking foot on the sewing machine to help pull the thick material/foam combination through. This is what I used when I did the roof on mine.

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Re: Seat Recovering

Post by Ray-s »

Hi Richard the brand name is TRG I got the trg one leather renovating balm its in many colours e-bay item No-112335135325 it did a great job on mine Ray
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Why is there always bits left over ?

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Re: Seat Recovering

Post by Kerry »

Morning Richard
I wonder if you could tell me how you removed the rear seat squab please? Mine is torn and needs recovering

Thanks, Kerry

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