Doing the upholstery yourself

[RJ Squirrel]

Bought this old Singer industrial machine last year shortly after I drug the RR home. I decided that I wanted to do as much of the work on the car myself as possible, and learning new skills is a big plus too. The machine is the original walking foot design that has been copied many times over by others and is still being copied today, although the new units are plastic and tin, unlike the cast iron and steel tank this old 1956 beauty is.
I spent a lot of time tuning it up and getting to know it, as I had no experience at all with sewing machines. It would not sew when I brought it home it just made a big rat nest, so I got it fairly cheap. They sew very fast in stock form, the 7" pulley was added along with some modifications to the foot control setup to slow it down and make it controllable.

 

[RJ Squirrel]

The Roadrunner turned out OK I think, It is no show car or museum piece but a nice driver a guy can be proud of.

 

[RJ Squirrel]

Did the visors, door panels and the vinyl top too.

 

[haywire 440]

Leather? The seats look great and comfortable.
Visors also are sharp.

 

[RJ Squirrel]

Reupholstered these 73 Duster seats for practice.

 

[5.7 hemi]

Now you’ve got a side hustle!

 

[1967coronet]

Nice job those look pretty dang good.

 

[RJ Squirrel]

Leather? The seats look great and comfortable.
Visors also are sharp.

I used a fairly inexpensive vinyl, being a rookie at it, did not want to ruin the expensive stuff! They are comfortable, I added extra foam on the lumbar area you can see the bulge in the picture. Extra padding and support in the bottom cushions too.

 

[MarPar]

Holy crap!! Looks great!!

 

[Coelacanth]

Wow, impressive. I need that done with my back seat, but I'd never trust myself to that project...

 

[RJ Squirrel]

It is really not all that difficult if your old seat covers are intact enough to cut them apart for patterns.
I spent more time restoring/repairing the rusty old seat frames than I did on the new covers. Go for it!

 

[chargervert]

Nice work son!

 

[WileE]

Gotta love those who do the work on their own. Nice !

 

[threewood]

That's amazing work!!! If I had that kind of skill I would sew up a set of leather seats.

 

[eldubb440]

you been holding out on us

 

[RJ Squirrel]

Well, where did you think the moose found a tuxedo that fits him

 

[eldubb440]

Well, where did you think the moose found a tuxedo that fits him

he pulled it out of his hat

 

[chargervert]

Well, where did you think the moose found a tuxedo that fits him

Natasha get moose and Squirrel!

 

[barbee6043]

Back in Mo. I had a friend that was a body man, in his little one car shop. All he did was classics and did great work. One at a time! One day he found an old machine and taught himself to do upholstery and door panels. Like you, he learned to do great work!!

 

[AR67GTX]

Wow, I was expecting to see a thread on installing Legendary seat covers. You went way, way above that with sewing up your own covers. Great looking work.