hey i was wanting to gauge some interest:
ok first off im not selling anything at the moment nor plan to on this forum until i or if i became a sponsor....all im doing is tryin to see if there would be a market in this for the fbody guys-- SO PLEASE MODS DONT FREAK OUT ON ME PLEASE

ok so due to a recent job loss im am looking to start back doing what i love to do upholstery work
i am in the process of resourcing all the needed equipment to start up

but i know that the seats in these cars whether a 95 or even some 01s is beginning to show wear or destroyed
so i am going to offer a reasonable solution that has some custom options without breaking the bank...i have seen many kits out there and they are all priced way to high in my opinion

so heres my plan however i would not need you to actually send your seats in considering there isnt much difference in the year range so i just need a couple set of donor covers of the different patterns


would this be something people on here would be interested in??

 

A cheaper option would be a welcomed one. You know that almost everyone's seats are getting worse everyday. I would love to use my T/A seats but have a cleanable, synthetic suede-feel covering, not a seat cover, but leather replacement. It would have to look 100% professional, and I am not sure anyone could pull that off if it is manufactured and then shipped to be installed by the car owner. Keep us posted.

 

I might be down for some new upholstery! A few hog rings can't be too bad compared to other thing I have done to my car. All the places local to me want over $1000 to do my seats!

 

good idea man

 

NO I AM NOT MAKING SEAT COVERS I AM MAKING ACTUALLY REPLACEMENTS COVER......SEAT COVERS ARE HIDEOUS

IF U INSTALL IT ON A HOT DAY AND LET THE INTERIOR AND COVER GET WARM U SHOULD BE ABLE TO INSTALL WRINKLE FREE...
AND I WOULD PLAN ON DOING A WRITE UP TO HELP THE BEGINNER MODDER

 

i know how that goes yes material are expensive but using the internet and these forumns i can keep overhead down produce a cheaper product with no sacrifice to the quality of materials used in the process

 

I'm down.. let us know how it starts to turn out and what options we can look foward to. i.e. leather with suede inserts possible?? Is that the kind of custom you mean or like piping, perforation etc custom

 

any material u want they will be made on a to order basis
i can get any materials though whether u want carbon fiber, suede, alligator, ostrich etc

just know price will be adjusted for exotic materials but there will be no upcharge on the material

 

Where are you located?

 

and on the leather thing

your cars did not come with leather it is a simulated leather there are very few cars with real leather

it is not worth putting real leather in your car unless u have a bugati or something there are many leather simulates that are much more durable and do not wear as much as leather and do not require the constant attention of leather

even if u go to a trim shop and u say i want leather unless u pay $5000 you are getting leather simulate

 

sounds like you have yourself a solid business plan. There are many people interested in "Like factory" replacements.

My input for you is to make OEM replacements with a few designs and grow from there.

Options like custom stitching would be a plus, for an additional cost. To keep costs down it may be smart to limit material choices at first.

 

morristown tn about 30minutes from gatlinburg tn a big tourist attraction her in east tennesee

 

how about door panel kits too? have you thought about those?

 

i will only use materials that are in my opinion durable, workable, and i am confortable putting my name behind...

thats what i plan OEM replacements with custom inserts and your choice in materials which i will make a list soon

piping will not be a big upcharge because it actually makes the seat hold the seam better and add rigity, it is also easier to keep a good seam allowance on the seats so i plan a slight upcharge of just what i would have in the piping itself

i will not due french seams because i like to have the seat i am making the cover there for for any top sewn stitches

 

if u would like to ship them to me i will take them apart uphostery the top

die the armrest in a respectable die that i have not known to fade

do the bottom were the window crank is and plastic weld it back together for u

then ship back

 

also i could do the sunvisors

and headliners if u wanna fool with shipping it

 

This sounds like great idea. I would be in for sure if you do this since you seem like you know your stuff.. Get this shiot started....

 

yep i do know my stuff and i wouldnt sale anybody something i wouldnt install in my own car

 

'your cars did not come with leather it is a simulated leather there are very few cars with real leather'

Actually, the seating surfaces ARE real leather, crappy leather I must admit, but leather just the same. Side/back panels are of matching vinyl. Many people call the door panel inserts leather - they are NOT leather=vinyl.

I personally have had many sports cars, Triumph, MG, Jag, and BMW (no buggatti's though) and they all had leather interiors, much better leather than the GM 'racoon road kill leather' and I wouldn't want to have traded it for vinyl...

I worked at a custom uphostery shop in college and was replacing leather inserts in GM cars back in the 70's/80's (mostly Caddy's and Lincoln's) - when leather replacement material cost 0.25 cents/inch and believe me - it IS leather...

French seams are much better looking IMO than piping. You don't need the seat to do french seams. If the seat cover originally had them, you have the exact patterns for each panel that is sewn together (once you have the pattern for all pieces in a particular style/model seat - they will be the same for all cars with that seat) it is simple to stitch in french seams as factory - now if you don't have a seat cover to go by I can see it being more difficult as you don't know exactly how much extra to add around french seamed edges to fold over for outside stitch and still have the cover fit to seat foam snugly.

Best way to reupholster seat covers is to have the actual cover you wish to duplicate. We would carefully cut the stitches between each panel with razor blade, and any between fabric and foam for pleated inserts to seperate individual panels, lay each original panel out on new material, tack down with small tacks around edges, trace pattern of insert onto new material with grease pencil, cut out. Once all new panels were cut, we would stitch back together as factory. You can make tick marks on new panels where outside stitches of french seams need to be, but if you have been doing this for years it is not necessary as you just have the 'feel' of where they should be.

If you don't have the original cover, or are making something custom - you can use the seat foam, frame as guides to trace patterns of panels.

 

no need for the lesson i know how to upholster

and the reason i say that about french stiching is because i am trying to make reasonable priced replacement and i will not make a french seem without the seat it will be installed on in front of me to make sure seam allowances and such are suitable
unless i stumble upon a double needle machine anytime soon dont expect any french stitching from me
i have an 03 avalanche with no french seems and i have yet had some1 say hey why dont u have a french seam on that

and yes i can tailor a seat(not having a pattern and just a paice of foam but thats not what im trying to do here if someone on here wants a full out custom design then there going to gonna go to the trim shop down the street

and they may be leather faced but u can not tell me a good vinyl isnt a better replacement than the coon skin as u call it

im going for an affordable replacement and i dont think anyone wants to wait for me to order 5 or so hides before i get one i feel good enough to upholster there car with cause there are lots that have been repaired before the dyeing process and will eventually crack out

9 out of 10 people can not tell the difference in a leather simulant and real leather and frankly i will not do a real leather interior unless it is italian(for the people that dont know the difference is that cows there are free range and do not have barbwire scratches in them)