ay up. time for how to part 2 front seat covers. this is a guide to making early seat covers, the square type. I guess in principal this will work for any seat covers though. same idea.. anyway this is gonna be quite a long and labour intensive one, so ill do it in two parts. also pic heavy. so first up.. if you've got old manky covers, remove them as best as possible and try not to tear them too much. if you do tear them, just duct tape them back together so they're in the shape they were originally, or there abouts. then carefully cut all of the stitching through out the covers, writing what each panel is i.e. seat front, seat back etc. then, a bit tricky.. but flatten the parts out onto your vinyl and draw round them.. then cut out. as I make quite a lot of seat covers, i made some templates that i keep and re-use. so.. once you have all your sections cut out.. you can start the 'hemming' part. some of the panels will need a hem, to accept either wire or rods, to fit to the seats. I'm starting with the seat base fronts, which are both the same.. you will have 4 side bits and 2 fronts.. you will see on original seat covers there is a little hem where the cover goes over the frame.. so re-create that first on all 4 side pieces.. heres a picture of all the panels that will need a hem.. hopefully you can see from the pic where the hem is etc.
right... now to make the seat base fronts.. take your centre panel.. and put one of the side panels face to face ontop, keeping the edges together... and sew 0.5cm away from the edge, do this on both sides.. now you will have the 3 base panels joined. now the join isnt very strong, so what i do is to turn the 0.5cm edges of the front panel back onto its self and sew another line parallel to it.. heres one done, next to the one im about to do.. and when its done it will look lke this from the front.. and when both done... now you need to make one long hem along the bottom of each part, to accept the wire that feeds through to tension the cover.. the bottom will fold over like this.. and done..
now.. the 2 panels youve just made.. you basically need to mark the middle point. so fold it in half and mark (on the inside) where the middle is.. youll find out why later... but for now.. you can sit these 2 base front seat panels aside.
now to do the driver seat back... heres the sections youll need.. 2 sides, a top and a back. sew the top and the sides exactly the same as you did before.. including the folding back the 0.5cm flap etc. till you have this.. fold in half and mark the middle again now take the back piece.. fold in half and mark the middle... now, you take the back piece, and the sides/top combo and lay them face to face, the 2 centre lines you marked... line them up together, so the edges are together.. and then sew 0.5cm off the edge.. the corners can be a bit fiddly first time..
here it is. half sewn, half not.. and fully sewn.. now heres the join.. it can be left like this.. but after someone heavy has jumped on the seat a few times the stitching might be weakened.. so its best to double stitch like the original cover.. fold the seat back, back on its self a little bit and sew just in from the line.. about where my thumb nail is... and sewing.. from underneath... see how the flap is being folded inwards.. it can be fiddly at the corners again, but persevere..
and after you've gone round it.. it will look like this.. and that should be it for this piece.. sit that aside and you can start the passenger seat back.
yeah i know.. time for you to get a cup of tea.. ill get a bottle of beer and we'll carry on in a sec...
ok got my beer... so passenger seat back.. here's the 2 side panels.. you need to hem each side bit. to take the wire that helps fit the cover.. before and after... put the top and sides together the same as you have done for the last few bits, sew 0.5cm off the edges, and then double back on itself for the double stitch line.. fold in half and mark your centres.. sew them all together the same as last time, exactly the same as the driver seat, sew 0.5cm off the edge, then sew round the edges to add strength..
so thats all the hard stuff done.. it seems really daunting once you look back at all that, but as long as you have pretty accurate templates and make sure you mark up the panels so you know what goes where etc, and which way round. its literally just sewing stuff together..
so now you have base panels and back panels for both the seats. but nothing to sit on.. so now the main bits.. you also will need templates of these.. these can be a bit fiddly to trace round as they're normally mis-shapen from years of being sat on.. but should look somewhat like this.. mark the center lines like i have..
now to start on the middle fluted part of the seats.. cut your sections from a different colour vinyl.. mine are (from memory) about 75cm x 45cm and 60cm x 45cm. 2 of each.. then mark the centre line of each, and mark out your fluting, mine are the same width as the ones in the door cards how to i done the other day.. once youve got it all marked.. lay all 4 bits on your 3mm scrim foam, glue, then cut out. same as the door cards.. sew down each line, turn over, sew 0.5cm off the line and lop off the excess at the back. (see the door cards how to for pictures) make sure not to flute the 2 edge lines!
looking forward to the next installment my iterior is a bit drab and would love to get it all re-done,i would prefer to do it myself because i like to do things and possibly learn new things.. you have shown us how to do it so it would be bad manners not to try
So, next part.. Cut out some strips of vinyl. About 6-7"wide and the length of your fluted seat panel. You'll need 8 strips in total.. Face to face, line the edge of the strip up with the outside line on the fluted panel, then sew 0.5cm away from the line.. Once sewn you can flip over and cut all the excess off the back of the flutes.. And it should look like this.. And from the back..
Now here's where the templates come into play... Lay your template ontop.. Draw round... And cut out.. You'll see you have two small panels left, these attach to the back bit like in the pic.. But face to face.. Lay the small panel ontop. (Centre line marked) and sew 0.5cm away from the edge. And it gets tricky at the corners..
For the piping, in total you will need 4 lengths, (one for each seat back and base) make them 190cm long. This will be plenty! Sew the piping around the outside of the cover, Take it slow at the corners, and you can snip it to get it round nicely.. Once your done, lay the back piece face to face onto the cover, and sew again around the piping.. Make sure you line up your centre lines..
It makes it easier if you start sewing from the centre line out wards.. Once done.. Turn it inside out, make sure your happy with it, then you can trim any excess materials from the inside. Next.. The seat bases. Same procedure, but as you can see from the pic below.. They have a weird v cut either side.. Turn the v cut in on its self, face to face, and sew just along the edge..
