98 Silverado upholstery

[pbrenneraz]

Good morning! I'm new here but have poked around a bit and hope to get some advice and/or encouragement. I drive my husband's 1998 Chevy Silverado extended cab (with the 60/40 split front seats), and love this truck. He bought it the same weekend we met, so it has sentimental value to me, lol. The leather seats are in pretty bad shape, and I want to see what I can do to fix them up. I am an intrepid DIYer and unafraid to try things that are considered 'hard' (or 'hard for a woman', lol). I have an industrial sewing machine (Sailrite) that handles multiple thicknesses of leather and vinyl as well as years of sewing experience (from leather rodeo queen dresses to slipcovers and lots in between). I have reupholstered a few pieced of furniture - dining room chairs, a wing back chair, and I'm currently working on a channel back chair. With that said, I would like to have the seats look/feel good, but I'm not restoring the whole vehicle to pristine condition (it's definitely a farm truck). I would prefer a cloth type fabric versus leather/vinyl (don't like sticking to the seat in the Texas summers) I am on a pretty tight budget, so need to DIY as much as possible. Is it worth it to consider starting from scratch or better to buy one of the upholstery kits (prices seem to be in the $700 range which is more than I'd like to spend)? I am open to all advice and suggestions - and have no ego invested, so if you think I'm stupid to consider doing this, you won't hurt my feelings lol.