Doing your own upholstery

[CG]

For our trucks I've installed three bench seat covers and a set of buddy bucket covers. Id say the benches would be hard to distinguish from a pro install, the buddy's were a little bit tougher for me to pull off, so not quite the quality I was hoping for in the end.

I'm in the market for a set of 71/72 Cheyenne Super style black bucket seat covers. When finished I want them to look brand spanking new. No weird wrinkles, or wavy looking welting on the seat bottoms and backs. I want those babies tight haha. Also I've seen so many with the vertical sides along the seat bottom have all sorts of weird looking "wrinkles"

My problem is that I've seen a ton of seats redone by supposed pros that in my mind don't look any better than any of us could do.

Is there any sort of trick to doing buckets over benches? I would think buckets would be easier, but those stupid buddy's I did sure weren't.

Love to hear the tips besides heat it up first in the sun or drier. Or maybe part of it is the quality of the seat cover? I've heard PUI is pretty good.

[Barnfind46]

There is some talent and a lot of patience involved. Also, the fit has a lot to do with the way the seat cover is sewn to begin with.I have installed a lot of pre made covers and to know what company made the best ones. Would love to be able to sew up my own covers but I am not there yet.

[cornerstone]

I know what you’re talking about CG... I’ve seen some so called pros put out work that I would call a failure. I know exactly how to fail, 100%... If I were to hire that job out, you better be sure I’m gonna show them what quality I would expect. I can’t stand wavy welting either!

[Astro-Balls]

Please post pics of the covers you installed.

[CG]

All of the trucks that I did covers for are long gone. I ended up selling the buddy buckets to a buddy (see what I did there haha). He never used them, but ended up selling them for a tidy profit when buddys went ridiculous.

[flashed]

I was going to try my hand at installing the covers on my BuddyBuckets , tried one and was afraid I would mess them up . They have been at the upholstery shop going on a month now .

[Andy4639]

These are not perfect by no stretch but they are nice enough for me and I did them myself on a set of 99 Tahoe buckets. I had never done seat covers before and well I thought they turned out nice.
I even got heat in both of them top and bottom.

[72c20customcamper]

In my experience buckets are harder than bench seats. I've done my share of both well most of the cars I've done have both. Heat is good but a good steam genie does a better job on seams and welting areas that need a little stretch to straighten . Also I use a HD trash bag on the seat back to let the cover slid over the foam . Get it positioned correctly and pull the bag down and out. The seam will RIP and it will slide out.

Good skins help also . I like legendary interiors They pay attention to detail. No pictures of my last set of buckets in my chevelle . This is the last bench I did. I'll get some of the buckets

Had to download them from the team Chevelle site. Locked out of my photobucket

[72c20customcamper]

In the car . I did the dash at the same time I did the seats

[67/Heaven]

Just ordered and installed OEM style leather seat covers for my 7.3 Excursion. Ordered from a company called L Seat. https://www.lseat.com/ You can order a swatch sample for different colors. If your seat is not listed, you can send them the old seat covers and they will make you a set of new ones using the old covers as the pattern. Installing them was about an hour and half per seat. You will need, hog wire pliers, hog wire clips and nothing else(aside from hand tools to remove seat) if your seat foam is in good shape. Using the old foam just use a steamer, (the type women use to steam iron their clothes) to steam the original foam, you will see as you steam it that it comes back to original dimensions. I am happy with the outcome and the guys here at work can not tell the difference from the OEM seats. LSeat will even stitch an embroidered logo on the leather seat covers. I found the installation was easy, the quality of the leather covers was second to none and the price was cheaper than anywhere else i could find. Both front complete set covers with armrests, embroidered and shipped came out to 400. Just my 2cents hope this helps you

[Haligan34]

I did mine, I think new foam a quality cover, and the right tools with a little patience made the difference. I also planned where the cover should line up, center, welt cords, corners ect.

[CG]

I was watching B I t c h I n Rides yesterday and they use that steamer wand a lot for removing wrinkles. Sorry bout the weird spelling … board wont let me write what I wanted =)

[special-K]

It's funny. I'm good with my hands, but I never considered trying upholstery. Like it was voodoo or magic I had to pay someone to do. Yet, when I've considered getting into a different line of work, that is one trade I have considered because it is a specialty, I like working with my hands, and give a lot of attention to detail. Since I took my first upholstery job to Joe's Upholstery forty some years ago they have done everything I have needed and always flawlessly. So that has been my upholstery trick or tip all along, take to a good upholsterer. I would not be happy with a baggy wavy seat cover. I want 'can't tell/good as new' when I restore something. And when custom it better be perfect or all I did was eff up a good thing. It might have started out as fear of failure when I was young, but now it's go with what I know is good. And they treat me right for being loyal. We are old friends now. I fear it would offend them if I told them I did something myself. Silly, huh? It's just too good a relationship to throw any change at.

[OregonNed]

Originally Posted by 72c20customcamper

In the car . I did the dash at the same time I did the seats

That dash looks awesome..

[72c20customcamper]

Originally Posted by CG

I was watching B I t c h I n Rides yesterday and they use that steamer wand a lot for removing wrinkles. Sorry bout the weird spelling … board wont let me write what I wanted =)

I made my own just a piece of tubing and a tea pot. Used a shop vac attachment to fan out the steam worked well. Steam is the ticket for removing wrinkles and getting the welt straight

[72c20customcamper]

Originally Posted by OregonNed

That dash looks awesome..

Thanks I tend to over restore things

But upholstery is just like body work . If you take your time it turns out well. I have people ask who did my seats in my truck or chevelle. Because their shop dudnt do theirs as nice. And to br honest I have seen some seats that were professionally done that the welt is crooked and the seat pleats dont line up from the seat back to the bottom