Time For Upholstery

[Joe Flanagan]

Well, I ordered my upholstery today and it'll soon be time to fire up the sewing machine. I discovered a company in Minnesota, I believe, called Kovi. They have material that is very close to what was used in these cars originally. It's not the same feel, in fact, I think it's much tougher. It's rated for auto and RV. If anyone wants the item number I chose, let me know and I'll post a link to it. It wasn't cheap but still a much better deal than that place up in Connecticut whose name I forget. Plus they have an April sale going on right now and you can get 10% off. 

You may remember that I spent part of the winter practicing and managed to make a good mockup of the back rest of the back seat. So I know I can do it. My wife's sewing machine has proven itself up to the task. I have an upholstery needle and upholstery thread. 

After that, all I have to do is install the driveshaft, fill the master cylinder, and this thing should move under its own power. 

[Johnny S]

Joe, I found the site.   What pattern are you using and how many yards did you end up getting ??

 

John

[Joe Flanagan]

John, it's Cafe/Stripe. I think the item # is K7866. I ordered 6 1/4 yards. 

Edited April 4, 2014 by Joe Flanagan

[Johnny S]

Thanks Joe ... good luck. 

[Johnny S]

Joe, are you planning to reuse the burgundy leather(ette) trim or use a replacement or leave it off ???

[Joe Flanagan]

I found the identical vinyl material at my local fabric store (can't even believe I'm saying that). I'm going to reproduce it as it was originally. I've already used it on the bottoms of the interior door panels and it looks fantastic.

[Johnny S]

  I've been in JoAnne's Fabrics here locally many times diggin' through their materials looking for a good match.  I suspect I looked like a small "bear" in there trying to dig out a cave to hibernate in I bet!!!

 

The original "wool" costs a LOT more if you can even find it anymore.   I think you've found a really nice substitute that has great wear resistance if their numbers are even close.  

Edited April 4, 2014 by Johnny S

[Joe Flanagan]

My sister suggested that the original stuff might have been horsehair, which they used to use in theater seats and, I believe, cars. I priced that stuff and it is $300 a yard. Lebaron Bonney wants $85 a yard for their authentic stuff. At $65 a yard plus the 10% discount, I don't think it's a bad deal, considering you get the closest appearance to the original pattern (at least in my opinion) and what seems like good durability. I didn't want to use fabric intended for a nice settee in grandma's parlor in my Plymouth. I only want to do this upholstery thing once. My only complaint is that it feels a little bit like the material you'd see on patio furniture. But you get the durability (50,000 double-rubs, if you want to get technical), and the close-to-original look. 

[Grdpa's 50 Dodge]

that sounds pretty good.  Glad its coming together for you.

 

I took the ugly red plastic off original upholstery on door panels my grandpa must have done when brand new.

 

Uncovered beautiful new condition covering underneath BUT my backer board is rotten on lower few inches across bottom and wondering IF I can splice onto good part or replace whole board???  Anybody splice one successfully???

 

Glad your sewing machine and skills are all honed up,,,I need some practice also,,,think I will just find some grey cloth that will be tough as nails.  My folks, in many years ago, have recovered alot of items so hope its in the genes.  have only one still here and blind and immobile doesnt do much for assistance

 

The upholstery needle and thread should help you immensely,,,good luck.

 

Anybody needing MORE seat padding as in foam rubber,,,much can be had for free.  Check your local curbs and craigs list for throw away couches and chairs,,,unzip the cushions and tons of free foam for the taking.  Use a sawsall to garbage can the rest!!!

[builtfercomfort]

That Craigslist tip also works for free furniture-grade leather from the backs of leather couches.

[Joe Flanagan]

I used eighth inch masonite for my backer boards. I suppose you could peel the material back far enough to expose the bad stuff, cut it, and glue in a piece of masonite. But that might be as much work as doing a new door panel from scratch, when all is said and done. The stainless trim strips, if you have them, get pretty tricky.

[casper50]

http://www.perfectfit.com/15347/154533/Chipboard-Car-Panelboard/Black-Treated-Waterproof-Panelboard.html

[greg g]

Are you planning to do the door panels in the same or different material. I got some stuff from the clearance bin at the local fabric shop (I believe its called whip cord) and for my buzzy coupe for the seat and door panels used just under 9 yards. Are you using pattern? We made our own using paper then cut the fabric to match. Don't forget include a generous seam allowance 1/3 inch where you pieces meet up. Good luck. I just remembered I used the same material to do the package shelf and a bit down the trunk bulkhead so your measurement for total needed is probably OK.

Edited April 5, 2014 by greg g

[48ply1stcar]

Joe

 

Pictures, Pictures, Pictures.  Let's see your progress. 

[Joe Flanagan]

I've already done the door panels. They were not the same material as the seats, originally--assuming, that is, that the interior had never been changed from its original configuration. Everything looked original to me when I took it all apart. So I reproduced the door panels as closely as I could. I wound up using a material that is something like tan suede. I also re-used the two stainless trim strips that separate the door panels into sections, and THAT was a job and a half. Young Ed has a post about that somewhere on the forum. 

The seat material is a tan/beige stripe, fairly close to what was there originally. I also used brown paper to trace out the patterns and transferred them to the material. So far, I have only done a mockup of the back seat upholstery--just to see if this was something I could even do. It turned out pretty well after two or so tries. I just got a bunch of junk fabric from the fabric store and started practicing with it. I did the arm rests, too, so I know I can do those with the actual material. The material should arrive this week, so I'll be starting at it on the weekend, I think. I will post pics as  I go.

 

Joe

Edited April 8, 2014 by Joe Flanagan

[Dan Hiebert]

The original material was "mohair" (wool) wasn't it? 

[Joe Flanagan]

It sure feels like wool, Dan. It was pretty tough material. 

[Chester Brzostowski]

Joe,

 

You have been working on this car for quite a while.  I am glad you are coming to the home stretch.  Once the upholstery is done the car starts to take on a different feel.  Moving from project to driver is really a good feeling the only bad part is, you find that you have a lot of spare time on weekends.  Don't worry about that because the wife has a to-do-list that is 6 years long.

 

When you get a chance pictures would be good.

 

Congrads, Chet...

[Joe Flanagan]

Yeah, Chet, the interior is almost completely finished and it is a completely different feel. It's possible I'll be driving this car before the summer is out. There are lots of little items that need to be addressed, so I don't think I'll be sitting around with  nothing to do. Plus, I have my other antique vehicle that needs work, so that will keep me busy. And yes, there are all those little household things that never seem to go away. 

I'll take some pictures over the weekend and post them here.

 

Joe

[Joe Flanagan]

I spent yesterday and today doing the back seat back rest and the arm rests for my Plymouth. Here's how it turned out:

 

 

 

 

I never posted pics of how my door panels turned out, so here are a couple of those:

 

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Tomorrow I'll start on the back seat bottom but first I have to figure out how the pieces are shaped. I managed to salvage some of the original upholstery but what I have is so far gone that it's hard to tell how it all went together. If anyone has pictures of a back seat bottom that show how the pieces of upholstery are shaped, I'd like to see them. 

The seat bottom was very mushy. The springs seemed to go every which way whenever pressure was applied to them. I used zip ties to tie all the springs together. Each spring got 4 ties around the top, tying it to adjacent springs. I did the same thing at the middle of each spring, too, since they're kind of long (top to bottom) and they seemed to want to go sideways when compressed. In addition to that, I stuffed all the springs with foam rubber. As someone suggested in this thread, I found an old sofa someone had put out on the street and claimed the foam inside the cushions. This stuff is expensive if you buy it new:

 

Edited April 13, 2014 by Joe Flanagan

[Johnny S]

Joe, here are the ones I have on hand at the moment.    Rear seat of a P18 Club Coupe.   

[derek_m]

Looking good!

[Don Coatney]

Joe;

If I drove my car to your place and dropped it off how long would it take you to re-new my upholstery?

[sbright66]

Looks Great, Nice Work!!!

 

 

Steve

[Joe Flanagan]

John, thanks for posting the pictures. Last night I found a picture I'd taken of another P-18 seat and that told me what I need to know.

Don, I hate doing this kind of work. The only thing that keeps me moving forward is knowing I'm getting close to actually driving the car.