[Coodeville]

I've noticed that some people use 1/4 " and others use 1/2 " to make covers. What do you take into consideration to make your choice?

[DanTwoLakes]

It really doesn't matter unless you want some depth to some decorative stitch lines. Most of the OEM stuff is done with 1/4", but that's more to save money. 1/4" is also easier to work with.

[Coodeville]

I'm using 1/2 " on my project because of that reason.

[stumpy1972uk1]

as dan said , i use 1/2" to give my diamonds depthe and firmness , and 1/4" on all other panels for that plush feel. it just depends on what im doing. at the moment im doing a staright pleated centre on a seat so its being done with 1/4" sewfoam. ade

[Coodeville]

So if you choose 1/4 ", will you have to add extra padding to the seat?

[DanTwoLakes]

Most of the time, anything you use will be better than the original, but the only way to know if you need more padding is to put on the seat cover.

[Coodeville]

Originally Posted by DanTwoLakes

Most of the time, anything you use will be better than the original, but the only way to know if you need more padding is to put on the seat cover.

That's just what I thought. How tight should a seat cover be? i've seen some video's where these guys really have to fight to get it on.

[DanTwoLakes]

A seat cover needs to be tight enough to be filled out by the padding without wrinkling. The problem that occurs with seat covers is that some of the original covers didn't fit the seat frames very well, and whoever is making the new seat covers is just copying the old ones.

The seats I'm doing right now are like that. The perimeter pieces on the bottoms of the two front bucket seats were not patterned to make it easy to put the covers back on. They were hard to get off, much less put them back on. I changed the front piece and the two side pieces that go around the perimeter of the seat below the seat top so they will go back together easier. When I get that far I'll take pictures and show you what I mean.

[Coodeville]

This is very interesting information.

[DanTwoLakes]

Remember.......just because it came from the factory that way doesn't mean it's the best way to do it. Sometimes a small modification will help immensely.

[Coodeville]

Originally Posted by DanTwoLakes

Remember.......just because it came from the factory that way doesn't mean it's the best way to do it. Sometimes a small modification will help immensely.

You are right about that. I learned that by dealing with Cadillac ignition systems.

[DanTwoLakes]

Originally Posted by DanTwoLakes

A seat cover needs to be tight enough to be filled out by the padding without wrinkling. The problem that occurs with seat covers is that some of the original covers didn't fit the seat frames very well, and whoever is making the new seat covers is just copying the old ones.

The seats I'm doing right now are like that. The perimeter pieces on the bottoms of the two front bucket seats were not patterned to make it easy to put the covers back on. They were hard to get off, much less put them back on. I changed the front piece and the two side pieces that go around the perimeter of the seat below the seat top so they will go back together easier. When I get that far I'll take pictures and show you what I mean.

Here are the before and after pictures. You can see how pulled in around the bottom of the seat frame the original seat cover is, especially on the right side.

[Cronko]

That seat is really looking nice.
How did you work around the problem with the base being so much smaller than the top of the seat? You don´t happen to have pictures of your work in progress...it´s always so interesting to see how you make things and solve problems.
Did you use listings and wire to pull the vinyl down where the white and blue meet, or did you use some other method?
Awesome work as usual....

[DanTwoLakes]

There are listings on both sides of the inserts on the bucket seat bottom and the bucket seat back. The rear seats don't use listings. I don't have any pictures of the work in process.

The original seat bandings around the perimeter of the top of the seat cover were angled so severely that the vinyl was pulled in dramatically at the bottom. The picture shows the two patterns in question. The original center piece angled down from 15" at the top to 14" at the bottom, 1/2" narrower on each side at the bottom. The side pieces angled in 1/2" more at the bottom. Those original pieces are indicated by the black magic marker lines on the cardboard patterns. The last picture shows how severely angled the two pieces would have been if I would have just copied the originals and sewed them together. The second picture shows the new angle which was also on the right side piece as well. I knew from experience that doing this would give me an extra 2" total at the bottom and would make assembling the seats much easier. One of the tip offs that this was happening was the severe concave shape at the bottom corners of the seat frame, and the fact that the stitching between the front piece and the two side pieces was stretched so tight that the pieces were almost pulling apart from the strain.

[DanTwoLakes]

Here's a better view of what I'm talking about. The first picture is the way the original pieces looked, and the other picture is how they are now. You can see how much higher the side piece is in the first picture, and how it flattens out more in the second picture.