Hot Rod Forum banner

My Learning Project : 1970 Cadillac Seat Cover

2K views 3 replies 3 participants last post by  DanTwoLakes 
#1 · (Edited)
After 6 months of practicing and learning, I've finally put something substantial together. Although this seat cover is not complete yet, I want to bring out what I have learned and what went wrong. I was very lucky in the sense of a rear seat bottom of a 1970 Cadillac to be a pretty simple design.

First thing I did was pick up some cheap vinyl from a local fabric supply. I have no idea if this stuff is can really be used for cars. But for my purposes, it did the job. I have some vinyl laying around from SMS that I gave the upholsterer to fix my other car and boy, did I see a difference. All vinyl is not the same. The SMS vinyl was far superior. It didn't have any crease in it at all and was also thicker. You get what you pay for. The vinyl that I picked up in the neighborhood had crease in it and other imperfections. So the next time it will be SMS or some other reputable automotive fabric dealer.

I was not crazy about the sewfoam I picked up from yourautotrim.com either. I t seems to me that the stuff I picked up on eBay some months ago to practice on was denser and had a better backing.

One mistake I made as well was not accomplishing complete coverage with my K Grip when attaching the vinyl to the sewfoam - hence the air bubbles. When I sprayed my test pieces a few months ago, I was doing it in my backyard and had excellent lighting. The weather has changed and I did it in my poorly lit cellar missing certain areas. The air bubbles where a lot worse. But I managed to loosen the some of the vinyl from the sewfoam and apply more glue. Doing this cured about 80% of my problem. The next time, I'll make sure the lighting is that of sunlight or better. I'm a photographer as well. So I'll be looking for some 1/2000 @ f/22 ISO 400 the next time ( That's a lot of light!) so I can see where I missed.

The 50 mm pulley on my Consew 225 really made a difference as well. I slowed the machine down and gave me more control.

Overall, I think I did a great job up to this point and want to thank this board for all the information I received. And also to Dan, who's help was valuable and got me through all of this. I'm going to continue with the last panel and boxing and will post the final results.Caddy Seat
 

Attachments

See less See more
1
#4 · (Edited)
You are missing the point of gluing the vinyl (or cloth, or leather) to the sew foam. You are only trying to put on enough glue to hold the fabric to the sew foam long enough to trace the pattern on and sew around the perimeter. The glue does not have to hold the two together permanently. Once you stitch around the perimeter of the parts you are working on, the glue's job is done. Your problem is not air bubbles because of of lack of glue it is too much glue to begin with. Of course, the vinyl you are using makes your job a lot harder. Better quality fabric would make your project a lot better and a lot easier. Gluing the fabric to the sew foam should be the easiest part of the whole process, the less glue the better.

That's why I use foam to foam glue instead of contact adhesive to glue the fabric to the sew foam.....it will loosen up over time, and it is easier to take apart if you get a wrinkle and need to loosen the fabric and smooth it out.

You picked the perfect car seat to begin learning on, it is very basic and straightforward.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top