[Keeper]

OKay so today I took a stab at making the cover bench cover. This is my first attempt of doing anything like this so it took most of the day to do the bottom. Hopefully the top will go a little quicker. Not that it matters much!

So here we go:

Transferred the patterns to vinyl:


Cut it all out and transferred the reference marks.


Glued it to foam and cut it out, marked out the pattern and sewed them up (forgot to take a pic) I went with 1 1/8 between pleats.


Then I jumped in and started sewing. This was the easy part. I did not go with any decorative seams as I am not confident enough in my skills to do so. Maybe on the next set.


Next the centers: Starting to look like something now.


Then came the skirt. Next time around I won't center the seam!




SO CLOSE!!! Even with all the reference marks, I some how missed the point......It did not really show up until i started stretching and stapling.


Lots of stapling:


And the finished seat bottom:



All in all I am happy with it. I will do a couple things differently on the next version.

Those that are wondering, the final version of this seat/interior will be a much lighter grey.

Now I just need to do the back.

[DanTwoLakes]

You will drive yourself crazy with all those reference marks. In general, short sections and straight sections do not need reference marks. If you're sewing an 18" piece to an 18" piece you don't need any reference marks. You would use reference marks where seams intersect with straight pieces.

When you have a seam in the center of the front, or the center on top of the seat back that's the place to start and make absolutely sure it is centered before you go very far. In the back, if you had cut the two perimeter pieces longer, and then trimmed them down when you sewed them together, you wouldn't have needed to patch in a piece. All of this is stuff you will learn with experience.

[Keeper]

Thanks. I will keep that in mind about the marks. Everything I have read on here and in the books always seemed to stress using them. So thats why I put them every where!

As for the back, there is a little story on that. I sewed that seam up, attempted a French seam, and hammered it up, so I cut it out. That is why I ended up an inch short in the end. Since it was in the back where no one will ever see it, (well in the car anyway) I patched in the little piece. I need to practice a bunch more on the different seams before attempting them again.

[Keeper]

I continued on with the interior tonight. Screwed it up once, got lucky and repaired it without it showing up in the final product. Here we go:

Laid out the pleats:


Skipped a couple photos!! Here is the main panels sewn together:



After I had these sewn together I put it up next to the base and stared at my mistake, somehow I added the seam allowance in the middle panel twice, so it was an inch to wide, resulting in none of the panels/pleats matching up. I am still scratching my head trying to figure out how I screwed that up!

So I ripped it apart and hoped for the best:


Trimmed the extra off (then went and fixed my template!!):


Then sewed it back up, I moved the pleated panel in 1/8 an inch to cover up the holes from my mistake, I got real lucky this time, all part of the learning curve I guess.

Here is the cover loose over the seat, I need to pick up some listing wire before I can do the final install.



Once I tighten up the cover, the pleats will match right up:


Now to make some door panels, rear panel, and a dash.

[NEW INTERIORS]

SWEET !!!!!

[Keeper]

And finishing the seat:

Added the listing:


Tada:


The back: just bacause


And installed:

[Dana Barlow]

Looks super,ya did great

[butch27]

Man: That is a great "T" bucket seat. Looks too comfortable for a BUCKET.

[Keeper]

Originally Posted by butch27

Man: That is a great "T" bucket seat. Looks too comfortable for a BUCKET.

Thanks Butch!