Thanks, Alan. I do hate welts, but I'm trying to include as much information as I can about upholstering a seat. I'm trying to do this seat as closely as I can to the original. The next section of the tutorial will be Dusty's tuck and roll 50's style seat and I'm going to use welts with that too because that was how all the seats looked in the 50's. The last version of the seat will have no welting.

Cool. LOL! I like the fact that the final one *kills* the welts. It's cool to see how you install them in an application but, like you, I don't care for them either -- and, especially on outside seams, I think French seams look best.

O.K. We are going to finish up the seat back today. After sewing the front of the seat back together, we sew the perimeter welt all the way around. You will need a welt foot on your sewing machine for this task. I prefer a 1/4" welt foot to sew 5/32" and 4/32" welt cord. To figure out what size welt foot you need, add 3/32" to 1/8" to the diameter size of the welt cord you're sewing, and use the closest welt foot size. I have welt feet from 1/4" all the way up to 3/4" for windlace. Fold the welt in half and find the center of it. Place the center of the welt on the center of the seat front and walk it back to the starting point. You should have about 8 -10" extra. Mark your starting point on the welt and sew the welt all the way around to the other end, being careful to take a 1/2" seam as you go. This does not have to be extermely precise. You should be reasonably close to the center as you pass it, and have pretty much the same amount of welt extra on the far end as you did on the starting end. After the welt is sewed on, sew the top banding together on each end with the side bands and topstitch the seams. Then we have to sew the two short pieces of "J" channel onto the side bands. Then begin sewing the band assembly to the perimeter welt from the starting point all the way around to the other side, being careful to match up your witness marks and notches as you go. The secret to sewing is to lay the two pieces one on top of the other and let the machine pull the work through as it sews. The less you stretch either layer, the better your seams will turn out. After you sew the band assembly on, you're almost done. The only thing left is to sew a listing for a wire around the band assembly. I like to slip the seat cover onto the frame at this point to see if I need to adjust anything. If the top seems loose, I will sew a wider seam while sewing the listing on. You might have to adjust the "J" channel or the bottom listing also. This seat fit fine, just the way it was. The third picture shows the finished sewn seat back. The last picture shows the listing I buy by the roll. You can cut your own listings out of typar (like Tyvek house wrap) or Versare, a softer version of typar, but it's easier for me to just use the pre-made stuff. It's 3" wide and already folded in half.

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This is about as easy a seat there is to put back together. All we have to do is put the wires back in the listings, slip the cover over the foam, attach the "J" channel on each side, and hog ring the top and bottom to the frame. I like to use angled hog ring pliers, but that's a personal preference. You might like straight pliers. The rubber band is there to provide tension to hold a hog ring in place. That way I have both hands free to pull until I need to use the pliers. Here's your finished seat back. Monday or Tuesday I'll start on the bottom seat. I ran out of sew foam, so I'll need to order more which will take a day or two. This whole process took about an hour. You will probably take longer to do the sewing. The total so far is 1 1/2 yards of sew foam $15.00, 3/4 of a yard of fabric, $10.00, 1 1/2 yards of vinyl, $35.00, welt cord and thread, about $5.00. Total $65.00 plus labor. If you have questions, now's the time to ask.

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I tried to hold my comments until you were finished with at least one version of the seat so I wouldn't clutter up the tutorial. But since you asked...

I have just one question - Would you come do that at my house?


Seriously, though - another thread made me think of this question. In this version of the seat, you didn't strip & repaint the frame. Is that ever really necessary? Is that something to even worry about, or is it something that should be done if there's a lot of rust or other problems with the frame?

Second question - Other than the sewing machine and accessories for it (like the welt foot,) what would you say would be the essential tools to complete a project like this? For a person just starting out, what would you say would be the most important tool to buy first? Other than the sewing machine that is...

Dusty: Yes, I will come to your house and show you how to do this. I will not do it for you, but I will teach you how to do it.

To answer your initial question: If you have a sewing machine and a 1/4" welt foot, and hog ring pliers you can do this. When we get a little farther, you will need more than what we used to get this far. Hopefully, I can give you alternatives to the equipment I have at my disposal to do the rest of the tutorial.

Dusty: You are very observant. You asked about the seat frame, and I wanted to save this until later, but....actually, I'm glad you asked. I got this seat from c-boy, and it had been sitting out in the elements ever since he stripped the donor vehicle for his project. ( Dewey: where the heck are the shoulder bolts that hold the seat and back together?) It has a lot of rust starting on the frame, mostly on the lower seat. I will address this problem later on in detail, but I will tell you that ,yes, it is a concern that needs to be dealt with. We will neutralize the rust on the frame and springs. In a normal seat that didn't sit out in the elements, this would probably not be a concern. In this case it is. Stay tuned. Happy Father's Day to all of you!!

Guys: (and Gals) Please don't be afraid to ask questions as this tutorial goes along. I'm sure everyone has a question, and the best way to deal with a question is when you want to ask it. I welcome any and all questions. Don't ever think your question is stupid..........If it helps you, or someone else, It's worth its weight in gold. It's almost unbelievable there's been so few questions so far. I would love anyone with (or without) upholstery experience to put in their 2 cents worth.

BTW......I know how ho-hum the first part of this tutorial is, but...........everything exciting is based on what I've told you so far. You have to crawl before you can walk, and walk before you can run. You have to know and understand the basics first and foremost. After we finish the lower seat, things will really start getting interesting. The next part of this after that will knock your socks off, so please be patient.

Dan,
Since you asked for questions here is a real basic one. what is the purpose of sew foam. I have a 56 Chevy pick up and the seat upholstery does not have any foam on the back of it. I will be trying to do my own work in the near future and I am trying to get as much pre-work information as I can. Thanks David

What a great question! The main job of sew foam is it's there to hold stitching. Most seats have an insert which is stitched, and in order to keep all the areas of the seat looking the same, sew foam is used under all the parts. It also provides support to the fabric. I have seen sew foam in the insert area with just plain fabric on the bolster areas. Perfectly O.K. to do it that way, as is not using sew foam at all if there's no stitching to hold, but the bolster areas were badly worn and the insert area wasn't. I have some pictures of the repair of that particular seat which I'll post tomorrow. The biggest problem with straight fabric right over the seat foam is that the fabric backing grips the foam and causes premature wear to the fabric. The backing on the sew foam allows it to slip a little against the foam on the seat. (When I use the word fabric, I mean cloth, vinyl, leather, suede, ultraleather, ultrasuede, or whatever is on your seat.)

Here is the seat I was talking about. I had to replace the top of the lower seat, and it had sew foam in the middle to hold the stitch lines, but no sew foam in the bolster areas. When I made the new parts, I sewed the bolster areas to sew foam as well. This makes a better, longer wearing seat. It also needed some minor foam repair. To make the foam repair, I took my 12 " foam saw and cut out a rectangular section. Then I cut a block of 2265 extra firm foam and glued it into the opening with blue K-Spray foam blue. (foam has a numbering system. The first two numbers, in this case 22, are the quality of the foam, and the last two, 65, is the density. The higher the first number the better the foam is, the higher the second number is the firmer it is. 20 is considered soft, 35 is medium, 45 is firm, 65 is extra firm, 80 is extra hard.) Then I shaped the foam to match the seat. If I hadn't sewed the bolster areas to sew foam, this foam repair may have shown through a single layer of fabric. This way there was no way it would show through.

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Cool! This was a most informative post, Dan - especially for being so brief!

I love the way you fit and glued the block of foam in and then shaped it ... and I appreciate the info about foam numbers - I guess there's a lot more about foam than the novice suspects.

We'll go into more foam fabrication when we get further along in the seat tutorial.

Time to bump this thread to the top. I know Dan is probably very busy with his business, but I didn't want this thread to get lost in the shuffle.

I also know that I'm not the only one who eagerly awaits the next installment of this fine tutorial.

Thanks, Dusty, and thanks for your very generous contribution to Leader Dogs for the Blind. You are a class act.
I had a two fold problem this week.......my sew foam was back-ordered, and I had 4 little fires to put out. I will continue the tutorial next week, when my sew foam shows up.