[John long]

I was watching the Sid Chavers DVD on upholstering seats tonight and he used glue instead of listing to hold the sculpted seam down. I have always used listing and wire to pull the seam in. Will the glue really give service long term. It sure would be easy but I have to wonder if it would still be holding 5 years from now.

John L

 

[DanTwoLakes]

Sure you can use glue. You can also use listings and wires. You can also use Velcro. All of these are personal preferences and work fine.

You need to make sure that you have the seat cover correctly placed before you glue anything down. The only problem with using glue is that if you ever want to repair, replace, or adjust, you will have a mess, 'cuz the glue doesn't come apart easily.

 

[John long]

Thanks for the reply Dan. Do you have a personal favorite and if so why, if I may ask?

John L

 

[DanTwoLakes]

I am an equal opportunity kind of guy, and I have used all of those methods depending on the situation. My favorite is Velcro, which is how most seats are done these days. The reason is that it is much simpler, produces a better finished product, and it's easy to make adjustments.

The red Corvette seats have listings and wires, the truck seat in the middle was done by gluing down the center insert, and the center groove in the black buckets were done with Velcro.

 

[John long]

And... They all look great! It appears to me that the glue would be the easiest. Especially since this is a rumble seat. No one will ever sit on it except maybe a Grandchild or two. The only reason I can see to use the listing would be for the experience. This the first seat I have made from scratch. Am I correct in thinking you glued the complete insert area instead of just the insert seams as Sid did? Thanks again for you time and trouble.

I will post a picture when I get the foam glued and shaped.

John L

 

[John long]

Here is the basic foam shape. May still have a bit of smoothing to do but now you can see where I am going.

I am also thinking about putting some wind lace around the circumference where it meets the deck lid. Any thoughts?

John L

 

[DanTwoLakes]

Yes, I glued the whole insert area, but the seat was small, and the insert area is only 11" wide.

You won't need any more smoothing to the foam, it's almost perfect. You only need to glue the seat cover along the line where the dip is in the front. I would put some dacron wrap over the front section in front of the glue line, and over the rear section in back of the glue line. The dacron fiberfill wrap lets the seat cover slip so it goes on easier, and adds a little padding under the seat cover to fill out the edges and corners. You can staple the dacron to the wood frame.

Windlace around the perimeter might be a little too big, but some welt around the perimeter of the wood frame will really dress it up and finish it off nicely. Another thing you can use is hidem welt. It comes in a lot of colors to match the fabric you use. Here's what it looks like: CLICK HERE You staple it in the middle, and the staples are hidden. Or, you can make some double welt or sew your own type of trim strip and glue it on.

 

[John long]

Thanks Dan. As always your input is valued and appreciated. I am anxious to start making my patterns. The Adler is crying out " Hey, when is it going to be my turn".

John L.

 

[John long]

I bought a couple of yards of Daycron wrap but ended up not using it. In retrospect, I believe it would have been better to make the band out of 1/4 scrim instead of 1/2 and use the Dacron but I already had the seat sewn before I realized that was going to make it too puffy. At least for my taste. All And all I am pretty pleased with the results. Thank you Dan for your input.

John L

 

[DanTwoLakes]

You should be happy with the results, you did a really nice job on that seat.