Reupholstery 101

Ok, so who has any experience?

I'm curious about maybe changing out some of the things on my alltrac (maybe...) to like a black or OEM like gray to get things looking up to date.

Some of things are like the arm rest, inserts in the doorpanels, etc.

So...who's got any experience on a proper how-to? Links?

I found this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Y3ObPvZ2ls

To get a basic idea on how to do a simple job using staples, doing the straight sides first, and how to smoothen out corners.

I'm going to do my homework on this before attempting it, but just curious also if the cost into just getting started would be way too much to be worth it (as some people who wants to paint their own car or start powder coating find out heh).

Bryan

lots of information out there.
seats = remove hog pins, unstich, use cloth as patterns, restich etc
panels = upholstery glue or good industrial glue, heat gub, patterns, hammer, thin foam, apply

my friend did his whole car. He also bought an industrial sewing machine as well as a standard one is too weak to stich through thicker material

I guess I should be more specific.

Really looking on just basic how to's for wrapping, like arm rests, door panel areas, etc, like what you see in the vid.

There's a lot of info out there, but there's a lot of bullshit out there too, and I just was curious if there's a good site that was good to use or follow for some basic instructions.

Just was curious is all! Not sure if I'm going to even do anything.

Bryan

Start easy on the whole reupholstry thing. Easiest thing to start off with is a centre arm rest.
Basically you are re-upholstering a cushion. Vinyl or cloth, both require different techniques as the material stretches differently.

here are some easy tuts
http://www.rx7club.com/showthread.php?t=873429
http://forums.corvetteforum.com/c5-gene ... mrest.html
http://www.clubcivic.com/board/showthread.php?t=188513

A good way to practice is doing seats from the junkyard start using cloth because leather has a steep learning curve and is much harder to sew requiring special needles to do correctly. My family has been upholstering since around 1900 so i have some cool machines to use but if your just getting started check out consignment shops or good will for sewing machines on the cheap. If you are looking to get serious about it invest in a older machine ones made by pfaff and singer are top notch and the older ones are built like tanks. Also having a staple gun on an air compressor is a much better choice than a hand gun because air gun will always put the staple in fully and is more reliable.

Why not just change the color if the leather is in decent shape? My how to on this is posted on here.