peterw wrote:
Greetings, gents!
Peter aboard, came here to ask for a piece of advice for fixing my upholstery. Previous owner had already fixed it once, but now got some nasty tears on my seats - I have tried seat covers, must admit that I'm not a fan, I don't like how they move around. So I decided that it's time to finally fix them.
I know my dad got a kit (awl, threads etc, something pretty basic - like
this one) for his MGB when he was restoring it. Just seeing if there was something out there for Jeep.
Also I wanted to know if anyone here has actually sewn their own interiors? If so, have you used your own machine or borrowed the use of someones elses? Will one of
these work?
I'm not sure whether I want to go leather or Vinyl or if there are any special technical details I need to adhere to. Are there different grades of leather, ie: thickness or stretchability?
And if so: which is most commonly used and for what reasons?
If you have done - then could you share your own pics?
And yes, I understand that I can just go to the shop. But I don't want to have them upholstered by an upholster.
Welcome!
I have years ago repaired a leather seat in an old Rover (1951) I had. It had a rip ~4" in the drivers seat.
I glued a piece of leather under the rip. It worked for several years while I had the car ( uni student days).
The surface of the leather was worn & the patch reinforced the cushion so when sat on it didnt rip further.
Years later I did some canvas repair on an old camper (25 years old) with a curved needle like the 2 in that kit. I used thread that is used for home built aircraft cloth stitching (I built one 35 years ago). I then sealed the repair with silicone & painted the canvas with flexible paint.
The KJ I am currently driving looks like it may have had a repair to the vinyl door arm rest. It has been done very well, probably with some sort of repair paste.
If you have leather seats, I would be looking around bone yards for another seat.
You could talk to a person who makes leather things (stock whips, saddles etc). Depending on how much leather you need, you may find a leather jacket at a second hand place like a Sallies or similar cheaper than you can buy a piece.
Over here an MGB has vinyl seats. Much easier to repair.
If you need to replace a panel in the seat, it will be near impossible to color match the replacement with the existing leather.
Good luck!