So that's what leather should feel like!

[quickjagg]

Recently I undertook the task of recovering the seats in my 81. I purchased all new foam from corvette central, and new 100% leather seat covers from Willcox. The bottoms were fairly easy once we figured out that it's easiest if you remove some of the foam around the bar so that the person operating the hogring pliers can see the position of the bar attached to the leather. The backs on the other hand didn't fit very well, the cover was too large for the foam, so it left large wrinkles. A friend of my dads who is a professional upholsterer told us to put "Batting",(I'm not sure if that's what my mom said it was called or not) which is cotton padding, underneath the leather to fill up the extra space, which will make a better fit. We did this and it worked perfectly both the bottoms, and the backs had no wrinkles at all, we were extremely pleased with ourselves. Unfortunately when we put them in the plastic frames they wrinkled up REAL bad. Am I correct in assuming that it is because of the 4" foam being larger than the 2"? Is there anything else that could have caused this?

Here are the pics so you can see what I mean:
http://www.villagephotos.com/pubbrowse.asp?selected=135209

For those of you on he edge of deciding wether to do this or not, I'm 20 and these were the first seats I've ever recovered, and they came out fairly nice if I do say so myself. The first seat will be hard to do, the second will be a breeze once you have found a technique that works for you.

Thanks for taking the time to read this!

-Chris

 

[sscam69]

getting a login screen:confused

 

[quickjagg]

Yeah I just noticed that, I think it's fixed now, sorry about that =)

 

[Vette/Berlina-coupe]

Hello Chris: -obviously you forgot to simply rub some of GM's/Leather Sizing-fluid on'em, -to get that "factory look!"... But seriously my friend, they don't look all that far from perfection. I've done some nice work with leather (not a professional upholster though), and discovered that if you fill an old trigger/spray-bottle with water (even mixed with 50%-glycerin) you can achieve some amazing contouring results that should achieve the snug-fit you are after; however, the bad-news is that it is my experience that you will need to accomplish this trick via spraying the backside of the leather where it will soak-in the moisture like a sponge (the front-side being somewhat sealed owing to the so-called tanning-process). If you want to try it from the outside, I would suggest soaking a large turkish-towel with scalding-hot water, and leave it draped thereover for several hours prior to putting out in the hot-sun for several additional hours; -you may find that it has shrunken nicely to the shape of your under-material (foam & cotton)! Hope these helpful-hints stimulate your achieving that final professional looking job, -befitting of your handsome '81C3... -Bob VonHeck in sandiego ca.
:crazy :dance

 

[quickjagg]

re:

Thanks for the suggestion, I was thinking of doing something like that, but was worried that the dye would get water stains or something if I wet them and put them in the sun. Maybe I'll try that this summer, since the sun doesn't come out much in the winter here in maine.

Thanks for the suggestion!

-Chris

 

[MaineShark]

Unrelated question: where abouts in Maine are you from? I don't see many other C3's around up here (although the local NAPA store assures me that there are about half a dozen in the local area - most just stay in garages).

Joe

 

[topless82vette]

quikjagg

when the upholstery shop did the seats in my trans am, he used some kind of a steam machine to to make the leather fit real tight

 

[quickjagg]

re:

I live on Mt. Desert Island, if you don't recognize that name, Bar Harbor might ring a bell =) I only know 4 c3 owners that live down here, but none that are any where close to my age (20). Where are you at? If you're ever in the area on a wendsday stop by Jordan's snack bar I'll probably be there

Thats what I heard works too topless, but I was a little bit worried about something happening to the leather. mb I'll try something like that though.

Thanks for the help guys!

-Chris

 

[MaineShark]

I'm around four hours south of there. I do think I may take a drive up that way, this summer. Depends on work, traffic, and how the Shark is doing.

Joe

 

[quickjagg]

re:

Cool! can't wait to see a different vette around =) let me know before you come down and I'll make the extra effort to be around.

-Chris