Making your own upholstery! (Barn Find Opel GT)

So, being the cheap bastige that I am, I decided that nearly $400 for a pair of seat covers/real upholstery, was just too much for my Barn Find, I decided to do the next worse thing. (I already put on some cheap seat covers and the looked like crap!)

Being a bit industrious, I decided to make my own upholstery. I had done it once before with mixed results, and I figured a few years and some experience might pay off. So I gave it a shot.

First, I am not stupid (debatable). I waited until I could get an old set upholstery set to use as a pattern. I didn't want to dismember my OK seats and have nothing but crap if I failed. So I found someone scrapping a GT and traded a water pump for the seat upholstery. It was rough, but in good enough shape to use as a pattern.

I found some quality upholstery, upholstery thread, and batting for the centers. MUCH work to carefully split all the seams, careful tracing and work, and I had some decent pieces. I used a standard sewing machine, and worked carefully.


No photos of the process, but the bottom done, and it looks pretty good.



Comparison of the old top, and new bottom.



A couple of the steps in making the matting and sewing up the center sections to approximate the original look.


6 hours of work later, and I have one seat done. The rear.


And the front. I used velcro strips instead of zippers. I hope it holds OK. If not, I might add a couple of snaps in the stress points.

Next, stripping off the old seat and trying on the new clothes!

Jim

PS: If there is any interest, I will photo shoot the second seat.

Man, that is neat. Yes, pix please. I did this to my '50 merc in 1972 but I didn't even have a pattern and I did rolls and pleats. What a job. It was a 5 footer tho. I had never sewed a stitch in my life and never have since, just buttons I feel for ya.
Mike

Nice work. As a cheapo myself I always try doing things to save a buck. So, if I sent you my Tbird leather/cloth seat upholstery you can duplicate them.....right?

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First one done, sort of. Details to follow.

Jim

Mike

WOW...looks great! When I did my 36 Chevy back in 1987 I took a class at a local fabric store. The class was suppose to be for recovering furniture. I called and asked if I could bring in my car seats and thought it would be great. So after 2 8-week sessions (2 hours a week) I had both fronts, back bench, all the door panels, kick panels and back panels done. The material was cloth, 2 tone burgendy and grey. I still see the car at local shows and the seats still look great after 30 plus years.
You can save a ton of $$ doing it yourself plus if the car is just doing to be a driver why dump a ton into seat cover.