If there is a desire to drag the car seats, then it is not necessary to go to a specialized salon, you can solve the problem yourself. This way you can update appearance interior, give it an original style and remove worn seats. To perform this work, it is not necessary to have a sewing education, it is enough to have enough patience and desire. The work of changing the skin cannot be called difficult, but at the same time it is quite painstaking.
Materials and tools:
- Perforated eco-leather (beige used) 2.5 m
- Eco-leather without perforation (beige used) 1.5 m
- Artificial leather (used in black) 3.5 m
Note: you should choose special leather for the car, it is designed for temperature changes, and is also resistant to fading. Furniture leatherette is not suitable due to the fact that it is not adapted to the conditions of the car, but is only suitable for apartment conditions.
- Foam rubber thin thickness 0.5 cm (for gluing leather parts)
- Furniture glue
- Sewing machine
- Skin needles No. 90 or 100
- Threads for sewing leather (ordinary threads are not suitable, they are suitable marked Extra Strong or for shoes) three 200-meter spools
- Adhesive interlining 3-5 m
- Machine oil
Step one. Material preparation.
All available foam rubber was glued with interlining using an iron. This procedure is required so that during operation the foam rubber can withstand the load on it and does not crumble. An additional benefit of interlining is to facilitate the sliding of foam rubber when sewing.
Step two. Seat preparation.
For convenience, the seats are removed from the car. Next, you need to remove all the old trim.
Step three. Markup.
At first glance, looking at the case, everything seems pretty clear. But when the old case is cut into parts, it will be very easy to get confused. Therefore, the author, armed with a marker, numbers each part of the cover. In order to remember which number corresponds to what, the author drew a diagram of each seat with backs on a piece of paper, and numbered the details of the cover. Using the numbering on the details of the skin, and the sheet will now be impossible to get confused.
Step four. Spokes.
On the inside of the cover there are pockets with knitting needles. Since they will be required for the updated cover, they had to be pulled out and put aside for now. The location of the spokes was also marked on the paper diagram.
Step five. Pattern preparation.
After all the preparations, you can open the covers, the seam allowances are cut off. So, the patterns for the new skin look like.
Step six. Open.
Each detail was transferred to leatherette. In order not to get details in a mirror image, they are applied to the wrong side of the material with the wrong side up.
Step seven. Seam allowances.
From all the necessary sides, the author made allowances for seams 1 cm in size. All parts are also numbered.
Step eight. Tenderloin.
All prepared parts of the cover are checked again, after which they are cut out.
Step eight. Parts kit.
Thus, the author received a complete set of parts for covers. In the photo, you can see backseat, the back and front seats are performed in the same way.
Step nine. Glue.
As mentioned at the beginning of the article, leather parts require sizing with foam rubber. The author needed to do this work only with beige, since the black leather was already glued when buying. The glue was applied with a rubber spatula and a brush. Before the main sizing, the author practiced on scraps.
Step ten. Features of gluing and spokes.
When gluing perforated eco-leather with foam rubber, the glue began to seep into the holes. Therefore, the author decided to glue the inside out first with interlining, and then glue foam rubber to it. The overall picture looked like this: leather, non-woven fabric on it, foam rubber on top of it, and then non-woven fabric again.
After the parts had dried, it was possible to start cutting them out and start sewing. Starting with the central details, we marked out the lines.
Knitting needles were attached from the inside, and their future location was noted by referring to the drawn diagram. For the knitting needles, strips were cut from the fabric of the long knitting needles. Having folded the fabric along the knitting needle, sewed the necessary details to the wrong side.
Step eleven. Lines.
Decorative stitches were made with a sewing machine, while the front side of the material was oiled to better move the foot along it.
Step twelve. Assembly of parts.
When all the details were ready, it was time to start assembling. All elements of the cover were sewn into one, referring to the drawn diagram. All the details were sharpened one by one.
Step thirteen. Clothespins.
Clothespins can be very helpful when working with a sewing machine. With them, the author connected the details for even sewing, their advantage is that they do not leave marks on the material.
Step fourteen. Appearance.
After sewing machine you need to cut off the excess foam.
Dear friends! We very often receive questions about how to independently replace factory seat covers, which are already frayed, with new ones. That is why we decided to publish a few tips with which the replacement procedure will be greatly facilitated. In fact, most of the questions disappear after removing the old cover, when you get a visual understanding of how to reupholster the seat upholstery.
1. If you don’t have a garage or a dry and comfortable room for this type of work, it’s possible to replace the upholstery in the apartment, you won’t need a lot of space, of course, if you don’t take on the entire interior at a time. So let's start with the front seats. We remove the seat and disassemble them into three parts: the seat, back and headrest. To better understand the principle of operation, start with the simplest, with the head restraints, remove the old trim and pull on the new one (see photo No. 1)
2. After you have removed the old cover, you will see that the cover (sheathing) is fixed with special metal hooks to the seat frames. From the back of the back, they are located below. To speed things up and simplify it, instead of hooks, you can take plastic clamps or otherwise they are called nylon ties (see photos No. 2, 3 and 4)
3. To shape the skin, they use special metal knitting needles, they must be removed from the standard kit, because. They don't come with new ones. (see photo #5)
4. There is still a moment that cannot be ignored! If the service life of the old seats is already long, most likely the foam rubber under the covers is not in the best condition. If it is not possible to buy new foam rubber for both front seats at once, replace at least the driver’s seat, or at least swap it with the passenger seat (they are interchangeable, see photo No. 6), as a rule, the driver wears out more. If you still didn’t want to replace the foam rubber, the advice is as follows: When we put on a metal knitting needle, leave a little space on each edge, approximately 3 cm. That is, the sheathing is fixed in 3 places, if you indent a few cm, then there will be a mount knitting needle to knitting needle, but only from the middle part through the material.
5. Let's go back to the problem with the old foam rubber. If you are unable to replace it, we advise you not to install vertical spokes on the seats (see photo), dismantle them marked in the photo.
6. We change the rear cover almost according to the same principle. We insert already removed knitting needles from old upholstery into a new cover and fix the fabric. The type of attachment will depend on which model of car. On some cars, rubber laces or metal hooks already known to us, etc., can be used as fasteners.
7. It is extremely rare, but it happens that after replacing old covers with new ones, in some places there may be insignificant and practically invisible dents. In order to eliminate this and make everything perfectly even, you need to iron the surface with a steamer (see photo No. 8)
8. By the way, do not forget that reupholstering the seats is the most convenient time to jointly install or replace seat heating, clean the lower parts of the frames / skids from rust, and also, if all the seats are removed at once, you can clean the ceiling, it will be more convenient.
On the surface, it seems that this process will take you a lot of time and it is very difficult, but if you have a positive attitude, then you can handle it in five to six hours of work. And then what a pleasant feeling you get from driving in an updated cabin
In previous articles "Do-it-yourself leather steering wheel" and "Do-it-yourself steering wheel heating" we reviewed the first steps of updating the interior of the cabin. In this article « » I will continue a selection of instructions on the topic " Do-it-yourself interior tuning ».
Even if your car has an ideal appearance and good technical condition, and inside the car will have a shabby look, then the overall impression will not be the most positive and your car will be perceived as second-rate and, frankly, staying in an elephant of such a car will not be pleasant.
Do-it-yourself seat upholstery
First, decide what fabric or leather you will use for the upholstery of the seats (the most common fabrics are velor, suede, eco or natural leather and alcantara) and its colors, then everyone chooses according to their financial capabilities, it will not be a secret to anyone that leather will be the most expensive and most practical material. You can also combine materials and colors (For example: black leather with a beige fabric insert in the middle). But keep in mind that the process of hauling with one type of material and color is much easier.
Also consider the fact that do-it-yourself upholstery of car seats will take more than one day of your time.
In order to get started, you will need the following materials and tools:
- Sewing machine
- Large and sharp sewing scissors
- Gel pen, marker
- Foam rubber about 5 mm thick
- Glue aerosol in cans
- Selected type of fabric and thread
In order to get started and drag the car seat, you need to perform the following preparatory robots:
- It is necessary to remove the seat from the car, use "Manual for the repair and operation of the car"
- On each element of the old car seat cover, make marks with a marker and if the hauling will consist of several colors (types) of fabrics, you must indicate what material you will use for each element.
do-it-yourself seat upholstery photo 1
- Then you need to pull off the old covers from the seats, in order to remove them, open the metal brackets that are located in the back of the seats.
- Now you need to measure the removed covers and calculate the required amount of material for the upholstery of the seats. The resulting result must be increased by 30%, this eliminates errors in the sewing of the material.
Step-by-step instruction
First, make patterns for all the elements of the new cover, for this we take the old pieces of the cover and apply it to the new fabric and circle them with a gel pen and cut them out with scissors. Important: If you use Alcantara, make sure that when combined on all elements of the pile, it lies in the same direction.
do-it-yourself seat upholstery photo 2
Then all the elements that you cut out for the new cover need to be strengthened, for this you need to cut out and glue the foam rubber with glue to the back of the fabric.
do-it-yourself seat upholstery photo 3
do-it-yourself seat upholstery photo 4
Now it is necessary to glue all the lapels of the seams, and cut off the excess pieces of fabric and foam rubber, at the final stage we degrease all the lapels and glue them together.
After the glue has completely dried, it is required to beat off all the seams, this is very simple procedure, which is performed with an ordinary hammer.
do-it-yourself seat upholstery photo 5
When all of the above items are completed, you need to flash all the lapels with a double finishing stitch.
do-it-yourself seat upholstery photo 6
Final stage
To properly put on car seat covers, you must follow a certain sequence:
It is necessary to turn out the covers, you need to start pulling from the back of the car seat.
The process of pulling on a new cover is quite simple, you need to fix the cover with special clamps to the knitting needles intended for this, then continue to gently stretch the cover along the contour of the chair.
If the seats are upholstered with genuine leather, then before starting to put on the cover, it must be well heated with a hairdryer, after which it is put on the seat. After the cover is dressed, you need to steam it with an iron through a wet cloth.
In the end, it remains only to clean the surface of glue stains and fingerprints and install the constricted seats back into the car.
Any tuning project, and especially one related to car upholstery, requires partial or complete disassembly. This is not always an easy task - there are plenty of cunning fasteners in the car interior. But extensive experience in car tuning tells the master where a piston, self-tapping screw or screw can hide under the car interior trim. The car seats are bolted through skids to the floor. In order to remove the seat with your own hands, just unscrew the four bolts and open the electrical connectors.
01. We pulled the seat out of the passenger compartment and put it on the table to make it more convenient to plan the location of the leather and Alcantara fragments on the seat constriction cover. The seamstresses marked with a marker, signed each panel of the cover with the name of the material from which it will be cut.
02. In order to remove the cover from the seat frame, strong hands are needed. In the places of division into fragments (in the corners of the adjoining skin panels) on the back and “seat”, the cover is attracted to the pillow frames with steel rings. The design of the draws is different, but in any case, the polyurethane of the pillow is strongly springy and holds the cover.
03. The removed cover of the seat upholstery passes into the hands of a cutter, a specialist in upholstery of the car interior. The master rips the cover into separate panels - prepares for transfer to new materials.
04. For example, an Alcantara part planned for a seat upholstery is laid out on a table and pressed against the Alcantara with weights. It is outlined with a gel pen along the contour and is marked with short notches along the perimeter to match the flaps. Alcantara, like leather, is easily cut with tailor's scissors.
There is one very important task in the process of cutting Alcantara car interior trim parts. Alcantara is similar to suede and has a short pile. This pile is directed in one direction. Guess that the direction of the pile must be taken into account in cutting? An error in the direction of the pile will look like a difference in the hue and tone of the braided part.
05. Seat upholstery and some other details of the upholstery of the car's interior cannot do without reinforcing leather and Alcantara with fabric-based foam rubber. The cut leather and alcantara parts of the seat covers are glued to the foam rubber (from the foam rubber side, not the fabric side) using glue in a spray can. It is impossible to smear foam rubber for seat upholstery with a brush - you can ruin the part with your own hands: the glue goes deep into the pores and, when squeezed, glues the internal structure of the foam rubber. Simply put, the foam will not return to its original position.
06. The panels of the cover for the upholstery of the seats glued onto the foam rubber are sewn together. When stitching, you need to carefully align the marks on the edges of the parts.
07. The next operation is gluing the seam lapels apart from the wrong side of the seat covers. The question is what to glue to what? First, we cut off the strips of foam rubber that remained near the lapels in order to clean the lapels of Alcantara and leather for gluing. Then, we part the lapels of the leather and Alcantara to the sides and press them to the foam rubber. Important point upholstery of the car interior - beating off the seams of Alcantara and leather on foam rubber. Plyom seams with an ordinary hammer.
08. Now the lapels are sewn with a double finishing stitch. The free edges behind the stitching thread are not cut off - this will not be noticeable under the foam rubber. You can cut the edges with your own hands along the edge of the cover part.
09. The stitched seat cover is turned inside out and straightened out. Pulling and fixing the cover on the seat frame is not an easy task. Especially the back cover - it has a closed shape and you have to work in cramped conditions.
10. The cover of the “seat” of the seat constriction also has its own troubles. First, the cover is laid out on the seat cushion, and then it must be pulled to the frame. Plastic clamps are used to tighten the seat cover in the middle. The clamps are threaded through the pillow into special holes in the same way as it was on the native design. On the cover, the collar clings to a knitting needle, sheathed with fabric and sewn to the cover from the inside. The edges of the cover are pulled onto the seat frame along the contour. Behind the native plastic bracket sewn to the cover (opened from the native seat), from the sides and in front for notches in the seat frame.
11. The upholstery of the car interior always ends with drying and steaming of the tightened parts. Seat covers are heated with a stream of hot air from a hair dryer - the skin, drying out, stretches like a drum. All seats are ironed with steam through a cloth. After these procedures, the upholstery of the seats becomes absolutely smooth, as if made of solid material. I think that these operations can be done by everyone with their own hands.
A clean and well-groomed car interior is, one might say, the "face" of its owner. Tell me, who doesn’t like to sit in a fairly tidy car interior, on clean and beautiful seats?
And in order to tune up the salon, which is not the first "freshness", you will need to reupholster the seats of your car. Updating the seat cover can naturally be entrusted to professionals in their field. But in case, if you dare to do it yourself, you will even save cash. For this business, you will need a sewing machine, since the work will be based on it, and the ability to cut blanks for directly sewing "clothes" for your car. Remember that the process of sewing car seat covers will not be easy, as it is quite laborious.
Materialfor upholstery of car seats
First of all, you will need to decide on the choice of material from which the covers will be sewn. It can be leather, velor, suede, etc. It is recommended to choose the color of the material for the upholstery of the car interior. But, if you want something else, in this case, you can choose color scheme to your taste. It will be much easier to sheathe the seats of your car with a material of the same color. But, the combination of several shades at once will definitely make your salon more fashionable and exclusive. Everyone is well aware that the leather interior gives the most solidity to any car. Although it is expensive for its price, it will serve you for a long time and with quality. True, there is one, one might say, a drawback. In hot weather, the skin heats up high temperature and sunlight, so it can create some discomfort when you are directly in the cabin. A universal option has always been and is the option of trimming the interior with velor, or Alcantara. These materials have long been liked by many car owners. Both velor and alcantara are good in terms of their performance properties and, on top of that, they are quite economical in price.
Processdo-it-yourself car dealership banners
So, tune in to the process, because it will not be easy and it will take a lot of time. In this case, the main thing is not to rush and accurately follow the instructions step by step.
First you need to do preparatory work. Let's start by removing the seats. They are known to be fastened with four bolts. Disconnect the negative battery terminal and disconnect the electrical wiring terminals if your car has them, that is, it could be heated seats. Sign all parts of the old cover, you can also indicate the type of material that will be used in this place. Next, you will need to remove the stock seat covers. In order to do this neatly and without problems, simply bend the metal clips on the back of the seat. Cut the old cover exactly at the seams, as they will serve you as a sketch directly for the patterns of new seat covers. When you outline the patterns on the new material on the old covers, be sure to step back another 5-7 mm before you start cutting them.
Processmaking new cases
In order to start making covers, you will need some tools: a marker, scissors, a sewing machine, glue in a spray can, a hammer and foam rubber, which is approximately 2-3 cm thick.
So let's start our creative process. First of all, you need to attach the old covers to the fabric from which the new covers will be sewn, securing it with weights. This is necessary so that nothing moves from the originally set place. With a marker, carefully circle the old cover with a thin line and then cut out a new cover, departing from the line by 2-3 cm. side on all the patterns you created.
To improve the quality of covers made of leather, or ancaltara, you will need to glue foam rubber to the material. This is done with the help of glue, which must be applied not with a brush, but with a can.
The next thing you will need to do is to sew all the created patterns for new cases. This must be done slowly, sewing machine.
After you have sewn all these patches, you need to glue the lapels of the seams. First, cut off all the excess pieces of foam rubber and material, and then, after degreasing and cleaning the lapels of the seams, glue them together. Further, as the glue dries, you will need to beat them off with a hammer. Lapels are recommended to be sewn with a double line, and it is not necessary to trim the free edges that go beyond the edges of the line.
Howcorrectly put on the seat cover
Before installing a new car seat cover, you need to make straps. To do this, the covers must be turned inside out and pulled over the seat backs. Next, you need to pull the cover directly on the "seat" itself. This is done easily. Pull the cover to the base of the chair with plastic clamps threaded through special holes and securely fasten it to the knitting needle. In order for the edges to "sat down" evenly along the contour of the seat, they just need to be well stretched.
As for the upholstery of the seats with leather, at the end of the process you need to walk through it with a stream of hot air. Use a hair dryer for this step. It's important not to overheat and end up burning your skin, so be careful not to overdo it. Once the leather
the cover will dry out, it will immediately stretch like a drum. After that, you need to treat each already covered seat with a steam iron and a damp piece of cloth. If you follow these recommendations, then the leather case will take on a fairly smooth look and stretch well.
And last step in the constriction of the seats there will be cleaning of Alcantara or light-colored leather from glue residue, fingerprints.
The car seats drawn by you will serve you for a long time, and most importantly, please you. It will also be possible to make changes to the design during the upholstery process. car seats, and at the same time update the upholstery of the panels, doors and ceiling of your car. Car tuning made by your hands at home will transform your interior and the car as a whole beyond recognition.