Hi guys, seen some 16v seats for sale was think about em for my 6n (8v), if I get em I have a plan for retrimming them, but how strong do the stitches have to be? My mum is an ace fabric worker she's made countless curtain out of some proper heavy materials and douvet sets etc would standard sewing machines b ok to use? Anyone done this??? Cheers

if you mean re trimming in leather i would say your stitches will have to be quite strong and you should use a thickish thread you need to take into consideration the fact that being seats they will encounter a lot of heavy wear. also your stitches will have to be further apart if you are talking about leather as if they are too close together it will basically be like cutting the leather as it is a solid peice rather than normal fabric that is woven and has a mash style structure.

The only reason I know all this is because my mum used to be a seamstress (i think its called) by trade and my girlfriend does a course at uni using a lot of different fabrics.

I am thinking of designin my own form of half leathers, material on bolsters etc and leather(ette) centres, what is a rough price on real leather by the meter? I won't say what my plan actually is but I need 3/4 colours of leather from White to black, (probably White, light grey, charcoal and black) any guesses on my plans

How east is leather/ leatherette to work with?

You have to get speceial material ideally for retrimming, it has a foam backing

I'm not sure on prices, or how leather is to work with, but i know standard leatherette is fairly easy to tear. However, with the foam backing, it mih be more durable

H&S

so would leather be better than the fake shit? (the retrim is going to be patch work esque)

I'd say it would be harder wearing, but i'm not sure what its like to work with tbh. As said, you have to get the proper stuff for a proper finish, but again, i wouldnt know where from or prices. Kit car forums and info might be your best bet for this

H&S

the problem with real leather is that i can have a varying thickness being a natural material but fake leather is made of a type of plastic on a machine and therefore has a uniformed thickness there's a place in Leeds that sells leather for varying uses called yarwood leather although ide say they may be quite expensive

http://www.yarwood.co.uk/home.aspx

there's also somewhere in Dewsbury that sells end of line material as far as i know and if your after a patch work effect this may be easier its only open 9-4 Monday to Friday tho and I'm not 100% where it is its my gf that knows about it although i have been on a saturday

theres a place in skipton that sells full hides i believe but also I'm not sure where that is.

and if you go into Keighley market there's a fabric stall its on the left hand side if you go in by the new entrance they sell fake leather so you can go and see the quality and get a price for it and maybe even order specific colours if you have a chat with them

but overall from what I've heard from my gf your better of paying the extra and you should consider that when using it in your car as leatherette (fake leather) will probably be more sticky than real leather when its warm.

I'm only naming all the places as I'm aware we live in the same town.

lol cheers mate thats awesome site! ill have a look around those places! I've seen some leatherette in the market that looked alright but no where near as good as real leather!

ill tell you what I'm planning, basically i wanted a camo effect (scene i know but it will be different) i also wanted to make my own half leathers, then i remembered a bmx saddle i used to have, combined all the ideas and....bang!! camo leather centers with each colour being a different piece of leather/leatherette sewn together backed with a bit of foam backing!

i could use off cuts but i would need alot of them in the correct colours so I'm probably best buying a couple of square meters of each colour an cutting it myself then gettin my mam to work her magic, then if i have any left ill make me a gear gaiter to tie it in! what you guys reckon?

So I have now got my valver seats so the retrim is on the cards so I'm now thinking of getting the best fake leather I can, patchwork camo the centres but I wanna do somet else with the bolsters any sugestions? Would go leatherette bolsters but I'm thinkin of having my pillars trimmed, an retrimming my cream leather sub in the same patch work camo leatherette! It will be pretty cheap I imagine as me n my mam will do the work I'll cut and shape etc she will do the sewing! What do you reckon, will it be too much or not?

Do it properly imo mate - proper leather :).

you dont want to use fake leather as its basically plastic and can tear more eaisly so I've been told also you should see my headliner you'd love it if your into camo stuff lol

also wudnt it be easier to have camo fabric centres with plain grey leather outers itll be so much easier and have less going on as you dont really want a muddle ide say it was what i was thinking of doing but i reckon I'm just gona go full leather tbh when it happens

Yea I was thinking I will do centre in a nice cloth, any suggestions as to what type? The the outer sections in leather, your right probably would be alot easier! Oh I need my head lining doing what's yours like?

There's a guy on here, not sure of his name, but earlier on in 2009, him and his nan retrimmed his seat ibiza seats.

They were leather outers and a suede/alcantara purple centre.

Someone on here might be able to point you in the right direction.

Dannyboi in his black 6n

leatherette is sold in metres and usually 154 wide. fine to use as long as its upholstery grade and not the thin stuff from a haberdashery shop on the high street!!

it will need to be foam backed but not with standard thin foam!! it needs to be scrim foam

if you do use leather, you cant buy it by the metre, full hides only, although some companies do half hides. a full hide can be anything up to 60 sq ft and up to £300 each hide!! and needs to be sewn together with bonded nylon thread and an industrial sewing machine, a household one isnt man enough I'm a vehicle upholster based in devon, if you need any supplies let me know

martyn

trimminit

07737748553

as far as i am aware you will need an industrial sewing machine, a household one wont cut it!

leatherette works fine, looks great and a fraction of the price! but id advise getting someone to do it!

plus if you use your own material it needs to be fire retardent! last thing u want is to drop a fag n set you are car alight

leatherette is sold in metres and usually 154 wide. fine to use as long as its upholstery grade and not the thin stuff from a haberdashery shop on the high street!!

it will need to be foam backed but not with standard thin foam!! it needs to be scrim foam

if you do use leather, you cant buy it by the metre, full hides only, although some companies do half hides. a full hide can be anything up to 60 sq ft and up to £300 each hide!! and needs to be sewn together with bonded nylon thread and an industrial sewing machine, a household one isnt man enough I'm a vehicle upholster based in devon, if you need any supplies let me know

martyn

trimminit

07737748553

Could you PM me a rough idea on how much it would cost to have some standard Mk3 Polo rears recovered in black leather with a bit of stitching to give it more shapre? Hard to explain what I mean, but a picture counts for a thousand words...

Could do a similar style using stitching on the rears? The way it breaks up and adds style to the seat... just seems a good idea although if it'll look crap then tell me lol...

Could you PM me a rough idea on how much it would cost to have some standard Mk3 Polo rears recovered in black leather with a bit of stitching to give it more shapre? Hard to explain what I mean, but a picture counts for a thousand words...

Could do a similar style using stitching on the rears? The way it breaks up and adds style to the seat... just seems a good idea although if it'll look crap then tell me lol...

PM sent

Could you PM me a rough idea on how much it would cost to have some standard Mk3 Polo rears recovered in black leather with a bit of stitching to give it more shapre? Hard to explain what I mean, but a picture counts for a thousand words...

Could do a similar style using stitching on the rears? The way it breaks up and adds style to the seat... just seems a good idea although if it'll look crap then tell me lol...

PM sent

Appreciated mate :).

i think if you're stitching leather you need a special type of needle, i think its triangle and stops it from splitting