Just thought id post up what I've done. My interior was quite a mess with the seats havein rather a lot of rips on bolsters. I thought id try my hand at giving my seats a retrim.This is the first time I've done something like this and quite happy with the outcome

So what I've done, i wanted to keep the centre material as i didnt want full leather seats. I have retrimmed the bolsters replaced foam and i have taken out the headrest as i like the look.

Anyway here is a pic of one of the seats before and after. More to come.

Edited 5 October, 201015 yr by mk2moo

TBH Mate for a first attempt that certainly isnt too shabby. Good effort

i thought id try it out, its not as hard as people make out to be, just gotta take time. Only way to learn really is to try it:)

Good job, nice one. :)

looks good mate nice one for giving it ago

Any chance of a DIY showing what steps you followed etc?

cheers guys, finishing off my second seat today will get pic later with them in the car :)

tbh i looked over google at how the best to do it, all i did was take out the pieces i wanted to replace, stuck them onto the back of the new material, cut out the shape and then used the old material holes as a template. I must add i have hand sewn these for this try as my mums sewing machine has broken.thats why has taken longer.

Look's good i must admit.

Retrimming is easy, doing it well is the difficult part and I'd say you've done a smart job there, especially since you've had the patience to hand-sew it all. Almost finished retrimming the seats on mine but I've been fannying about with other stuff so I've not finished yet. Keep hold of your head restraints just in case you want to replace them at a later date.

Looks like a pretty tidy job

Been thinking of doing my mk3 seats in full leather but am worried that the middle bits will just go baggy and look crap - most proper leather seats seem to have sort of striped indents going across it which probably stop that. If I knew I could get it tight and to stay tight then I'd definitely do it.

fair play for putting the effort in fella!

Its a skill and not that easy!

Looks great

cheers guys, was hoping for positive feedback. yeah i will be keeping the headrests and doing them to match but going to keep them off for a while as i quite like the look. I am glad i have been patient with them, as they look a lot better and not ripped everywhere.

Think if you feel confident in sewing, have the patients, and want your seats to have a new lease of life just try it. if you use stencil from old material then thats the first step done. if your worried about the leather stretching then bring the cotton in a few mm and use the natural stretchiness of the leather.

Cheers for the feedback,

Liam

as a note to anyone going to do this - dont use a sewing machine not designed to take leather - your mum will be well pissed off when you bend the needle n bugger her machine up lol.

there are certain types of machine that can sew leather.

good effort pal - i did exactly the same when i retrimmed my old escort seats - just used the old bits as the templates! keeping a steady hand is the hard bit

Edited 4 September, 201016 yr by youngprodigys

both seats are now finished:

i am now working on dropping the car, rear sus is on and set to 60mm drop, front will be on 80. Also put my 13 x 7 wellers on with 155 70 13 tyres. will go for a lower profile tyre like 165 55 13 soon but needed to get them on as i sold my clio. I've rolled and pulled out one of the arches so far. got a good 1.5 cm space there now. pics below.

Love what you have done with the seats mate it looks spot on how long did they take to do? Wheels look better to

seats took me about a day each one, cuz was first time done it and i hand stitched them. the wheels are not staying black they gotta be cleaned up and that, but need to get them on for now.

seats took me about a day each one, cuz was first time done it and i hand stitched them. the wheels are not staying black they gotta be cleaned up and that, but need to get them on for now.

Yet done a good job if it's you first time but I don't think I would dare try it on mine just incase I fucked up haha

small update, front and rear suspension done. Wellers on but i need wider tyres, so i can do more arch work. The speedo has stopped working so need to source one. Put roof bars on and put rear seats etc back in. The rear needs to come up a bit to level it more.

few pics: