Quilted vinyl seat cover

[cowboysculptor]

Does anybody know how to get that cool ribbed or quilted look in a vinyl seat cover? I've been upholstering my own seats for a while now with pretty good success, but I haven't figured out the quilting. I tried simply running stitching in lines through the leather with quilt batting on the other side, but it didn't give me the fat lines I'm looking for.

This is what I'm talking about:

 

[VonYinzer]

Youre on the right track. You just need a thicker batting. Or you can sew individual sections and then sew them together.

 

[DrJ]

Try 1/4" or 1/2" camping foam to back it up.

 

[hurricane7]

Also, you can buy it already made. Search "pleated vinyl" or "poor man's tuck & roll".

 

[rockcitycafe]

that's most likely a tuck and roll stitch, the way you do it is to get some thin foam and a sheet of fabric as a backing, use some spray adhesive and sandwich the foam between the fabric and your vinyl, then run parallel stitches about 3" apart through it, then take each stitch and fold it over so the fabric is on the outside, then run a stitch about 1/2" from the edge, that's how you get tuck and roll. looks great when you do it right

 

[cowboysculptor]

Thanks! Doesn't sound tough at all. I'll try it with some 1/4" foam instead of batting material. I'm thinking I may not need much of a foam pad between the seat pan and the tuck and roll sandwich, just another 1/2" maybe.

 

[pawn]

they pre make the vinyl tuck and roll for boats, etc. You might have a hard time finding black though. I bought some and made a seat with it for my bike:

http://www.dotheton.com/forum/index.php?topic=19124.0

 

[AlchemyPGH]

if you haven't found anything you like to cover your seat i can offer you some help....
I do auto, motorcycle, and marine upholstery for a living. I have every color and texture of vinyl you can think of, I can stitch the pleats for you (tuck n' roll if thats waht you want) and send you the sewn material you can attatch to your seat.
If you want PM me let me know some details like sizing and pleat width and we can work something out, i will do it as cheaply as possible since its something you are trying to do yourself.

if you figure it out and want to do it yourself just a heads up that 1/4" foam will not give you puffy pleats like most people desire, typically 1/2" foam is used. also if the foam isn't sew foam (has material attached to backside) you must sew an extra piece of material to the back to prevent the stiches from pulling through. any other questions or problems you have trying to do it yourself i'd be glad to help you out with some info.

one more quick thing....use u.v. resistant thread so the sun doesn't deteriorate your work.

 

[VonYinzer]

Listen to everything he says! ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Ive seen his work in person and it is FUCKING BEAUTIFUL!!!!!

 

[Dirty Dan]

Hey Alchemy, lets see some pictures of your work then, this guy sounds pretty excited about what you do!

 

[AlchemyPGH]

Look up Alchemy Upholstery on Facebook.
My Facebook page has more pictures I think.

I'm trying to redo my website which hasn't realy been touched in a year and a half. It's www.alchemyupholstery.com

I am trying to get better at the picture taking most of my jobs aren't documented. I usually get caught up in what I'm doing and do work without taking pictures.

I will have new pictures later this month tho I'm working on a 2 up cafe seat for my BMW R60/5, as well as modifying stock seats of a cb350, cb550, and a KZ 650 into cafe seats. I'll post pictures for those for sure.

 

[Dirty Dan]

I like what I'm seeing on the Facebook page, I'll have to keep you in mind man, I'm about ready to get someone to do the seatpad for my 350Fs fiberglass seat.

 

[pawn]

yeah I "liked" your page, and the work is top notch looking!