Design patterns for interior

[joski]

Question for anyone who knows....

I'm on a search for patterns regarding making new covers for my bucket seats (including re-sponging them too as they have fallen apart! ) and for the rear seats too.

Seeing as I have no money and am fed up with driving around in a 'much needed attention' mini , I've decided to make my own interior instead of waiting to buy things,
but before I start ripping my seats apart I want to find some helpful design patterns and ask for advice or opinions from someone who's done it before.

The door cards I can do as I'll just measure out the size and use mdf or ply, and I'm also gonna build a custom dash, same idea of measurement etc .... ;D

...but I've not been that good on the material/sewing side of things....

So, any help appreciated on where to get patterns with as little or no money at all!

Thanks

Josie

[Deleted]

Hi ya,

Regarding door cards, your best bet is marine ply as it bends.

will send you some plans for making dashboards ect via email

daz

[redman]

hello- havn'ydone much car upholstery, but I used to do chairs and sofas by trade. to get a decent pattern for re-upholstery, remove the old cover, unpick the stitching with a stanley blade, and use the old material as a template. sew it tigether inside out.
hope this helps

[joski]

Thanks for advice.

My buckets are cheap things so the material that's on there is very thin and worn. I hope it comes off alright and in one piece!

What would you advise about the sponge though? Basically from what I can 'feel' is the sponge has broken away from the sides so all you can feel is the metal bar. Would it be worth just stuffing it when the new covers are on or cutting some more sponge out to fit?

Found so far that the actual seat sponge (the bit your butt sits on) was glued to the chair....until I accidently ripped it off

Lastly, Daz, where can I get some marine ply from that isn't gonna cost a bomb? and does that apply to the rear door cards too?

Thanks muchly again,

Josie

[MiniGT5]

Heres a link for the dash

www.niksula.cs.hut.fi/~mdobruck/siililand/mini/diy/alien/dash/dash.html

I also have CAD plans for a custom consoles console if your interested. need to find them though.

I have another dash link somewhere too.

N

[Deleted]

Josie, any builders merchants can do you marine ply, if you get a 8x4 sheet i would think that would be enough to do door and back cards.

ian

[redman]

foam on seats can be repaired with spray contact adhesive. this is also the adhesive that you would use to replace the foam for new. When cutting foam, use either a stanle blade. or a bread knife with a serrated edge. The foam on older seats rubs against the metal frame and springs and so rips. this can be avoided by tying material over the frame first.

[minimole]

made some door cards to day and have to say i am very happy with them, and the is a sense of achive ment with the fact that i did them my self ;D they actually are not the difficult to make.

[minigirls]

my god you lot have a lot to answer for.
Alex has had me gently removing the covers of our old seats today so that she has a template to recover them in flowery material!!! .

mmmm great fun that was NOT .
hope the covering of yours goes ok josie, Alex should be an expert by next weekend

[joski]

Thanks! I think I'm gonna need the luck!

Whoever made these seats before really did a bodge job at it, unless they're just real cheap things!
Not looking forward to removing the very thin material to gain any sort of template at all!

Hope it all goes well for you too, I've still yet to choose the material to cover everything! (want something similar to the 'Equinox' series mini)

Minimole, what did you use to cover your door cards? I was thinking of black vinyl or something. Some people use leather vinyl stuff but I've seen some door cards that are just felt material...although I've always thought that would rip easily?

Will keep posted on progress!

Josie

[joski]

Oh, Redman,
sorry to keep asking questions but what sort of spray adhesive would you suggest?

I still don't know exact state the sponge is underneath but hopefully it wont disintegrate in my hands!

[redman]

no worries- glad to be of help.
you can buy spray adhesive from halfords that is just the same as proper upholstery stuff. it is about a fiver foe a large can.
foam comes in different thicknesses measured in imperial- bear in mind that your foam has probably compacted quite a bit over the years. if it looks orangy (but not tango orange) then it has probably faded from the white grade upholstery foam.
a good odge repair for foam is to stick any rips with the spray glue, and then cover the lot with a couple of layers of dacron (a polyester fibre type roll)- you can buy it from fabric shops.
hope this helps

[MiniGT5]

Found the link I was on about.

www.minifinity.com/index.php?name=UpDownload&req=getit&lid=16

N

[annon]

deary deay me,the orange/tango foam you refer to is apricot, used in chairs and sofas, great if you are watching tv, not good for car, the foam you need is called barstool foam used in all good car seats not cheap ones, covered in 1/2 to 1in blue foam to put the softness in, failing this pluck a goose christmas is comming

[Simon1275mpi]

Cheers folks! Josie's spray adhesive really did the job for sticking in my new sound insulation! ;D