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Estimating upholstery material amt. for touring car


JFranklin

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I am going to work on a 1924 Knight 5 passenger touring and will be doing tuck & roll pleating on the seats. Is there a formula so I can purchase the right amount? If I measure across the seat. how much extra is needed to build the pleats? Thanks for any info. I am trying to buy for the complete care but will not do the seats yet as they are in fairly good condition and I want to see if I can keep the original intact. I want to buy enough material so I can do the door panels and have the same pattern when I decide to do the seats.

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I'm not exactly sure how big a Knight is, but most touring cars of this period require 6 to 7 hides of leather. If you're talking the hides off the Nauga (vinyl), which I don't recommend, multiply that number times 3 (1 linear yard 54" fabric equals 18 square feet of leather).

On the seam allowance, you can take an original seam apart and measure backing vs material. For someone who's not done upholstery work, my next statement is going to sound questionable, but I assure you it works. If you allow 5/8" (five eighths of an inch) additional cover material for each seam, sewing and fullness allowance, you'll get a nice rounded look when pleats are stuffed.

I recommend leather and cotton batting stuffing. If you're thinking vinyl and foam, it'll never look right, and will negatively impact the value of the car.

Good luck with your project......

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Thanks that is the info I was looking for. The original upholstery is both imitation leather on the doors and backside of the front seat and leather on the seats with a fairly flat long grain pattern like the top material for model A fords. This job will be in black vinyl with cotton batting. I plan to keep the seats since there are no real problems except some stitching needing redone. but I am planning to buy the same material for all. I have access to an upholstery sewing machine and some help by one more knowledgable. This will be my first job other than using a kit. If it ever gets real leather I will let a pro do it. Thanks again. J

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Very difficult to go take apart and re-sew original stitching if leather is brittle.....but it can be done....the extra cost of real leather will be soon forgotten, so consider that...

Feel sad such a nice car will get vinyl upholstery...oh well...the angst of a trimmer..

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A lot of cars did have leather seating surfaces with a vinyl like material for sides and panels, a practice that continues today.

The interesting thing is that the vinyl like material probably cost as much as leather would have during that time......

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I agree, so I make it simple, I don't do vinyl interiors. It's not just that I don't want to do them, vinyl doesn't like me.

I tried to do a custom seat for a good friend, using vinyl he supplied, and I ended up having to take it to another friend who is retired from upholstery work, so he could make it right.

Had it been leather, no problem.....

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