Cloth Bolster Covers - Black

[welshpug 1,657]

Great that your trimmer could do leather bolsters too David, as we all know its not just the cloth that is prone to wear, we will eventually run out of good passenger seats to rob to repair tired driver seats.

 

Have you got as far as finding the matching grey/dark grey (aka black) leathers?

[dch1950 37 1 Cars]

WP - you know me by now surely. Details - the devils in the details. As for seat availability - that's always been a finite resource so things were always going to come to me eventually.

Andy - No - to be honest Paul has only been working with me since end of November last. I probably know more than most about these seats though, so the combination is a good one.

Dave

PS - I prefer to be called Dave.

[309jazzpanda 41]

Right sorry always call them covers when I needed to order them at Renault. What I will have to do is

Get a picture of them for you, its a future idea for now rust Is the enemy at the minute

Edited January 22, 2014 by 309jazzpanda

[Edp 67 3 Cars]

 

PS - I prefer to be called Dave.

 

 

[dch1950 37 1 Cars]

Hi all,

this is the result of last weeks top sew session. Mind you the originals weren't particularly good anyway, and that grey thread to sew the bolster cover seams with - awful.

 

 

 

I have a nice green thread as well. Both Guttermans top sew threads ( Tkt. 10)

I am waiting on the pattern proofs which should be here this week. I just want to re-check the sewing allowance on one of the TB joining seams.

 

Weser - I presume you are looking for an alternative seat insert fabric to use.

Dave

[Weser 30]

Hi Dave, looking good.

 

Weser - I presume you are looking for an alternative seat insert fabric to use.

 

My plan is to try to re-use my insert material. Its not the best but I don't see any other option.

[dch1950 37 1 Cars]

Hi Dave, looking good.

 

 

My plan is to try to re-use my insert material. Its not the best but I don't see any other option.

It's quite difficult to see any of the fabric as most of it's been worn away - could you let me have a picture of the rear seats - they're always in better nick. One of my suppliers does have a few old plain weave fabrics so I was thinking of getting him to have a look for you.

regards

Dave

[Weser 30]

I will get some pictures when I get home tonight. Hopefully the will come up ok in the dark.

 

Be great if your supplier has something, I doubt I am the only person with Phase 1 seat issues.

[dch1950 37 1 Cars]

Hi Andy (weser),

There are some wool weave fabrics for the 205 still available and yours may be among them - I don't know but without a clear jpg it's hard to know. All GTi owners have the same problem - no original material of any kind is available. Seems a contradiction, but of course most GTI fabrics were solely for that model and no other, whereas different fabrics were fitted to the GTI model seats used in other 205's.

I'll have a look anyway. As I said earlier in this thread, the British weaving and textile design industry is on it's arse at the moment and I was always hoping for a more positive response to my requests for fabric replication but people in that industry still want to think that bespoke tailoring is all they want to be associated with - how many people do you know who own a Saville Row suit.

The business model doesn't stand up. They get very sniffy about producing my fabrics for some reason. They'll learn.

regards

Dave

[Weser 30]

Great news if the are still available. I haven't forgotten about the picture its just so dark at the moment when I get home and where the car is stored they will only turn out like the previous pictures due to the flash. Will get a picture at the weekend in the light.

[dch1950 37 1 Cars]

Hi All,

I got the proof patterns today, and for a first attempt they are good. One main problem was around the bolster indent ( the dreaded notch for those of you who remember) along with one or two cosmetic mods, but all in all the profiles are good. This means I can use my hand made initial patterns for the first production batch as they should last OK until I get the production masters NC routed. I want to get the first production batch cut and sewn and on my site shop by the end of this month.

Still a slight niggle with the top sew backing strip - just a production detail but I am going over to see Paul (the trimmer) tomorrow to finally nail it.

I think then I can safely say I can get my cutting table out and get ready to get cramp in my hands cutting the first sets out. I've just got to get my site shop pages sorted and then do a production slip with the details for Paul on numbers, sides, and top sew colour. He is estimating 1 week per batch of 10 full seat sets (front) so I'll use that a basis for production lead times. Been a bloody long journey this one and I freely admit I nearly gave up after my heart trouble in 2012 - but sod it, I won't give in. So to repeat an old catch phrase "Watch this space" (and my site - of course !)

regards to you all

Dave

[dch1950 37 1 Cars]

Hi all,

very productive session sewing this morning - I think we have finally cracked the procedure for the top sewing. A small item that I've spent quite a bit of time on now, getting the actual order of doing things right. I think that one final proof set will confirm everything and we are then set to commence the first production batch of 10 full sets. I will be laying out and cutting by hand until I've agreed a price for NC cutting of orders. Hopefully won't be too long though and it will make things a lot slicker. My original pricing will have to increase slightly and will now settle at TB covers £30 each, and Squabs at £20 each - 2 TB's and 2 SB's (full set) £95. I am going to trim up a seat for display/advertising purposes, next week and will put it on my site gallery to promote the product.

regards

Dave

[mhyphenl 10 1 Cars]

Hi Dave,

 

I'm in the process of moving house and have a full set of seats in half leather with the red weave insert cloth that I need to move on! unfortunately I took the one seat apart to replace the bolsters over two years ago and have no idea how to put it back together properly. With that in mind I have several questions:

 

1. Can you help with advice to put them back on?

2. Can you provide me with two bolsters, one of each side and price?

3. Or are you in the market for purchasing in seats with this material and renovating? (saving me ruining a set of seats on which the material is in really good nick!)

 

Any advice or help would be greatly appreciated!

 

All the best and sorry for the thread hijack!

Martin

[dch1950 37 1 Cars]

Hi Martin - very subtle.

answers to UR questions.

 

1) I wrote a guide on this and so did J_turnell - in the "Articles" section of this site.

 

2) yes if you want - just go to my shop and buy them.

 

3) No thanks - what do I want with old knackered seats

regards

Dave

[mhyphenl 10 1 Cars]

Equally as subtle which is exactly how I like it

Thanks for the tip on the guide that's great, I shall get the bolsters from you on Monday, will they be with me within the week?

[dch1950 37 1 Cars]

Hi all,

I've been going over the rather large amount of information I have acquired/generated relating to the GTi seats over the years. I have a number of sets of patterns for sundry items, headrests, squab vinyl, attachment listings etc. and I've decided to put these on my site download page for a nominal download fee. These are .pdf files which can be tile printed to A4 or A3 and taped together to give you a pattern for the piece in question. A useful aid to a home trimmer or anyone restoring their seats as it will save the trimmer having to do it. Not that they actually do as far as I can see - they just use the bits of the old seats and draw direct on to the new material. Thinking about it I may just zip them into one file - yes that's neater. It will take a couple of days but should be ready for next week.

On the bolster cover front - I do need working patterns fairly quickly so I may be cutting them out by hand. I'll be soft covering my cut out table tomorrow, and ordering in more B09 - but I'd love to know how much the fabric guy is going to charge if I ship the rolls of fabric to him and he cuts them out on his NC table. Data flow - I love it.

The machine grinds onwards -- and progress is good.

regards

Dave

[dch1950 37 1 Cars]

Hi all,

I did some lay ups of the bolster covers in various combinations to verify the amount of (B09) material required. I used a simple layout idea and I knew it wasn't the best or most efficient way to do it. The firm doing the patterns for me also did a comparative 2 seat lay up for me - it was to test them really, but I was pleasantly surprised by the results. I took 4 attempts but they finally came up with this "lay" which is exhibits 75% utilisation and uses 18cms less fabric. May not sound much but once I get into real manufacturing it is significant. I show it here for those interested in these things.

 

The 2 front seat lay - a legend is born

 

regards

Dave

[dch1950 37 1 Cars]

Hi all,

I've not had much success with getting my patterns routed out of 3mm hardboard. The guy doesn't seem to want to quote me for some reason. Can't wait for him so I 've cut a set out by hand using my trusty jig saw - they are near enough in terms of a sewing machinist's accuracy. That means I'll be cutting out the first batch by hand. What a pain - literally - my old busted thumb don't half ache. My dreams of a CAD/CAM world evaporated so quickly. One more trip to see Paul (the trimmer) is required as the method of placing the top seam backing tape wasn't very practical and took too long, so we are trying an industrial tape instead. The top sew is good and I'm happy with it so this really is the last thing to get sorted. Then production commences. I'll be looking to make 10 full seats worth in the first batch - all red top stitched. That will be 10 each of left/right squab and 10 each of L/R thigh bolster covers. I obviously would like to make to order to avoid stock sitting around but equally I'm not over keen on the book and place a deposit either (my original thought). Maybe I'll just put them on my site and let it rip.

best regards

Dave

[Tom Fenton 1,541]

Dave, you could try a water jet cutter, not entirely sure if they can do hardboard if that is what is needed, but perhaps some kind of sheet plastic could be a substitute that they can cut for your templates.

[cRaig 273 1 Cars]

laser cutting is another option for 3mm wood. If you were nearer I would offer to do it for free on the university laser cutters!

[dch1950 37 1 Cars]

Hi Tom,

I've been wondering about alternate materials, I used hardboard over 2 years back now as it was cheap and light and also fairly durable, Got a quote in for £120 plus materials to rout the patterns to 3mm mdf - bit expensive I think. In order to not have an excuse I'm cutting some working patterns out tomorrow using my Jigsaw and I'll use those for cutting and laying up (as per the above picture) over the next few days.

 

Craig,

just spotted your post while I was typing - I've got a dxf file ready to go. Can we set something up here do you think.

Dave

[cRaig 273 1 Cars]

What is the largest pattern you need cutting out? Would it fit on a 600mmx400mm sheet? (as our laser cutters aren't that huge) If they would fit on that, then I would gladly help out.

 

Craig

[dch1950 37 1 Cars]

Hi Craig

if you look at the piece lay up above there are 3 large pieces and 4 small(ish). In descending size order we have BB3 - 610 x 225, BB1 - 580x220, TB1 - 490x220, TB3 - 170x350,TB4 - 130x500,TB2 - 200x180, and BB2 -140x220 (all in mm) 7 pieces total - obviously BB3 is too large , but the others should nest up on one panel - I'll have to check that though. 6 out of 7 would be cool. My dxf file for these contains all 7 parts and as my cad is more than a little rusty (I've been struggling with Dassault Systeme Draftsight for the last few days ) I'm sure some more work might be needed - I have yet to try a program called CamBam which will generate a routing profile for me.Well in theory it does, whether I can master and produce viable output is something else - it makes my brain hurt these days - getting old.

What do you think - don't worry about incidental costs - I'll pay those.

regards

Dave

[cRaig 273 1 Cars]

Yep, that all sounds good. I will drop you a PM now

[jeremy 70]

Could you not cut BB3 out diagonally?