Cloth Bolster Covers - Black

[dch1950 37 1 Cars]

Hi Jeremy,

Craig and I are just sorting out the fine detail of what goes where - so to speak. I shall be looking to have 2 sets of master patterns , one for me and one for Paul to do the leather seat sets with so it's slightly more complex now.

Thanks for sustained interest in this though, especially as it is now coming to fruition at long last.

regards

Dave

[dch1950 37 1 Cars]

Hi all,

Been over to the trimmers this morning to try out the new top sew backing tape - more or less the last detail to be finalised. Decided to top sew a set in green to see how it looked. Quick picky here : not too bad and the tape is good as it doesn't bulk up the seams. Well pleased with that. Production patterns are being routed thanks to cRaig and his excellent ministrations. I will order production B09 on Monday and hope to start laying up and cutting out within 10 days.

Walked into the unit this morning and nearly swooned - the latest job they are working on is a ....... V12 4.2 E-type auto in white being trimmed out in black perforated hide, with discreet white piping - OOOOOOh I like.!! I will get some pictures next time I go over and pop them on my gallery - a good indicator of what Paul & Martin can do.

 

the Green top sew :

 

 

 

regards

Dave

[dch1950 37 1 Cars]

Hi all,

Many thanks to Craig for his assistance in producing the master patterns for me - excellent work and I really appreciate his help.

They (the patterns) arrived this evening and are the last thing on the DCH to do list for February. I now have everything in place and my first production batch will be laid up and cut over the next few days. This should mean bolster covers for sale within 2 weeks. It has taken me so long to get this point, and I can hardly believe that I've finally got to the second step of my business plan for 205 Gti covers & trim. Thanks for your kind attention and I hope you will like my new products.

regards

Dave

[dch1950 37 1 Cars]

Hi all,
Hope you've seen the pictures, on my gallery, of the production patterns. Spent a happy hour this morning putting the start/stop and mid seam drill holes in, so all is prepared for tomorrow. I have prepared my cut list and will lay up the small sections first as I already have some from the last batch that I can use with this set of patterns. I reckon 1 day to mark up and I to cut out and notch. Then I'm hoping Paul can keep to his 7 days to produce each batch of 10 seats worth. They will need some finishing off e.g. fillet attachment, some cut edge hemming, and a piece of wing piping to be sewn. so another couple of days to finish them off. I will also be re-foaming and re-trimming my driver seat as it's rather knackered now. (see picky).Some of you may recall the original I took a few years ago. Should make for a rather good promo picture, albeit rather delayed

 

regards

Dave

 

[cRaig 273 1 Cars]

I trust the holes didn't cause any splitting issues with the plywood?

[dch1950 37 1 Cars]

No it was fine thanks Craig. It's a simple calculation to calculate chipping rates

And a good sharp drill is always a bonus

Dave

[dch1950 37 1 Cars]

Hi all,

looks like my estimate of 2 days cutting out was a bit optimistic. I'm about 2/3 rds done so should finish cutting tomorrow.(150 pieces hand cut and notched)

I covered my table with padded vinyl - a tip given to me by Mr Newberry. Looks nice doesn't it.

 

 

 

I'm going over this Saturday to take the boxes and more importantly to see the E-type which should be finished. Great !!

regards

Dave

[dch1950 37 1 Cars]

 

 

Hi all,

not too bad a guess for timing, finished cutting out this morning. Thank God for that. Off to see that E-type soon.

Dave

[dch1950 37 1 Cars]

Hi All,

first batch delivered for sewing and top stitching today, I will collect next Saturday barring accidents .

The E-type is looking good, they've ripped out all the vinyl and replaced it with hide, the new carpet has just gone in and the seats are being finished off. God I luv that car . This is made all the more frustrating by the fact that as a young graduate I was offered a share of a group buy (by a mate who was training at accountants Grant - Thornton) of the contents of a container ship that had been stuck in the Red Sea after the Egypt-Israeli war (Yom Kippur). It was a load of E-types all going to Oman and shares were to be sold which resulted in each (brand new) E-type being recovered to the UK for £1500 a pop. I was newly married and I think I was only earning about £3800 p.a. so my missus would have gone mad at me. An opportunity missed. Ah well.

Will be trimming up my front seat next week and hope to show you all how the new bolster covers (and foams) look.

Thanks for staying with me on this journey.

best regards

Dave

Edited March 8, 2014 by dch1950

[dch1950 37 1 Cars]

Hi all,

Sorry about that little trip down memory lane - and before you ask - she did divorce me in the end

Given the number of enquiries I been getting recently about leather versions of these bolster cover kits - yes, I will be producing them in association with Paul Newberry - the guy working with me on this project. The current priority is the B09 cloth version (for 1.6 owners) but we have already started setting up for leather prototypes which will start once the first batch of cloth is sewn. I think we should have some to show you in about 4 weeks - hopefully.

Welshpug made the highly relevant comment about colour matching (one of the reasons I personally have shied away from doing the leather variant wholly by myself) and to this end I need to gather as much information as I can about the leather trim options for both phase 1 and 2. 1.9's

Any sales info etc. would be gratefully received - the devils always in the detail - and most of you know me by now - still obsessing.....

regards

Dave

 

[MikeC 10]

Great news on the leather, You'll have one customer here

[mrfirepro 127 1 Cars]

Another customer here for leather

 

Great read and even greater determination

[dch1950 37 1 Cars]

My mate Paul will be encouraged by this - I'm sure. I've been bombarding him the details of the 1/2 leathers to get him set. As I said in an earlier post, colour matching will be vital to the success of this sub-project, though, so I will need samples.

Dave

[dch1950 37 1 Cars]

Hi all,

perhaps I haven't phrased the question/request very well. As far as I know, there are 2 shades of leather used in the 1.9 trim sets. Black and grey. Inspiring colours no doubt, but in order to get things right I need more information on this and also actual samples (ideally) so that Paul and I can go through the "colour charts" - so to speak, as the last thing I want to happen is to get it wrong. This logic also applies to the front seat squab backing vinyl. i.e. I was only looking at black here (1.6 style trim), but maybe they match it to the leather? I do need this information -

regards

Dave

[dch1950 37 1 Cars]

Good morning everyone,

I'm going to collect my first batch of bolster covers today and will also spend some time discussing the prototyping of the leather version. I have to admit I'm a little disappointed by the apparent disinterest shown in helping with leather colour options. Black and grey it is then .

As I 've said already I have some final attachment sewing to do to complete this batch of covers. This will take a couple more days and then they go on sale. Here's a little snapshot to tell you which one is which.

 

regards

Dave

PS - OK let's see if there's anyone out there with an original sales brochure that may have pictures of the 1.9 grey leather option for the seats.

I have a set of pictures showing the black leather, black fabric.

D

Edited March 15, 2014 by dch1950

[mrfirepro 127 1 Cars]

Dave,

 

I have 4 seats here with the grey leather, will take one apart and send you the sample this weekend. PM me your address.

 

From reading this post I know you will want to get the colour spot on, but as I plan to replace all the leather as long as it's close enough, an exact match is not important to me.

 

If your looking for a leather Guinea pig then I'm your man (now there's a phrase you wont use every day )

[dch1950 37 1 Cars]

Hi all,

Paul has had to extend the E-type work and so delivery of the first batch is delayed by a few days. I must admit I thought his time estimate was a little optimistic and told him so at the time. It's important that we get these right though and I'm happy to let things ride at the moment until the real production techniques have evolved. Any new product creates it's own problems like that.

Thanks to Paul (mrfirepro) for offering some leather seat components for colour sample comparison. I am working on the basis of 1 black and 2 greys. Is this right?

regards

Dave

2 shades of grey - that has a familiar ring to it

D

Edited March 18, 2014 by dch1950

[mrfirepro 127 1 Cars]

Dave,

 

Have the cut out section on my desk, didn't get to the post office yesterday but will today.

 

Regards

 

Paul

[dch1950 37 1 Cars]

Hi all,

I have just published a new "How to" guide which is a pdf download on my site downloads page.

It's one for removing front seat covers or putting them back on. Possibly a bit late for you "mhyphen1" - sorry mate.

I think I've covered most attachment points but if I have forgotten any just mail me.

regards

Dave

Edited March 20, 2014 by dch1950

[Tom Fenton 1,547]

Hello Dave, will this batch of the bolster covers include any with the green stitching?

[dch1950 37 1 Cars]

No - sorry Tom - all red

If you want some let me know and I'll put them in the next batch. I had meant to do a pre-order form - but didn't get round to it - sorry.

D

[Tom Fenton 1,547]

Please put me down for a set of 4 thigh bolster covers with green stitch from your next run. Thank you.

[dch1950 37 1 Cars]

Hi all,
Tom Fenton's request for a set of 4 TB covers raises a number of interesting points. These bolster covers are sold as individual items and thus we have a number of possible set definitions - so to speak, For the purposes of (future) clarity I will define them here. Thus: -

a Full set - comprising of 2 squab covers ( 1 x LHS + 1 x RHS) and 2 cushion covers ( 1 x RHS + 1 LHS)

a squab set - comprising of 2 squab covers ( 1 x LHS + 1 x RHS)

a cushion set - comprising of 2 cushion covers ( 1 x LH + 1 x RH)

all other combinations will purchased a multiples of single item selections ( as per the foam etc.). The first batch of 10 Full sets is being sewn and is topstitched in red. The initial 7 day production lead time is fluid to say the least and is looking like 14- 20 days currently for red top sew covers.

Green topstitching is classed as a special order and is sewn as such - i.e. a one off, requiring me to cut the patterns for the set individually and take them for sewing. Thus orders placed for green top sew will take longer to process as they are not going to be available ex-stock. The lead time will depend on the total orders received for green over say, a 1 or 2 week period, availability of material, and also getting Paul to schedule the sewing. Please contact me by email if you require this colour top sew.

Equally initial sales of the first batch will determine the second and subsequent batch requirements to top up stock. I will hope to maintain 5 full sets (red top sew) in stock. This will no doubt evolve over time as I clearly don't want to be running over to Coventry every 5 minutes.
Leather variants are not available yet and details will be released as and when, either on my site or here.
regards
Dave

[dch1950 37 1 Cars]

Hi all,

The first batch of bolster covers was finished yesterday - 10 pm mind. Will go over to Coventry and check, mainly to see if any pattern mods have arisen after Paul's mammoth sewing session. You never know. Will also be taking him some quintet and a squab vinyl back section that I've sewn up.

That should give him enough to get a test set of leather bolsters prepared. I will collect the 10 cloth sets , sew on the final attachment pieces, and trim up a seat for sales/marketing purposes so you can see what they look like. I've waited a long time for this.

Watch this space.

regards

Dave

[dch1950 37 1 Cars]

Good evening all,

Picked up the first batch today. The pattern mods to the squabs were not vital but were important when sewing - mid seam line ups, 1 missing and 2 out of position slightly. Will mod the drawings accordingly for next time. As I've said - the onus is back with me now. I must check all 40 pieces first, then sew on the cushion attachment fillet, and then the squab wing piping. Shouldn't take too long. I will then trim up a seat with "Quintet" inserts for marketing and web sales pictures. We're getting there - I also took over some leather samples for colour matching, I still need the light(er) grey though, so if any one has a piece I would be grateful. PM me if you have.

regards

Dave