NEWSLETTER
by Auto Restoration Videos

SHAPE OF THINGS TO COME....     Guys sorry for the delay in updating this website...finally got the right words to type in to get to this newsletter..   
          I am working on a new set of training videos now..   How to install an Auto Upholstery Kit.
I am a little over halfway done now and have about 9 hours into it.  ( 9 hours of actuall taping) 
Was trying to do a video without doing any sewing at all but it just did not work out..  I am upholstering a 1960 Ford Sunliner Convertable, with a kit made by LaBurn and Bonney..  It seems like the front seat in this car is not original and that is why the front seat cover did not fit..  So I had to modify it to fit..  I guess this kind of thing could of happened to anybody and if that person could not sew they would have to take it to an Upholsterer some where to have it fixed..  You really can't blame the company who made the cover since it is based on a orginal seat frame..  But you know what happenes over a long period of time... a part rotts away and somebody goes to a swap meet and they get something close and just throw it in.   I could of modifyed the seat frame to fit the cover but I would of had to break out my mig welder and get spring steel steel to weld in.. I thought this would have been too much for the average guy just wanting to throw in an interior.. and besides...upholstery is easy to me.    And since I am doing this for a customer I would of had to charge a lot more money to remake the seat  than  alter the seatcover....see where I am comming from here..  
      But if you just had a PS Brother machine ( Professional Series)  you could actually sew the cover yourself.... But the whole idea was to be able to install a Upholstery Kit yourself with no sewing ablity..   
       I remember once when I was a kid and I needed something sewn on my car...I called up a few upholsters who did home sewing and none of them would do anything on a car..    One guy wanted to sell me some Rayco seat covers that seemed like a lot of money at the time..And they looked like crap..This was probably in the early sixtys...yea Im an old fart..make that a hippy fart...
So anyway I went to Sears and bought a sewing machine and sewed a cover myself...The machine really sucked on vinyl...It wouldn't even move 6 layers of vinyl under the foot....But that was before I found out about a walking foot machine..  But now there is that Brother machine that can use thick Upholstery grade thread...thats great !!    But Still it would have a hard time feeding 6 layers of vinyl under it...you would have to push the material with one hand and pull it with the other hand  to get it feed under the machine..   hey.....its still a plastic home sewing machine  but in a pinch...it will work..
         So I am going to keep pluging away at assembling this upholstery kit... I am almost finished now... except for putting it in..  I still have the 2 backrests of the front seat and the backrest of the back seat is just about done.     I just hope I don't have to do any more sewing  but I Have fitted the rest of the covers and don't see any problems..  but ....never say never..
           I have to install a convertable top on this car too..  It shouldn't be too much of a problem, except you have to lay on your back in the trunk to secure the back of the convertable top behind a big bar with bolts in it... getting too old to lay on my back for a long time.....have to make a bed in that trunk for myself.   Will try to shoot some video of that too..
       So people if you have any question on my videos just call me up or send me an e-mail and I will be glad to help you out !!  Really...don't be afraid.    Send me some photos of what you are working on I would love to see it..