Gauge bezel in Alcantara (Custom project)- Car Upholstery Cechaflo 2022-10-23 | ✅Get our courses at: cechaflo.com------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Geoff Pritchett, a gentleman from Saint Augustine, Florida, USA is building and customizing his own SLC sports car.As part of this customization, Geoff created a new bezel to install the gauge cluster. For this accessory, he got some inspiration from the movie 'Need for Speed' that shows this part in a Koenigsegg Agera (Naraya) dashboard.Geoff made the bezel frame out of fiberglass. He asked me to do the wrapping in Alcantara material. I am really glad that Geoff has offered me the opportuninty. Consequently, the piece was sent down here to Mexico for the wrapping. I have been so excited to start out this project!As you can see in the video it was necessary to do certain adjustments to get a uniform surface. A rasp file and sandpaper were useful to even the surface. Some automotive filler all over was also useful to refill little holes and crevices. As a padding the piece was covered with Eva half memory foam (latex foam). It adds a kind of softness to the Alcantara on top. An elastic, soft and hairy fabric is laid over the Eva foam to add more smoothness.The piece is irregular, so it was necessary to use a stretch thin vinyl to get two molds, one for the inside out and the other for the outside. These molds were used as templates to mark and cut the Alcantara material. This process is useful to get more precise pieces besides it helps to save material.My customer requested two lines of stitches (French stitches) all around the bezel rim as decorative stitches. The stitches are 6 mm long and 10 mm between both lines. I used a bonded polyester thread size 138-tex135 (number zero in Mexico). Bonded threads have a coat of resin over, kind of wax. It avoids fraying and adds a coat of protection against malignant agents, such as humidity, fungi, grease, etc.Part of the process missing in this video is shown in a similar previous video I did as a training.I hope you find useful upholstery tips and some inspiration to perform your own projects!Cesar
How To Clean & Condition Your Leather -Seats - Car Upholstery Cechaflo 2022-09-28 | ✅Get our courses at: cechaflo.com------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Whenever we buy a car with a leather interior we should be aware to be committed to always giving maintenance to the leather interior. I am referring to the seats, dashboard, door panels, shift boots, etc.Leather is a natural material not synthetic. Leathers are treated in a tannery and its original substances, greases, etc. were taken off and replaced for other products such as fat liquors, oils,etc. It means it should always be cleaned and rehydrated. If our car is a high end car it means the leather interior is premium, consequently it is not an ordinary automotive finished leather. We are talking of full grain non-finished leathers. Generally Semi-aniline leathers which are very soft and pliable. To still keep these properties a thin coat of pigment and lacquer/sealer was added on top as protection. The sealer is a porous polyurethane that would let the creams and conditioners penetrate in. These leathers should be cleaned daily with a damp rag and another dry rag. The conditioning should be done every two or three months at least. It does not matter if the car is indoors. The weather is harsh for these leathers.By doing this maintenance your leather interior would last for a long time. Otherwise in a very short time you would suffer a disappointment when your leather interior starts to shrink and become brittle like cardboard.Automotive leathers regularly have 2 to 3 coats of sealer, hence are more protected and their cleaning would be only done with a wet rag and another dry rag. The conditioning would be done every 6 months approx.I hope you find this information useful!
Car Seat Foam Repairing - Car upholstery Cechaflo 2022-09-24 | ✅Get our courses at: cechaflo.com------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Occasionally, it is difficult to find a new and original molded foam for a type of vehicle. That is why an upholsterer should resort to some tips to repair the foam in a way it would last for a prudent time.Perhaps, this VW backrest molded foam is easy to find, but the customer wanted the repair, instead.This foam was still at the point of being rescued by adding some protection/reinforcement on top and on its reverse side. Fortunately, I have had at hand high density scraps of foam. Otherwise, I would have had to go to a junkyard to find a still good seat foam.I hope you find these tips useful!Cesar
How to repair a car seat listing wire Cechaflo 2022-09-23 | ✅Get our courses at: cechaflo.com------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------It is over understood that car seat foam bases are not made out forever. As time passes by the foam becomes dusty, because it loses its bonding action.Hence, it is advisable to replace the whole molded foam piece for a new one which includes its new buried listing wires.Sometimes we cannot find one for this kind of vehicle and that is the reason the upholsterer should repair the foam base, if it is possible.As we can see in the video the main point is the repairing of buried listing wires inthe foam. The listing wires sewn down to the cover will be hog-ringed to these buried wires to give a desired shape to the car seat.The method of reattaching these wires worked out well and would last for quite a while.I hope you find these tips useful!Cesar
How to upholster a gauge bezel (mock-up) - Car Upholstery Cechaflo 2022-09-18 | ✅Get our courses at: cechaflo.com------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------A customer from the USA asked me if I could wrap in Alcantara a gauge bezel for his sports car. He also asked me to do 'French seams' all around on the outside close to the surrounding edge. That is why I have tried to find a way to approach this project by doing a mock-up in cardboard. Not similar to the original but an approximate replica in vinyl material.As the vinyl is thin I have added a kind of lining (celestra cloth) on its reverse side. I would use a thin 3mm foam backed for the Alcantara material. It is important the addition of this lining to make the French seams stand out, otherwise they would look too flat.I would follow the similar process to wrap his OEM bezel in Alcantara. In fact, it is not as easy a task as it seems at first sight. I have followed some methods taught in our courses and youtube videos to make it easy.The piece can also be wrapped in leather if a customer requests it. Traditional French seams, French seams with piping accent in the center, or in one plain piece with no sewings. It is a matter of personal taste.As soon as the OEM piece is here in Mexico, we will post several videos showing the process on how the piece would be wrapped in the Alcantara material.I hope you find some inspiration in this video!Cesar
Binding a floor mat - Car upholstery Cechaflo 2022-09-13 | ✅Get our courses at: cechaflo.com------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Floor mats are useful for car floors and homes' indoors and outdoors. I decided to make several of them by using trunk carpet which is sturdier than regular car floor carpets. To add more resistance I added/glued down over a layer of non-slip plastic on the backside. Regularly, floor mats have a binding all around their edges. The binding is a trim that finishes the edges adding more resistance and giving a better view to the item.To do the binding I have used a homemade binding attachment. It is a rough accessory still on test. Albeit with some difficulties but it became very useful to bind the mat edges all around. I need to improve the binding attachment to make the process faster and easier. As soon as I manufacture a good one I will post a related video.I hope you enjoy the video and find some inspiration!Cesar
Two ways of joining automotive carpet - car upholstery Cechaflo 2022-09-03 | ✅Get our courses at: cechaflo.com------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------In car upholstery we find two types of automotive carpet. The first is the one called heat-molded carpet. It has a kind of rubber on its reverse side. This carpet can be shaped to a car floor by using heat between two dies (male and female). It can also be molded by hand by using a heat gun and applying heat over.The most regular automotive carpet the car trimmers use is the one called 'trim carpet'. This carpet is very difficult to stretch if using some heat as an option.This carpet would be shaped to a car floor by doing some cuts and sewing the cut edges. Some floor mats are also added over as protection and decorative to the big carpet under.This basic video shows two ways of joining cut edges of an automotive carpet.As we can see the first way is cutting off the excess, adding the seam allowance (10mm) and sewing it down.The second way is done by hand sewing. No seam allowance is added. The cut is precise and consists in interlacing a thread over the synthetic/jute latex backing and through the pile.To add strength a strip (3 cm wide approx.) of celestra is glued down to the sewn carpet edges.It is important to take in mind these tips to be ready for a next video where I will show how a car carpet is installed following a technique from old upholstery school.I hope you find this information useful!Cesar
A car seat leather bolster fits like a glove - Automotive upholstery Cechaflo 2022-08-31 | ✅Get our courses at: cechaflo.com------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------This video shows a common way to wrap a car seat bolster in leather material. Some car trimmers do not feel comfortable while approaching these car seat bolsters. Perhaps, if using vinyl material they do not struggle too much at the cover fitting process. But in leather things are a little different. Some leathers are hard to handle and do not stretch enough to be shaped. The leather shaping technique is shown in our door panel course. What is taught there will be applied not only on door panels but on bolsters, steering-wheels and other difficult leather wrapping projects.The molding techniques by using cardstock paper is taught in our basic courses. The making of molds is an important part of an upholstery process. If we understand this basic process, we will be able to wrap in vinyl or leather any simple or complex car seat.On the other hand, most of our youtube videos were edited on purpose to be linked with our for sale courses.At the end of this video we clearly see how our bolster in leather is well shaped and fits over the foam like a glove!I hope you find some tips useful and above all lots of inspiration to perform your own upholstery projects!Cesar
French seams & upholstery tips - Car Upholstery Cechaflo 2022-08-26 | ✅Get our courses at: cechaflo.com------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Once more as part of our training I want to share one way to do French stitches by using a single needle sewing machine.I want to stand out how useful the templates are to get a neat and precise cover. The technique of making templates is taught in our basic courses. The procedures are the same for simple and complex car seats.The pieces in this sample are foamed with a 1/4" of an inch foam. As we know as a general rule the vinyl should be basted to the foam by pasting 'points of glue' all along the edges. But, there are a few exceptions when it is advisable to glue down the whole area of the panel. I mean in case of 'concave areas' to avoid a fluffy vinyl on it.The idea is the application of a soft spraying glue. Just one thin coat and let it dry well. Be careful! Do not apply excessive glue! Just a thin coat to shape the concave area.If we apply excessive glue it would make creases very difficult to erase. This issue happens when we need to fold the panel for some reason.Once again my recommendation is the use of attachments to improve and make our sewing process easier and more enjoyable.If you carefully watch this video you will find several tips included in.As mentioned above this is only a sample in half. The other side is the same.I hope you find some inspiration to create your own upholstery projects!Cesar
How to double stitch a bolster (French Seams) - Car upholstery Cechaflo 2022-08-14 | ✅Get our courses at: cechaflo.com------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------This video mainly shows how useful the special piping foot is to make double stitches with a piping trim in the center. This new prototype makes double stitching of 9/16" of an inch, Slightly wider than the previous one I showed in a former video.This time the demonstration is that this foot is not only useful for straight edges but curved edges too.As we can see this is only a sample or test done on one side bolster of a car foam base.Besides, I have not forgotten to share with you my interested users several upholstery tips.The first is the use of molds to ease the marking, cutting, and sewing process. These procedures are taught in our courses and involve and are applied for different shapes of car seats.The second tip is how a foamed panel is prepared by doing a double sewing on the panel edges. As shown before in previous videos, as our panels are foamed, it is necessary to flatten their edges. This process makes sewing easier.A third tip also shown in a previous video is how to reduce the bulky part of a sewing junction considering this would be the flap that is turned over to oversewing on top.A fourth tip I am sharing with you is how the piping/welting strip is made by using a regular upholstery glue.In a previous youtube video I have shown how to attach a piping strip directly to vinyl edges at one go. This method is used this time.For the piping attaching at one go I have used a homemade piping foot. I made it out of a double leg standard foot. It works out the same as the other OEM piping foot.Let's not forget to consider the stretch side of vinyl material (the same with leather) to cut the required panels. It helps to ease the sewing and fitting process.Another important tip it is included in the video is how to approach convex portions. As these panels are foamed (4 mm thick foam material) my advice is glue the edges down in place. As you can see in the video the thin foam is first shaped then the vinyl piece is shaped and glued down over. It is much better to spray glue over this whole panel. This technique works out for different convex areas to avoid folds or creases.I hope you find useful information in this video. Besides, inspiration to perform your own upholstery projects!Cesar
French Seams with a Piping Foot - Car Upholstery Cechaflo 2022-08-09 | ✅Get our courses at: cechaflo.com------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------This time I want to share an idea on how to make a homemade presser foot to sew French seams with piping in the sewing junction.I made this foot out of a standard presser foot. It was necessary to fatten/refill one of the sides with some welding. The rough side was then shaped by cutting off the excess. A rounded shape cavity was done on the bottom. This recess houses and keeps in place the piping cord. It was made to a standard measure of plastic piping cord (2.6 mm thick plus material (vinyl/leather over) As I am using a single needle machine the sewing is done one side first then the other one. At the end the outcome is twin stitches at a distance of 1/2" half of an inch between the lines of stitches, leaving the red piping in the center. By having this first rough prototype a lathe operator will do a flawless new presser foot for me. He will use a milling machine to make it. In fact, this homemade presser foot will help me a lot for a next video that will show French seams with piping trim in the center junction.I hope you find in this video some motivation and inspiration to achieve a similar project!Cesar
How to oversew piping on foamed panels - Car upholstery basics Cechaflo 2022-08-07 | ✅Get our courses at: cechaflo.com------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------This is another video demonstration on how to sew down piping to a lateral surrounding panel which is then attached to a 1 cm thick foamed vinyl panel.This panel has foamed 5 cm wide channels made by blind stitching on the reverse side of vinyl material.As shown in previous videos to ease the sewing over and along the edges it is advisable to flatten the foamed edges. It helps a lot with the attaching of vinyl layers including the piping strip.Perhaps, the most important tip in the video is the making of the piping strip gluing the reverse sides of the vinyl strip.The piping strip looks more perfect and easier to make. After having it ready it is attached to the lateral panel the same way we did on previous videos.The secret to get a nice piping is that our piping foot hollow part that houses the cord is slightly wider. Consequently, the first sewing is not close to the enclosed piping cord. It leaves 2 mm approx. for the final closing sewing.The hollow part of the piping foot is the measure for the final closing sewing which is bulky due to the several layers of vinyl including the plastic cord.At the end the cover was oversewn with decorative orange stitches. The spring loaded guide presser foot is useful to get a straight and easier sewing. As seated in front of the sewing machine we realize the presser foot spring loaded guide is on the right side. It makes our cover remain under the sewing machine head. As we can see there is not much room for our cover. As mentioned before in a former video the best would be to use a left spring loaded guide presser foot. This way if we are sewing a big cover it would remain on the left side of the sewing machine table.I hope you find this video useful!Cesar
How to Sew Piping/Welting - Car Upholstery Basics Cechaflo 2022-08-04 | ✅Get our courses at: cechaflo.com------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Content:00:00 Introduction00:58 First way to sew piping11:22 Second way to sew piping20:08 Third way to sew piping25:17 Fourth way to sew pipingPiping is a trim that reinforces the edges of a seat cover or other upholstery items. Besides, it is a kind of decorative trim for our upholstery projects.It was mostly used in old cars, but it persists up to the present as part of a car upholstery interior decoration. It was in fashion in the sixties and seventies and still in the eighties.I show in this video 4 ways of attaching piping. Which one is the best?The 2 first ways were usually used by car upholsterers years ago. Perhaps, in the present days too, albeit the double stitching (french seams) has come to replace it.The first way, as we can see, consists in preparing beforehand a vinyl piping strip that would be then sewn down to the lateral panel. This lateral panel is next attached to the main panel. Generally, as a rule, the piping should be sewn down on lateral panels, as these pieces are narrower and more straight hence easier to handle them over the bigger main panel.The second way shows how the piping strip of vinyl including its piping cord is sewn down directly to the lateral panel. Next. it will be attached to the main panel. following as a guide the line of stitches left on the reverse side of lateral panel vinyl. Car upholsterers in the past used this method a lot.As shown in the video one of the keys to prepare the piping strip is make long stitches to avoid closer holes that could weaken the material. The tensions should be slightly loosened too. If tensions are too tight the material could shrink and form puffy areas.The third way is faster than the former ones. As we can see, the cover is sewn down at one go. This method is generally used on plain car seat covers (foamed or non- foamed). It is also used in furniture to make cushions or chair's covers.This method was used in the factories to manufacture bus seat covers. The mass production process needs faster ways to achieve tasks. Besides, the worker earned more money because the more seat covers the more money they received.The last fourth way shows a kind of oversewing with a cording pipe enclosed. It is a fast way of piping generally for simple covers in cars or furniture.In conclusion, if we would have to perform complex covers, the best would be to prepare the welting/piping to correctly attach it to a lateral panel then sew it down to a main panel. It would take more time but it would be much better to handle and our sewing would be more precise because we have a pre-done line of stitches that are useful as guides for our final closing sewing.I have used a piping preser foot for the demonstration. I would recommend to get several of them for different plastic pipe/cord thicknesses.I hope you enjoy the video and find this information is useful!Cesar
How to sew 90° Corners - Car Upholstery Basics Cechaflo 2022-07-31 | ✅Get our courses at: cechaflo.com------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------I did not want to overlook this tip on how to approach a 90° square corner for a cushion or other related upholstery item.This demonstration, closing sewing and oversewing is done on a piece of vinyl by using a flat bed sewing machine.Actually the best to sew a square corner would be by using a narrow post bed or narrow cylinder bed sewing machine.To do this task with a flat bed machine is not easy if we do not follow the tips I show in the video. I consider it as part of our basic training.Once again is demonstrated how useful are the guide attachments to get a more precise outcome and make an easier process.1 cm for the seam allowance. I used a 110=18 needle size for the closing sewing with 92 thread size. The oversewing was done with a needle 130=21 size and thread 92.The same procedure would be applied on leather material or fabric.I hope you enjoy and find this tip useful!Cesar
How to Oversew Foamed Panels - Car Upholstery Basics Cechaflo 2022-07-29 | ✅Get our courses at: cechaflo.com------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Oversewing is the most basic sewing done over the seams to reinforce a closing or blind sewing . It is also considered as an ornamental sewing for a cover or other upholstery items.An upholstery student must learn and understand well the usefulness of this basic topstitching. Regularly, this stitching is done on the upper edge of a lateral panel that surrounds a main foamed panel. There are some exceptions when the oversewing is done on the main panel edge.I show in this sample several useful tricks which are used when the lateral panel is foamed.Usually the lateral panels are foamed with thin foams: 3, 4, to 5 mm thick. Headliner foamed materials are useful for this purpose.To ease the sewing process and get a nice oversewing the most important key is to flatten the edges that will be sewn down.. A previous sewing is done at a distance of 8 mm from the edge. The final closing/blind sewing should be done at 10 mm.Bulky junctions are flattened by cutting the seams on the reverse side and resewing on top back and forth many times.Some upholstery shops use an overlock sewing machine to flatten the edges of vinyl, leather or fabric.To ease the sewing process for this topstitching I have used a 138 size thread on top and a 92 size thread on the bottom. Things are much easier tho handle and the outcome is also safe and nice too.I hope you find this video useful!Cesar
Oversewing/flat felled seams - Car Upholstery Basics Cechaflo 2022-07-23 | ✅Get our courses at: cechaflo.com------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------As mentioned in our previous video the most basic sewing in upholstery is the 'closing sewing or blind sewing' which is used to sew together two or more pieces of leather or vinyl in order to give shape to an upholstery project, such as covers or others.An oversewing is considered a top stitching which is done to reinforce the edges of a cover or other items. Besides, it gives shape and adds an ornamental view to the cover.As explained in the previous video, to do the first closing sewing I have used a 110=18 needle size and 92 (número 8 en México) polyester thread size. To get a tight and neat sewing I made short stitches 3 mm long.For the top stitching I made the stitches 6 mm long. I changed the 18=110 needle for another 130=21 thicker needle. It is useful to avoid the bending of the needle. It is medium size and also is capable of sewing with thicker 138 (número zero en México) thread size.To perform the oversewing I used a spring loaded right guide presser foot. As we can see the cover remains under the sewing machine head.In car upholstery is much better the use of a presser foot with the guide on the left. It means the cover would be handled much better because it remains on the outside left area of the sewing machine table. At any moment I will purchase a left guide presser foot.The same process and tips are applied on leather material.I hope you find this information useful!Cesar
How to Hold Down Velcro to Foam - Car Upholstery Cechaflo 2022-07-19 | ✅Get our courses at: cechaflo.com------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------This time I want to share a tip on how to hold down a velcro strip to a foam base by using the regular upholstery yellow glue.The hook side strip should be glued down to the foam material.To get the best adherence a piece of synthetic mesh should be sewn down on the reverse side of velcro material (hook side velcro).By using a brush a dense coat of yellow glue should be spreaded over the mesh letting it penetrate through the mesh to the wrong side of velcro too.This first coat of glue should thoroughly dry to apply a second coat.The same process is done on the foam area where the velcro (mesh side) will be glued down.The mesh helps a lot to gather a good amount of glue that after it is dry it will grasp very hard to the foam area. Besides the velcro fasteners will remain flexible because of the yellow glue.I dare to say the adhesion is very resistant.I hope you enjoy this video and find it useful!Cesar
Blind Closing Sewing - Car Upholstery Basics Cechaflo 2022-07-15 | ✅Get our courses at: cechaflo.com------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------The closing sewing is the most basic sewing used in car upholstery to attach two pieces together by using a sewing machine.The general upholstery starts out from this sewing. We could consider the other well known sewings and trims as additionals. I am referring to the oversewing, double stitches, piping and hems.I have realized some car seat covers only use this basic sewing to attach the whole pieces.In this video I show what is advisable to get a tight and not so loose sewing to close or attach two pieces together. I mean vinyl or leather.Is it possible the use of just one needle for the closing sewing and the other sewings and trims?Yes, if we use a medium size needle ( 130=21 or 140=22), the same thread 92 size and stitches from 3 to 4 mm long.By using this way we would get acceptable sewing and the job would be faster because we would not be changing needles several times.Thicker needles and threads can also be used if necessary to attach hard materials and we want sturdier sewings too. Let's say canvas outdoors or leather for heavy duty applications, etc.I hope you find this information useful!Cesar
How to Make a Hem for a Coin Purse - Upholstery Basics Cechaflo 2022-07-09 | ✅Get our courses at: cechaflo.com------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Perhaps, most of us wonder why I make a coin purse if I am involved in car upholstery. In fact these small projects are not so easy. I consider the making of small items as part of our training. It would be of great help some day if we need to customize a car seat, door panel, etc.I think the making of the hem is the most interesting part of the video. The coin purse edge is irregular and at the time of gluing it down the hem edge is misaligned. That is why I use the method of trimming the leather edge after the whole sewing close to the line of stitches.If this edge all around would not be irregular then I would have folded the hem and sewed it directly.If you do not have a leather skiving machine you could use thinner leathers, such as goat, pig or lamb leather.I hope you find this video helpful!Cesar
90° Square Corner for a Wallet - Leather Upholstery Basic Techniques Cechaflo 2022-07-05 | ✅Get our courses at: cechaflo.com------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Leather artcraft is widely creative and the knowledge of some basic techniques make us achieve different projects from car seats to small items such as wallets or others.For this demonstration I have used a pull-up leather material 1.3 mm thick. As we can see in the video some edges should be skived to ease the sewing and give a better shape to the wallet.Perhaps the most important part of the video is on how to approach the 90° square corners. I have applied the same technique shown in our previous video which it is also useful for door panel corners.Aniline through dyed pull-up leather is a cow leather whose surface was painted by rolling some pigment mixed with hot paraffin wax. After drying its surface some special shades appear on top view giving the appearance of a vintage leather. As time passes by a patina would appear on it's right surface.I hope you enjoy and find this video useful!Cesar
How to Upholster Corners on Door-Panels - Upholstery basics for beginners Cechaflo 2022-06-26 | ✅Get our courses at: cechaflo.com------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------I have considered useful to review the topic how to approach corners on door panels. Sometimes, some of our students are confused on how to wrap the corners. As we can see in the video I have shown how to cut and fold square corners, one pointed corner and rounded concave and convex corners.We clearly see that one of the keys is to first give shape and glue down all around the cardboard piece edge. Then comes the gluing of the folds all around over the cardboard reverse edge.These techniques also work out for leather material or fabric.I hope you find this video useful!Cesar
Custom Mercedes Office Chair - Leather Upholstery Cechaflo 2022-05-15 | ✅Get our courses at: cechaflo.com------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------I did not want to overlook how the Mercedes Benz power chair finished. It is now a very comfortable office chair in my shop. I have preserved the electrical mechanisms to fit the different positions, including the lumbar airbag.This chair is thoroughly wrapped with semi aniline tan leather. I have chosen the watch strap design for the main panels including the headrest.As we can see, to get almost the standard height of any chair (45 cm high), it was necessary to prepare a special low metal base. I also turned the position of the base plate the other way around. The front part is lower than the rear. Regularly, office chair have the front part higher.Even though, it is not shown but it was necessary to determine the gravity center in order to get a safe chair while sitting on. You can realize in the video how the backrest goes farther back to maximum position without altering the equilibrium.The power for the seat is sourced by using a small lithium battery which goes beneath the chair. Its power last long enough.I hope you enjoy this video and find some inspiration to develop your own upholstery projects!Cesar
harley davidson OEM seat Cechaflo 2022-05-09 | ✅Get our courses at: cechaflo.com------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------This time I want to share some tips in order to understand how to approach a Harley Davidson seat cover. Old covers are useful to get templates but not trustable 100%. Many of them get distorted by daily use. What I would recommend is transfer the old cover to a new cardstock paper. In most cases half the side is the same as the other half. Try to get your mold from the side that is in good shape. Ignore the bulks which are formed after being stretched.It is advisable to recommend the owner of the motorcycle not to get to extremes of wearing and tearing of their seat covers because the base foam could get damaged.I hope you find some inspiration in this video!Cesar
Decorative bowl #shorts #upholstery Cechaflo 2022-04-26 | ✅Get our courses at: cechaflo.com------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------👉 How to mold leatheryoutu.be/r1X3sSjfgw4👉 How to mold vinylyoutu.be/pCqawsc39rw
Basic OEM shift boot cover Cechaflo 2022-04-14 | ✅Get our courses at: cechaflo.com------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------The OEM shift boot cover made out in synthetic vinyl is somehow deteriorated. The owner wants a new one in leather material.Perhaps the most difficult part of this process is the dismounting of the plastic pieces that hold the shift cover. Due to the years some plastic parts are dry and become brittle. So we should be very careful to manipulate them.As we can see the old cover is useful to duplicate it in leather. It was necessary to thin the edges of leather material to let them get into fastening frames that are very tight.Another tip you can see in the video is to put some pencil marks to match the sides after the fitting process. We can realize the base frame is not square but some kind of pyramidal.Considering the small mouth on the upper side is lightly wide (30 mm approx.) It is possible to sew the double stitches from the top end to the bottom end with a flat bed sewing machine. Some limitations though. The ideal machine to sew these french seams (double stitches) would be a post bed sewing machine graduated to the required width of stitching lines.I hope you find some useful tips in this video!Cesar
Basic Shift Boot #Shorts #Upholstery #Car Upholstery Cechaflo 2022-04-13 | ✅Get our courses at: cechaflo.com------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------The car shifter boot is a cover made out of vinyl or leather to protect the gear stick. It is considered important because the shifting mechanisms are in that portion covered with grease. Dust and other extraneous agents could interfere the gear assembly causing damage.I hope you find some inspiration in this video to perform your own uphoplstery projects!Cesar
Upholstery pliers? #Shorts #Upholstery Cechaflo 2022-03-22 | ✅Get our courses at: cechaflo.com------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Orthodontic curved pliers are also for sale at a dental supplies and equipment store🔸 amazon.com/Alicates-curvados-dentales-instrumento-ortod%C3%B3ncia/dp/B07CSMFFGV?ref_=ast_sto_dp🔸 amazon.com/OdontoMed2011-ORTHODONTICS-WEINGART-ORTHODONTIC-INSTRUMENTS/dp/B0734TJV1L🔸 amazon.com/-/es/SurgicalOnline-Alicates-ortodoncia-dentales-instrumentos/dp/B01N59QYG1?language=en_US🔸 amazon.com/Surgicalonline-Dental-Pliers-Crown-Straight/dp/B01N0L8OYP🔸 dentcruise.com/gdc-optic-orthodontic-plier-3000-53🔸 aliexpress.com/item/4000315825257.html🔸 ebay.com/itm/174343314010
How to Make Deep/Hidden Steering-Wheel Junctions - Car upholstery Cechaflo 2022-03-18 | ✅Get our courses at: cechaflo.com------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------This time I want to share with my users and non-users how to approach a deep junction on a steering-wheel. In fact, it adds to it a sporty appearance. It also avoids the constant rubbing of the driver's hand.For this process it is necessary to cut a recess on the steering-wheel rubber rim. Three to four mm wide are more than enough to make the cavity that will house the leather sewing junctions. The depth would be 4 to 5 mm. Do not exceed to avoid the weakening of the rubber rim.To make the cutting easier I have cut these recesses until touching the metal rim. To reinforce the deep part I have formed a 3mm layer using 'magic glue and baking soda'. I would recommend not to cut so deep.For this demonstration I have used two scraps of beige automotive leather 1.35 mm thick.As we can see, to make the leather deep into the crevice the edges sewing allowance should be cut in a convex way. The more convex the edge is, the deeper it would be.To ease the sewing process I consider an important tip the basting of the tips. Tailors mostly resort to basting before sewing the fabric pieces down.The stitches to join the edges should be short. 3 mm is ok. Thin thread 92 size for this process. A thin needle 18=110 is useful on the machine.A waxed thread helps to shape the deep junction. Wet glue at the beginning to let the seams slide into the crevice.At the end of the video I show a steering-wheel with four deep look junctions.I hope you enjoy this video and find it useful!Cesar
How to make a homemade skiver and cutting knives Cechaflo 2022-02-28 | ✅Get our courses at: cechaflo.com------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------There is a possibility of making our own cutting knives and a hand leather skiver tool. I consider it as a just in case option because all of these hand tools are well sharpened and ready for sale at different hardware stores. Nevertheless, I did not want to overlook the artisan way of sharpening our own knives to cut leather material or for other purposes.I hope you find these tips useful!Cesar
Two Tips for a Foamed Wooden Seat - Upholstery for beginners Cechaflo 2022-02-19 | ✅Get our courses at: cechaflo.com------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------This video shows two simple but very useful tips that can be applied on wooden seat bases including car seat metal frames.The first tip is to protect a seat cover from the edge rubbing. As you can see in the video a strip of vinyl or leather wrapped all around the edge solves the issue. The same applies for a car seat on the frame edges that is daily in constant rubbing with the vinyl or leather material of the seat cover. This same tip also applies on motorcycle seats before fitting the seat cover. If the edge is not protected the vinyl or leather in that area wears off and ends in tearing.The second tip is to make some breathing holes for the foam base. If the seat is made out of wood, or a metal sheet, these holes make the foam act correctly as a spring air. If the foam recuperates its cells with contained air then it would last longer preserving its shape.I hope this information is useful!Cesar
How to Make a Small Wooden Seat - Basic Upholstery Training Cechaflo 2022-02-13 | ✅Get our courses at: cechaflo.com------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------This video is related to our two basic training courses which involves a practice on small seats to understand how to make a car seat cover. It is very important to train on these small wooden seats performing all the basic sewing and trims which are taught in our different for free youtube tutorials.As a remind the basic sewings and trims are:1. The blind seam which is useful to attach all the cut pieces that shape a seat cover. By using this sewing, the student will be able to make a plain cover, just by sewing down all the edges of the cut pieces. It should be considered the foundation of upholstery sewing.2. The piping is a trim added to a blind seam as a reinforcement of the edges. It is also considered a decorative trim.3. The oversewing which is also called 'flat felled seams' is an additional sewing or row of stitches on top of the already sewn down edges by doing a blind sewing.4. Double stitches or 'french seams' which is a decorative double sewing on top view on both sides of the edges. The seam flaps are folded over to the sides and a reinforcement strip is laid on the reverse side.5. Binding strips are considered a trim or hem to reinforce and decorate the edges. It covers the bare seam edges to give a nice finish.All these sewings and trims could be done on these small seats as part of our training.The more you train the better! and do not forget that 'trial and error' is part of the learning of this craft.I hope you find this video useful!Cesar
Euro-Stitches Design - Automotive leather upholstery Cechaflo 2022-02-02 | ✅Get our courses at: cechaflo.com------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------As shown in our previous videos the Basting stitches or European stitches for steering-wheels are two: the diamond shape and the hexagonal/pentagon shape.These are called European because they are mostly found in different vehicles manufactured in Europe. Let's call them BMW, Audi, MBenz, VW, Volvo, Lamborghini, Ferrari, Konessigeg, etc.As we can see, these stitches could be done in combination. The diamond stitches for close corners to get a tight junction and the other decorative hexagonal shape on the flat area of the steering wheel rim. The thread colors are a mixture of three. The combination of colors depends on the personal taste of our customer or our own.I have used non-bonded polyester threads for this project. It is advisable the use of bonded threads which are most durable to UV exposition and daily rubbing of the wheel by the driver. Outdoors Tenara threads are perhaps the most durable threads that we could find in case of a forever job.I hope you find this video inspirational and useful to perform your own upholstery projects!Cesar
BMW X5 Steering-Wheel in leather - Car upholstery Cechaflo 2022-01-29 | ✅Get our courses at: cechaflo.com------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Procedures to wrap steering-wheels in leather are similar disregarding car trademarks. The steering wheel of the video belongs to a BMW X5 (E46) 2006.Most of the European car steering wheels have the Euro-stitching patterns which are also called basting stitches. These patterns include the diamond-like stitches and the hexagonal shape stitches.This BMW steering-wheel has four spokes or radius. The labor hand to wrap in leather a two spoke steering-wheel is less expensive than a three or four spoke wheel.I have used a UV resistant, polyester thread, size 138. Same size for the three colors red, blue and dark violet.I hope you can find some inspiration in this video!César
NEW COURSE How to wrap in leather a car door panel #Upholstery #Courses #Tapiceria Cechaflo 2022-01-21 | ✅Get our courses at: cechaflo.com---------------------------------------------------------------------------------This course teaches one way to customize an OEM panel in leather as if it were done from the factory.You will learn how the leather can be tamed to make it softer and pliable in order to shape it. For this demonstration I have used the stiffest leather. Of course, you should choose a softer leather for your job.It is taught how to wrap in leather the two parts of a door panel which are frequently reupholstered: the upper elongated trim and the armrest. By learning how to approach these two parts you will understand the process and be able to cover the whole door panel.The disassembling and assembling of the pieces are also taught with some tips included to solve minor issues. If you want to step to the next level and upholster the complete door, bonus videos will be your guide in the process.-Good luck!------------------------------------------👉NOTICE: Bonus videos are aimed to be public with the community in youtube, but as part of the course you can enjoy them before anyone else.
How to Wrap in leather a Safe Belt Buckle Leather Upholstery Cechaflo 2022-01-10 | ✅Get our courses at: cechaflo.com👉 ContentLeather-wrapping of pieces also include small ones. That is why I want to share one way to approach a seat-belt buckle. The most important step is to prepare the piece before doing the wrapping. It means it is necessary to skive the plastic edges to let the leather into those crevices. Anyways the leather edges should also be skived by using a skiving machine. They should be not too thin to not lose the leather consistency. Just enough to let the buckle mechanism work out while the latch plate easily slides into and is locked up.I hope you enjoy and find some inspiration in this video!Cesar------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------00:00 Introduction: Leather thickness02:23 Molding process10:35 Skiving procedure11:02 Gluing process15.35 Joining the leather edges20:18 Marking and trimming22.00 Gluing of upper and lower edges29:19 Assembling
How to leather-wrap OEM a Mercedes Benz car seat plastic trim - Automotive Upholstery Cechaflo 2022-01-05 | ✅Get our courses at: cechaflo.comContent:00:00 Introduction00:35 Marking and cutting the leather02:33 Skiving the piece edges03:54 Glueing process29:00 Making a hole for the screw29:33 Applying pigment30:08 Finished piece and assembly------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------I want to share with you some techniques I used to thoroughly wrap in leather a plastic trim for Mercedes Benz 2007 car seat.I used for this demonstration a full grain, semi-aniline leather material. This leather shows on its surface its natural marks such as scars, scratches, insect bites, etc.As you can see, it is possible to duplicate OEM and wrap some pieces in leather.I hope you enjoy the video and find it useful!Cesar
Basic Mercedes Benz headrest - Upholstery Cechaflo 2022-01-01 | ✅Get our courses at: cechaflo.com🔸 Content: 00:00 Introduction 01:44 Lateral pieces preparing 05:30 Front pieces preparing 08:57 Closing sewing 14:48 French seam reinforcement18:25 French sewing / Double stitches24:55 Final------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------🔸 I am almost done with my office chair. This time I want to share some tips regarding how I tackled the headrest cover following the same OEM cuts. Basically, I have only added the watch strap design in the center part of it.The replica I made in vinyl has the same measurements. One more time, I am convinced and hope you would realize too, that a double needle post bed sewing machine is of great help to sew the double stitches (french seams) in case of doing certain kinds of headrests.The double stitches were set up to a distance of 10 mm between the stitching lines.I used a 92 thread size for the blind sewings. For the decorative double stitches I used a 138 bonded red thread on top and 92 thread size in the bobbin.I used a strip of black celestra fabric as backing for the double stitches. It somehow helps to reinforce and add more firmness to the french seams.I hope you find the video inspirational and the tips useful!A Happy New Year 2022!!!Cesar------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------✅Any donation to support the channel will be much appreciated! Paypal : cechaflo@gmail.com
French Seams for a MBenz Backrest Bolsters - 3D Leather Pleats/Watch Strap Upholstery Design Cechaflo 2021-12-24 | ✅Get our courses at: cechaflo.com🔸 Content:00:00 Introduction: Templates00:27 Pieces to be assembled00:50 French seams sewing06:12 Sewing a lower piece to a bolster13:44 Fitting the cover16:40 Inspecting the rear part17:19 Attaching the rear panel17:29 Testing the power controls------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------🔸 Lately, 'french seams' are a kind of trend on most car interiors. Let's name it on the seats, dashboards, consoles, door panels, etc.That is why I did not want to be an exception on my MBenz office chair project I am still carrying on. In fact, the MBenz OEM seat as mentioned in previous related video managed short stitches and a distance of 7 mm from line to line of stitches. I have set up my post bed machine to the distance of 10 mm. I consider it as a standard measure.This time, I used the old covers as templates, but not directly because they are somehow distorted. Then the idea is to transfer them to cardstock paper. Fortunately, it worked out well. I do not trust 100% percent of this method. I'd rather make my own templates from scratch.I hope you find some inspiration in this video!César------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------✅Any donation to support the channel will be much appreciated! Paypal : cechaflo@gmail.com
French Seams for a MBenz Car seat Bolster - 3D Leather Pleats Upholstery Cechaflo 2021-12-18 | ✅Get our courses at: cechaflo.comContent:00:00 Introduction - OEM Mercedes Benz C-Class 2007 seat cover03:34 Sewing process07:40 Double sewing process10:39 Process of sewing the bolster to main panel17:07 Fitting process------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------The aim of this upholstery project is to thoroughly wrap in leather a MBenz- C Class 2007 to turn it into a power office chair for my shop.I want to share in this video how the 'french seams' are done on one of its bolsters.I have chosen for this chair a 1.3 mm thick, tan color full grain semi aniline leather material. I have chosen the 'watch strap pattern' for the main sitting panel. The other parts remain the same OEM pattern.The sewing involves two already molded pieces. This time, I have not skived the edges to do the closing/blind sewings. The pieces are foamed with a lining made of headliner material giving a considerable thickness. A Durkopp&Adler, twin needle, post bed sewing machine was used to do the double stitches. A 180 needle size for the sewing machine. 10 mm between needles.A red polyester bonded thread 138 size was used for the 6 mm long top stitches. A polyester thread 92 size is used for the bobbin thread.We will continue updating the project with the next related videos.I hope you enjoy and find the video inspirational!------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------✅Any donation to support the channel will be much appreciated! Paypal : cechaflo@gmail.com
How to Sew Steering Wheel Horizontal Junctions - Car Upholstery Cechaflo 2021-12-05 | ✅Get our courses at: cechaflo.comContent:00:00 Intro00:32 Making the recess to house the junction03:57Making of a mold for the junction10:28 Sewing process------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------How to Sew Steering-Wheel Horizontal Junctions - Car upholsterySome of my users have requested me to show a way to approach the horizontal sewing junctions done on a steering-wheel rim cover.Genearlly these junctions are done both sides on the upper part of the wheel.An adjusting plastic clamp is useful to align, mark and make 3 to 4 mm cut on the rubber rim. A cavity is formed around the rim where the short seams (3 mm approx.) will house into, in order to get, a plain surface on top (vinyl or leather)The junction edges (vinyl or leather) are cut following the contour of the recess done on the rim.The issue to approach is that we need to sew a concave edge to a convex edge. On a regular basis the concave edge should be sewn down to the convex edge at one go. A mold in vinyl would be of great help to get an exact measure, hence, a precise sewing on the real pieces.I hope you find this tip useful!Cesar------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------✅Any donation to support the channel will be much appreciated! Paypal : cechaflo@gmail.com
How an Airbag vinyl lid was stitched (informative)-Car Upholstery Cechaflo 2021-12-03 | ✅Get our courses at: cechaflo.com------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Content:00:00 Intro00:45 Lockstitch sewings02:02 Inspecting the stitching threads in its seams03:38 Testing the breaking point of the airbag vinyl cover's threads04:51 Similar size thread demonstration (Personal opinion)05:30 Testing the similar threads06:42 Stitching rupture demonstration07:31 Measuring the stitch length08:09 Demonstration with similar threadsThis is a MBenz C-Class 2007 driver's seat I bought from a junkyard with the purpose of turning it into an office chair for my shop.The side airbag system was cancelled provided it will not be in the car anymore.The purpose of this video is to show the kind of threads used to make the seat covers. Especially, the threads used for the stitching done on the lid part of the backrest cover where the airbag is housed under.All the sewing are lockstitches. I have discovered three thread sizes. A first one that is not explained in the video is a 138 thread size used for the decorative french stitches on top. A 92 size black thread was used in the bobbin.The 92 black thread size is used in all the blind/closing sewings done to attach/sew down the pieces together.I realized that for the Airbag outer vinyl lid as part of the cover two kind of thread sizes were used. A 92 thread size for the lower thread and a thinner thread (perhaps 30 or 40) I cannot recognize the size for the upper thread.I cannot say which kind of components the thread filaments were made of. I mean, cotton, nylon, polyester, etc...?...I don't know.I will continue inspecting the factory cover and share information with you , my followers.I hope this information is useful!Cesar------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
MBenz Seat Power Works out with a Small Battery - Automotive Upholstery. Cechaflo 2021-11-15 | ✅Any donation to support the channel will be much appreciated! Paypal : cechaflo@gmail.com ✅Get our courses at: cechaflo.com------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------It always called my attention to know how a power seat works out. That is why I bought from a junkyard a MBenz C-Class 2007 car seat to turn it into an office chair.I have started the process by making all the motors work out individually, except the running rails because the chair will not move anymore forwards nor backwards. The most important are the lifting and reclining movement. The backrest lumbar airbag support will work out too, this time manually.I have shown three options of energy to make the motors work out. The first is an electric converter plugged to a current connector (domestic 110 AC). I decided it is not a practical way.The second option is the use of 12 V DC Lithium battery. I did not like because it is too big.The third option is the use of a small 18 V Lithium battery. I used this battery to power my wireless grinder.I stick to this option because it is easier to handle and does not take up much space. I have tested the charging for this battery will last for quite a while. It will go hidden beneath the chair base. I hope you enjoy the video and find some inspíration!Cesar
Box Square Pleats in Leather /Tuck & Roll- Automotive Upholstery Cechaflo 2021-10-30 | ✅Get our courses at: cechaflo.com------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------This video shows one way to replicate square channels which come on the classic English car Rover P6 3500 1974 seats.A customer I have, complains about his own seats. He says they are too hard while he is sitting on. To solve this issue, I am testing on this sample a durable high resielence foam. This foam acts as a spring because it recuperates its shape instantly and would last forever. The most important characteristic it is soft enough. Memory Eva foam would have worked much better to shape the square pleats, but somehow this padding is rigid for long trips.The foam I am using is 1/2" of an inch thick. To ease the sewing process the cut foam strips are tufted after the cover is finished.For this demonstration I am using natural automotive leather.An important tip to stand out is how I inserted in an opening I did in the foam base a 4 mm thick steel wire. A thinner steel wire is housed in a listing bag sewn down on reverse side of the cover. It is hogringed to this thick wire to pull the material downwards and give a curved shape on top view.The original Rover seats come with fabric strips that cross down through and are fastened to the seat frame. This is a furniture method. Sometimes, it is not advisable on car seats because these pulling strips are suffering tension constantly.I hope you enjoy and find this video useful!Cesar------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------✅Any donation to support the channel will be much appreciated! Paypal : cechaflo@gmail.com
Audi A4 Back panel reupholstery - Clip repair & restoration - Automotive Upholstery. Cechaflo 2021-10-08 | ✅Get our courses at: cechaflo.com------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Usually, the plastic attachments on reverse side of some Audi's backrest back covers get broken due to their non-easy to remove metal clips. What I mean is, these are very difficult to unfasten once the back covers are on. The clip design has two small protruding sheets that do not let the panel be removed when necessary without causing damage to its plastic attachments.The worst would be the breaking of the cordboard panels, but fortunately those are strong. The regular way to unfasten it is by using a plastic pry and pull the cover backwards. This method does not work properly. The most feasible way would be the use of a flat remover sliding it through the gap between the panel upper edge and backrest itself. The idea is to release the metal clips to the side and get the back panel free with no damage.Upholstery rivets are very useful to attach some soft pieces together. These panels were incorrectly repaired with pop/blind rivets which are mostly used to join metallic parts.I repaired the plastic guides on lower part of the panels by using a thin metal sheet. The purpose of these guides is the fastening of panel lower part to the backrest frame.I have used a thin black automotive vinyl to reupholster the cover. I have used a 4 mm headliner foam over to erase some irregularities on the cardboard surface. If I would have used a thicker vinyl, then it would have not beeen necessary to foam the surface.Another important tip while glueing process is it should be laid flat with no effort or tension over the hollow areas. The vinyl should not be stretched on these parts to avoid an unsticking at any moment.The cardboard sucks the first coat of glue that is why a second coat of glue should be applied for a better adherence. The same rule goes for vinyl and some other materials.I hope you enjoy the video and find these tips useful!Cesar
Custom Diamonds (embroidery-like) - Leather Upholstery Cechaflo 2021-10-04 | ✅Get our courses at: cechaflo.com------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Upholstery is an artcraft that involves the creation and manufacturing of different objects for the comfort and personal satisfaction of human beings. It embraces car upholstery, furniture, matresses, curtains, etc. and other fields that could be gathered in this concept.There are no fixed rules to make us work or perform upholstery on a regular basis. Consequently, anybody can do upholstery in different ways provided that the projects fulfill the requirements of safety above all.This video shows a way to replicate embroidery stitches on a piece of leather material by using a regular sewing machine. It consists in restitching several times over the first line of stitches. Different drawings/designs could be done by using this method, besides diffrent thread colors could be used too.Feel free to do it despite it is time consuming. What is important as mentioned lines above is to feel a personal satisfaction of doing what we like.I hope you find this video useful and find some inspiration!Cesar
Artisan Piping / Welting - Leather Upholstery Cechaflo 2021-09-26 | ✅Get our courses at: cechaflo.com------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------I show in this video one way to approach artisan pipings to be used in two common upholstery trims 'flat felled seams and French seams'.The threads on top are the final touch to add an artisan look. I have used the same thread colors I used to do a motorcycle seat I showed in a previous video. Thread colors could be combined in a variety of forms according to the general leather color we are using for.I hope you find some inspiration in this video to perform your own upholstery projects!Best wishes,Cesar✅Any donation to support the channel will be much appreciated! Paypal : cechaflo@gmail.com
French & Flat Felled Seams on a Motorcycle Seat - Automotive Leather Upholstery Cechaflo 2021-09-23 | ✅Any donation to support the channel will be much appreciated! Paypal : cechaflo@gmail.com ✅Get our courses at: cechaflo.com------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------The most common decorative stitches in automotive upholstery are 'french seams and flat felled seams'. They are kinda fascination to all of us the car trimmers. That is why I am now reviving these seams on a motorcycle seat. Furthermore, as an extra touch I am adding the well known trim that is the piping/welting in an artisan mode.What is important to stand out is how useful is the molding process (techniques taught in our basic courses) to achieve covers with tailor's precision.Besides, the use of extra items that really help us with the sewing to get more straight line of stitches to getting a more professional outcome.I know many of us can sew precisely by 'eyeball' but we should not discard the use of OEM attachments that were invented for this purpose and are used in the upholstery section of most prestigious car factories.As we can see, for this demonstration I am using a 1.3 mm thick, sturdy beige automotive leather not easy to handle if not for our molds.I have used a thin 92 size polyester thread for the blind closing sewings with 3 mm stitches.A 138 size polyester thread for the decorative stitches on top with 6 mm stitches. I also have used blind sewings (inside hidden stitches) for the row of pleats/channels on main top panel. The foam for these pleats is 1/4" of an inch thick medium density foam. The backing cloth is felt fabric.The other surrounding panels are foamed with a soft headliner 4mm thick foam.I hope you find some inspiration in this video to perform your own upholstery projects!
Motorcycle seat cover - Straightforward/No sewing - Upholstery Cechaflo 2021-08-24 | ✅Any donation to support the channel will be much appreciated! Paypal : cechaflo@gmail.com ✅Get our courses at: cechaflo.com------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------I found this seat in a junkyard. It was from a WS-150 Italika Motorcycle. Once more I want to demonstrate how to approach the wrapping of a motorcycle seat with one way stretch automotive vinyl and no sewings at all.Perhaps, the most difficult part of the process is the restoration of the foam base which must be done beforehand. It is advisable the use of same molded foam material for the inserts. Some old foam pieces were useful.A harsh grain sandpaper was useful to even and shape the restored part. A piece of headliner foamed material 5 mm thick was useful to get a smooth surface prior to the vinyl wrapping.3 mm size staples were useful to fasten the cover edge to the plastic frame.The seat looks now rejuvenated with its new cover.If you watch carefully the video you will find several tips, I gladly share with my enthusiastic fans.I hope you enjoy and find the video useful!Cesar
How to stretch vinyl on bulky shapes - Car Upholstery Cechaflo 2021-08-18 | ✅Any donation to support the channel will be much appreciated! Paypal : cechaflo@gmail.com ✅Get our courses at: cechaflo.com------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------I want to share a tip to stretch vinyl on bulky or hollow pieces. Basically, the real tip is how to keep the shape of the stretched vinyl piece to let us glue it down much easier.For this demonstration, I have used a 'one way stretch automotive vinyl'. A '4 way stretch vinyl' is much better.The secret is the application of 'polyurethane glue' on the reverse side. Two coats of glue if the shape is too bulky. After stretching the piece over the bowl I have applied some heat over the vinyl piece to activate the glue. It dries immediately and the vinyl keeps the given shape.This method could be applied in some pieces such as consoles, dashboards, etc. which have hollow or bulky areas a little difficult to shape. This way, we save excessive cuts and sewings.I hope you find this video useful and enjoy it!Cesar
Custom center console in vinyl - Automotive Upholstery Cechaflo 2021-08-14 | ✅Any donation to support the channel will be much appreciated! Paypal : cechaflo@gmail.com ✅Get our courses at: cechaflo.com------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------I want to share one way to approach a car console to be wrapped in vinyl material.Besides, I am showing some useful tips that could be applied in a similar job.Despite of being from a cheap Nissan car, its console shows some level of difficulty for the upholstery process. It was not really an easy task!The first tip is, as the surface is too oily it was necessary to sand off its surface to get adhesion of the glue.I used polyurethane glue for the glueing process. Very useful for hollow areas. As I mentioned before it allows us to line up the vinyl piece before heat application.One of the most significant obstacles to overcome was the central hollow/concave area. I had to resort to a stretching and molding technique I will share in a next video.It is very important to consider the thickness of the vinyl we are working with, in order to reduce/skive the plastic surface edges.I hope you find some inspiration in this video!Cesar
