DIY Auto Reupholstery
Adding value to your vehicle can be accomplished with detailing and reupholstering the interior. The cost of upholstering the seats of your vehicle can be reduced greatly if you decide to do it yourself. You can can use the existing seat covers as a template for recovering and order upholstery fabric from online upholstery stores or purchase it at your local fabric store. Any other supplies to reupholster your cars seats can be found at a local hardware store.
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Things You'll Need
- Ratchet set
- Screwdriver
- Utiltiy knife
- Needle-nose plier
- Butcher paper
- Upholstery fabric
- Sewing machine, hog rings or upholstery stapler
Instructions
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1
Unscrew the car seats from the floor of the car using the ratchet seat.
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2
Remove any screws holding together the seat with the screwdriver -- the screws may be covered with a plastic piece that can be popped off with your screwdriver.
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3
Use the utility knife to rip any sewn seams, pay attention to not cutting the fabric as your will use this to create your template.
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4
Remove any hog rings or upholstery staples and remove the seat cover from the seat frame.
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5
Separate all the seat cover pieces from one another -- be sure to label each piece with its location on the chair and which other pieces it adjoins.
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6
Trace each piece of fabric on the butcher paper and transfer any labels for organization.
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7
Cut out the stencils from the butcher paper.
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8
Use the butcher paper stencils to cut out new fabric pieces to cover the seats with.
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9
Sew together any new pieces of fabric that were copies of pieces sewn together originally. If all pieces were sewn together to create a slip cover slide the new slip cover over the seat frame.
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10
Attach with hog rings or upholstery staples any of the new pieces that were attached that way with the original seat coverings.
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11
Place the newly covered seat back in the car and tighten with the ratchet set.
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Tips & Warnings
Taking pictures as your remove the original upholstery can help you remember where each piece goes and how it was attached to the seat frame.
References
- Photo Credit man driving car image by palms from Fotolia.com
