How to Recover Car Seats
With lots of use, car seats often suffer from wear and tear. This can make the seat uncomfortable to sit in as well as unsightly. A simple way to fix this is to recover the car seat with either a pre-made cover or one that you have stitched together. It's an inexpensive fix that make travel more comfortable.
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Things You'll Need
- Sewing machine
- Wrench and socket set
- Replacement seat cover
- Seat fabric
- Scissors
- Measuring tape
- Stitch picker
- Sewing pins
Instructions
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Measure the size of the car seats that need to be replaced with new upholstery using the tape measure. This includes the height, width and thickness of the seat. You do not need to include the head rest in this measurement. Choose the style of fabric that suits your preferences and make sure to buy enough to cover the seat completely. You can also choose to buy new ready-made seat covers if you do not want to make them yourself.
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2
Remove the car seats from the vehicle by loosening the bolts at the base of the seat using a wrench. Carefully lift them out of the car. The upholstery is secured to the base of the seats with metal hog rings so you have to remove the rings and detach the old seat fabric by using the stitch picker. This tool plucks the stitching out of the seats. Once you have cut all of the stitching remove the seat coverings. Take care not to rip them.
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Remove the head rests from the seats. Find the button at the base of the head rest that will allow you to do this.
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Place the old pieces of the upholstery on the new fabric and trace them using a pencil. Cut out the traced portions of the new fabric using the scissors and turn them inside out. Connect the pieces of new fabric with the use of sewing pins.
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Use the sewing machine to connect all the pieces of the new seat fabric as one. After completely sewing the pieces together, turn the seat fabric over so that the outside is visible, and then place it over the car seat.
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Attach the seat cover by sliding it over the seat and attach the lower portion underneath of the seat by using the metal hog rings. Smooth the cloth on the seat and make sure that it is taut. If there are places that are loose, take the slack and pull it beneath the seat. Staple the slack to the bottom of the chair with an industrial strength staple gun.
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Replace the seat inside the car. Replace the bolts and tighten them using the wrench.
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Carefully pull the remaining new seat cover forward to also cover the bottom part of the seat. By using the hooks, the new seat cover will be securely attached underneath the seat. When the cover is in place, make two small slits at the top of the seat covers so you can reinstall the head rest.
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References
- Photo Credit Jupiterimages/Brand X Pictures/Getty Images
