Motorcycle Seat Upholstery

It has been several years since I have done a Harley-Davidson seat.
This seat belongs to a 2000 Harley Davidson Electra Glide classic.
The previous owner stitched in flames on the sea top which allowed water to get inside the seat so the rider got his buttocks wet when setting down.

Sure took a bit of doing to drill out all of the rivets and to strip the glued on top.
The green spot shown below is one of those "gel seats".

A nice coat of really thin poly wrap should help make for a Nice skin tight fit.

The washer backed rivets Will help hold things in place for years to come.

I chose a naugahyde brand Faux leather vinyl for this one.

I have black leather in-house, but it seems to have more maintenance in the long run then a quality vinyl. Also this vinyl has a nice stretch to it, which sure helps my tailoring stay sharp.

20 years ago if I did not put piping in the seams the seat would have looked cheated. That's not true anymore.
One of the most important things is the design of the patterns of the edge belting and the main cover.

It worked up nice and clean, ready to roll!

Thanks for looking here!

180 Year Old Sofa Restoration

This daybed stopped in for some attention. Identify this piece as a transitional from Victorian to the Empire style, and actually was some rococo style influence. Probably made in New York or Maine in the late 1840s. The oxidation on the unfinished wood shade was almost a black coal.
This piece has a very setting nice height to it, and is very solidly made.
It could very well be an Isaac Vose original or reproduction, could be either, just speculating.

There was never any coil springs in this base. The proper thing to do is build it up the way it was originally designed.

One of the arms was broken Front and back.  As well as one back where it needed shoring up.

Lots of tacks to take out of this old timer.

Bondo is a great filler.

The exposed finished wood needs much attention. After many coats and lots of extra fine steel wool I brought the wood back to looking sharp.

Sure was quite a wood artisan to carve these arms up.

Fresh cotton of course.

The owner supplied this beautiful silk fabric, probably from France.

With these accented swirled arms and working with silk really keeps me on my toes to keep this work clean.

When reinstalling the back I pushed in 3 inch screws with large washers.

Lots of buttons needed for the Seat cushion.

A top quality 2645 foam 3 inches thick we'll do the trick here.

66 buttons in all.

With extras tucked in the zipper in case one ever pops.

This piece is ready to serve

. What a great character and value older furniture has.

180 years old and back out the door for another great run.

Thanks for looking here!
Practical upholstery
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For north American upholstery shops!

Designer Tote Bags

I currently have 17 designer tote bags in stock. All of the totes are of the highest quality heavy duty upholstery grade fabric from my fabric library.

 These satchels are the same design and size that one usually sees in today's high end grocery markets that offer paper bags with handles at checkout. They can withstand on a regular basis as much as loading them up with canned goods with no problem.

 Many different fabrics to choose from. Some satchels have three or four different fabrics in one.

 All the salvage edges are surged. The totes are not lined.

 I sell a lot of these that are used for gifts.

Thanks for looking here.

Fabric Library Update

A fresh update on the fabric I hold in house.

And can be seen at the 2nd black box on the right.
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Practical Upholstery in stock fabric
https://practicalupholsteryfabric.blogspot.com/2018/01/fabric-library-update.html

Martha Washington Restoration

This old timer stopped in for some attention after many years in the field.

I don't have any idea how old this one is, but notice the oxidation on the inner bones of this piece. Looks like it was heavily stained but it wasn't.

 The crown was cracked in several places. It glued and clamped up real Nice.
All the exposed wood sure needed some attention, it freshened up really nice with Howard's Restor-a-finish.

After inspecting the springs which were in fantastic shape, a coat of traditional burlap and replace the wooden nosing.

 Lots of cotton tailored up as I want a nice tight drum.

 I use drapery back lining to put all the stuffings away.

It sure helps to keep my work clean.

I was pretty deep into the final coverings when I noticed a flaw in the fabric. The owners supply their own fabric on this one and small flaws were throughout the 3 yards. I inspect the fabric when I cut the pieces off of the bolts but missed this one. I didn't continue, removed this covering and replaced with another.  The flaw is in the center of the pic.

Traditional burlap webbing for the inside back.

 Then cotton stuffings with another lining set.

 And another thin coat of cotton, before the final coverings.

And extra thin coat of cotton on the outside back.

Proud 5/32 piping helps accent the great lines.

Keeping the threads straight throughout the tailoring process is necessary or people with a sharp eyes.

And the inside back.

My camera didn't do a very good job showing this Nice colored light gold/ Cream colored fabric with colorful dots.

I'd say this chair is ready to go for another 60.

Thanks for looking here!
Practical upholstery
The #1 blog in all of blogdom
For North American upholstery shops.