Started on my crew seat

[Matt Olieman]

Soooooooo IMPRESSIVE

[Trevor Hale]

Looks Good Mike. I am sure you will be very happy with the end result. Are you going to have the final finishing material upholstered by a professional, with those plugs or rivets?

[Michael Carter]

No, I'm going to wing it myself.

I'm going to cut patterns for the material in the next day or two using some close-ups that Joe sent me of his seats. The bottom seat cushion material is Velcro'ed to the bottom inside edge of the seat pan.

I always thought they were held on with snaps.

Like I said though, I hope the imperfections in the foam don't show through.

[Michael Carter]

Reproduction of the data plate on the back of the seat. Original supplied by Nick at APHS.

[vidarf]

Just a small tip from a guy working in a furniture shop:

Use a thin layer (10 mm or so) of fibre-cloth (kind of a wadding sheet) over the foam. That will get rid of the "imperfections". The fibre-cloth should be glued to the foam with spray-glue for best effect. It will not add to the thickness of your seat, and it will be flat as a pancake when you sit on it. But it smooths the surface very nice - and it lift the fabric off the foam, so any moisture will dry up fast.

The fabric should be cut in pieces corresponding to the various shapes. I would cut one piece for the seat top, one for each side and one for all the small square areas in the yoke cutout. Remember to add an inch on all sides.
When you are sewing the pieces together (for pete's sake, use a sewing machine!), do it on the inverse side (using LOTS of pins to keep the fabric in place). Make two runs - the first one with a thin thread, the second with a thicker one. Cut away excess fabric.

By doing it this way, you'll get a VERY decent look - and you will keep the sharp edges as well.

Another thing you could do (but it will require a lot of work) is to cut a strip of fabric, fold it in two lenghtwise and place between the seams. This is known as a "contrast chain" (not sure about the terminology here).

Good luck! This was truly inspiring!

Oh, and you may very well write a tutorial with measurements, please! I live in Norway, and it is VERY difficult to get hold of a real seat - at least if I want to stay in the sane end of the pricerange...

[Trevor Hale]

Vidarf,

Thanks for the excellent advice for Mike. I wouldn't have expected we would have a member from a furniture shop on board. Thats fantastic. I have one quick question though? Would you create the seat cover as if it was a slip on, removable type of thing that goes over each part? Or would you completely sew it around each of the entire foam portions?


Thanks,

Trev

[Michael Carter]

Thanks for the tips vidarf. In another thread I have photos of the foam covered in Rayon fabric in preparation for the seat upholstery.

The material will be cut as used on the real seats (or at least as close as I can tell from photos). The top is a separate piece, and the side panel seems to be one continuous piece running the circumference of the seat cushion.

The back edge of the seat material will fold under the cushion and be sewn to the edge of the flaps that Velcro to the underside of the seat edge.

The back cushion is cut the same way except the whole cushion is covered and the bottom edge will have a Velcro flap to close it up.

[vidarf]

I would use velcro, but if that doesn't work too well I would clamp the fabric directly onto the wooden frame (that's what done on furniture).
And I would make it as a "slipover". That's also how furniture makers do it. In fact, I've seen some sofa's where the fabric has been made like a slipover - with a zipper at the back. Not to make a fancy look, but to make it easy to assemble the thing.

I'll tell you, working with furniture has learned me a LOT! And I use lots of that knowledge in my simulator.
Plus - I have access to huge amounts of free material; Wood, screws, bolts...

A good tip for you guys: Talk to your local furniture shop, they migh have spare parts they want to get rid of. You can save a lot of money that way!

[Chester33]

How well can a cushion be made with good looking and very attractive. What is the range of cost.

[Anderson/SBSP]

Very nice!!!