The Upholstery Forum

Hi folks. Thought I'd finally join the forum having dropped into here a few times for advice.
I got into upholstery after spending 4 years restoring my '72 VW camper and wanting to do the upholstery myself too. I bought most of John's courses which gave me the confidence to do all of the upholstery. It ended up coming out really nice:





I've since started another restoration on a '73 Baja bug which has a pretty wild interior ready to go in it:




At the beginning of this year I decided to start a little side hustle doing upholstery for other people's projects with a view to see how it goes for a year or so and work out if it's something I could possibly do full time. So far I've had plenty of interest which is promising!

Another VW bay window camper bed and Porsche Tombstone seats:






And a set of seats for a VW T25 last week:


I've another set of these booked in, as well as another full bay window interior so am hopeful this may be something I can take on full time. We shall see.

I may have some questions soon as I have a friend with a boat that wants a full interior doing in it (my first marine job!). I live on the coast so this could be a good project to take on.

Very nice looking work!!

@JamesLey Very nice, very nice! I have a friend from Dorset. How long have you been into the upholstery then? Were you using some of the UK educational resources? The camper van training in the UK was pretty strong for a while.

I've only been doing it for about 20 months or so now. Learnt all of the upholstery elements from John's videos. I was pretty much self taught for the rest of the restoration on my camper, welding paint, interior etc although I did do a couple of welding courses to get up to speed.
Camper is currently my daily driver and gets used a lot!




The baja bug is still in progress, but hoping to get it on the road in the next 12 months or so:

I like your shop and your work is great! I do like the area more have seen loads of photos of Dorset and it is a paradise.

@JamesLey

Hi James, I’m also from the UK. LOVE YOUR PHOTOS AND YOUR WORK. I’m in a similar position but 20 months behind you in that I have only just got my sewing machine. I’m much happier with the ‘hard metal’ skills such as welding and spraying. Sewing is a whole new experience for me. Would love to be able to turn out a couple of seat covers at some point.

Will dig out a photo of the bug kit car I built about 30years ago (before the internet). Be good to swap stories and advice once safe to do so.

Keep you updates coming.

John

@John G Thanks!
Where abouts are you based?
I've an old school hot rod friend who has also recently taken up upholstery too. We were saying that even though metal work and upholstery are very different there are definitely some skills that transfer between the two so you may find some of it comes naturally.

I'd love to see some pics of your bug kit car! I'm currently focusing on getting the chassis rolling again so I can make some room down the workshop. Chassis is all painted ready to bolt bits back on, just need to get the running gear painted now:



Should be a fun little car when I'm done with it. I've upgraded it to IRS and a bus gearbox:

@JamesLey
Hi James, I’m based near Oxford. I’m hoping there are some transferable skills, I guess a spatial awareness and the ability to visualise is helpful in both metal work and upholstery.

I have to say you work looks very good, would love to get some advice from you.

You VW Bug picture brought back some memories for me. I’m guess it was the mid 80’s when I built my kit car. I can remember fabricating two new floor pans to replace the rotten VW ones.

Have found two photos.

The first is me lifting the fibreglass body to to the VW chassis using some dodgy old scaffolding - not to much cross bracing going on

The car was a Nova. It was white when I got it but I ended up painting it Rover Caribbean Blue.

The second photo is when it was finished. I had a white leather interior that I had made for it back then (very 80’s) my mistake was having the top of the dash covered in white leather - it looked great but cast a horrible reflection when driving. On well we learn from your mistakes.

@JamesLey I love hearing stories like your. I made the courses in hopes that it could enable people to start their own business. I would take the boat job. I love boats because they are usually easier than cars and I usually make more money on boats.

@John G That car is SOOOOO cool!

@John G That picture just screams 80s! Looks ace. Do you know where it is now?
Cheers @John. I've quoted my friend on the boat job so we'll see what happens (have another friend interested in some boat bits too).

Another set of VW T25 seats this week.




First time I've attempted to create covers for a headrest and from scratch as the original headrests are covered in some sort of heatshrunk plastic. I pinned tracing paper to it to make some basic templates, then made two prototypes to make sure the fit was good before copying the pattern to cardboard. I now have a good set of templates to use for future T25 headrests (already got a set booked in for next month).

Nice! I love the fabric choice.

Hi James, I'm another UK based member of this forum and have found it very helpful and informative. I'm not a upholsterer but I'm trying to upholster my husbands vw T5 seats. Could I ask what material you use for the middle of the seats-is it just sofa material or proper car upholstery material. I've not seen anything like it before.
Regarding Dorset, I've spent many happy years holidaying at my late Grandparents, who lived in a small village , just outside of Swanage. You are very lucky living in such a beautiful area

Hi there!
Which seats in particular were you referring to?
I tend to use a bit of a variety depending on what the customer wants.
I used car upholstery material for the green plaid interior above.
I get a lot of my material from www.upholstery-fabricsuk.co.uk, opting for their "Contract" grade materials which are designed for high contact use (hospitals, public transport etc).
Just avoid domestic grade stuff and you should be ok.
This recent VW westfalia interior I did used fabrics which are reproductions of the original fabrics:

Thanks for the infor regarding material. Not heard of the company but they are not far from where I live so will pop over to them when it's possible. I love the different colours you have used instead of the usual black leather

Lots of choice on that site, and Peter who runs it is really helpful.
It's nice having customers that want lots of differing looks. This one was picked up this week to go in a nice early bay that's just down the road from me:

@mrstee Welcome to the forum!

@JamesLey Its so cool the see how much your upholstery business has taken off!

@John honestly can't believe how busy I've become with it! I'm still working full time as a software engineer so have to fit these in around that, but I'm currently booked up until August or so. Must've done a dozen or so interiors this year already.

That is such a great story! Do you plan on doing upholstery full time eventually or keep it as a side business?

@John A side business for now with a view to reassess in a year or so to see if it's something I could do full time.