Hello,

I have been prowling these boards since I bought an 87 Camaro I-Roc Z-28 in October of 2008. I found lots of great info and it gave me some ideas to fix up the car, so I figured I'd make my contribution

The drivers seat was torn to shreds and was stained from over 20 years of careless usage and the smell in the car was of stale cigarettes ingrained in the fabric. The door panels as usual were ripped and fraying.

The good part about the car is it had a custom pitch black paint job that was done right (the painter took off the hood louvres painted beneath them, and even behind the mirrors - a spot you can't even see). There was also next to no rust on the car at all, just a little spot in the trunk.

I ripped off the door panels (still in the works, as you'll see in the photos) and ripped out every seat. I had a 20 minute lesson with my mom and dad on how to sew and use a sewing machine and this is how it turned out.













The seats aren't 100% perfect, but like what many of you can relate to, is that if you do it yourself you have a million times more pride about it.

I hope you enjoy it. If you are doing the same project and need a couple tips I might be able to help.

 

hey i really like them nice job.. i wish i knew how to sew but how did you do it and what material is that?

 

Hey,

I used black Yukon vinyl and a red suede type material. To do it I ripped the cover off of the seat, took out the small metal ring that hold the cover on and took the cover off the seat. Then I numbered all the seams, removed the stitching, and traced all the pieces onto my new material. Cut out my new pieces and sewed them back together.

That's basically it. Just make sure to number every seam, because once the seat is in pieces you'd be screwed if you didn't.

 

It actually looks pretty good.

What kind of sewing machine did you use? Just a regular one or a big industrial type?

 

that looks very good especially for a first try keep up the good work and that camaro will be totally "yours" welcome to the board

 

That a ''Thug Bug'' In your center console?

 

The sewing machine I used is super old. Here is a photo that looks just like it



It's funny because we have a new sewing machine, but it sucks compared to this old one.
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The owner before me installed this alarm system in the car. When you get in the car you have to punch in the code or the alarm goes off. It's like a movie scene every time.

It's a super old Alpine alarm system that they don't sell anymore (I need the manual for it).

 

Not bad for a newbie with a sewing machine.

A regular sewing machine normally will not handle the thickness of material,
usually it needs a sewing machine with a "walking foot".

That machine is not regular, those machines can sew much more than a new one

If you try this again, remember the original material has streched!
and the foam is not as full as it once was

To pattern off of it will leave gatherings or wrinkles

If you were to glue a 1/2 foam to the seat cushion itself in sections
those wrinkles would mostly go away.

You could shrink the pattern, but that gts a little more complex

Good job for your first try!!

 

The sewing machine did have the foot to push the material along.

I found it pretty hard to trace the old pattern because over 20+ years of the old fabric stretching. I replaced all the old foam too, cause it was yellow and smelled pretty bad.

I think the thing I really learned is that I had to make my pattern smaller than the originals, so my drivers seat (which I did last) was probably the best of them all. You can see some loose fabric on the other seats because of that issue.