VW Split Screen Tin Top Camper Van Upholstery.

Hello to you all.......happy new year to you all and WOW its going to be a bizzy one.......Bellow  is a project i am doing for a customer.........these photos show the striping down of the front seats and re covering in a white with a blue piping with a flower embroidered  design......have a look and i hope you like......

    

This is the seats before i started....some one had had a go at re covering them in the past..........well start again i think.

This is the drivers seat with the base removed and the old back still in place.....the start is always the hardest.....

There all striped down with the frames cleaned and painted ready for new seat and back pads.........

The replacements i use are the best i have found.they cost a little more but its well worth the money.

The double seat at the same stage ready for the covering.

I used the old pad to mark out the area for the tuck and roll and were the foam is to be placed on....

This is a close up of the customers own design flowers.......I can get any name or design that you wish......just ring or email me and i can chat to you in more detail : info@autotrimvw.com

This is showing you all the covering cut out for the drivers seat back........as you can see the flower in the top corner.

This is the marking out with soft pencil so very easy to remove once stitched through .

A close up shot showing how i mark the stitch line and hold the layers of material together very important to keep all the materials in place.

There.....all good so far with the tuck and roll in place and the panel ready for the piping.

This shows the under side of the drivers seat,all under tension.....if you get this right you only need a very few fixing points...........

A close up shot of the tension wire fitted round its fixing point....this keeps the covering tight and in place.

This shows the back with the foam all on and ready for the back cover to go on..............you can use silicon spray to help the cover slid on.

The over side of the back....with the foam wrapped round...I find this helps make such a neater job.

All done.................just a little adjusting to do then ready for the back to be fixed on.

Here you can see the flower design in place and looking very smart...........

Done...pew....a lot of car was needed to make sure the lines on the seat line up with the back....

There all ready to be fitted to the bus...........Keep looking as there is much more to come on this bus and i cant wait to see it all in place.

This is the bus as it came in......its having some major work doing to the body work ...see you all soon i hoped you liked....if you have any questions please feel free to ring or pop in.tel : 07794978914

cheers Colin.

1963 WV Split Screen Van Conversion to a Ice Cream Van

Hello to you all.....Here is a great project that we have been working on and nearing completion, its a restoration from a 1963 vw split screen van to a very nice ice cream van......this customer wants the best and WOW she is getting it, I have to undertake the re building of the original front single and double front seats.... including front  door cards and cab area headlining. There is also a bespoke side canopy being made by myself as you will see.......hope you all like.

This is a picture of the bus with all the welding just been done and the process of making the body work under way.........

Were do i start.......As you can see the dust and the years have not been so kind to these seats,

No door cards or kick boards.......these are long since rotted away and were thrown away and new ones made......

This is a Donner seat that i had , this was needed because the seat base on the original bus had rusted away .... so new seat had to be found.....Well almost new........loll.

Once all the covers were removed they were in quite good condition....so these were used as patterns for the new covers.....you can just see the black marks showing.....these help when re sewing the new covers......time for a cuppa..........

All unpick and ready for the cutting....i always lay out the material and place the old patterns on the new material to see how they fit...........

Here you can see the seat taking shape.....the center tuck and roll style going from front to back with the contrast outer panels sew on.......ready for the piping.

And there you go the piping sewing on......at this stage it is best to trial fit to the seat and test the fit.....

 

There you go......the side boarder sewn on in place....you can see the black marks from the old cover i transferred these over to the new material when cutting so it allows the lining up of the panels...........

This shot shows the base all cleaned and painted up ready for the cover to go on......always make sure the padding's are in good condition....if in doubt replace.........as the finished look will be only as good as the padding inside.............

This is the just come back from the painters look...........again a very important part to getting the end job to look good and last a long time..........

The finished seat..............as i always make sure the lines all match up and i think this very retro look is so great for this van.

A trial fit to see how they look and fit.......spot on.

A different angle....you can see the colours were chosen to match the outer van colour......cant wait to buy an ice cream of this van.............loll 

Just a different picture showing the seats in place.

A step forward in time................all the windows in and trim on and almost ready, You can see the custom opening.... this is going to be the serving area..........

A better angle..you can see my custom frame work being made.......This is to finish the look of the van and to give the customers some cover if it rains............

A closer look ....you can see the bespoke arms made ....these can be removed when not in use......simple.....not !!!!! this took over 3 days to make and get to a finished part.

This is the template being fitted ,I use this as a pattern ...the same process as the seats........ 

 As you can see from the inside......taking time to pattern will make the end job look great.

 All done.......the van in all her glory......waiting for the owner to pick her up and start selling ice creams.......
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 A angle shot showing the lovely finish and the front cab trimming all ready to go....

 As you can see a very well balanced cab.....comfortable seats and door cards with hard wearing carpet and kick panels for the hard wear that will go on in this ice cream van....

                                                Just a different angle... i love the colours

             A close up with the top open and cover on.... this cover can be put up in 5 Min's by one person..

        Cream colour to match the van look even better when sign written.

 The money shot......... As they say and Wow she look good.....

I hope you all liked the pictures look out for more projects to follow.If you need any help on your project just contact me on : 07794978914

cheers Colin.

Porsche Front Seat Strip Down And Repair

Hello to you all here is a pair of front Porsche seats out of a 911 car, These seats are very rare as the covering on them has Porsche written across the fabric....The customer was keen to keep this material as its no longer available. I had to carefully strip the seats down so he could hand wash the covers ready for me to repair and re fit.....enjoy.....

you can contact me  on : 

email : incavilla@aol.com

tel : 07794978914

This is the seat with it half striped down.......you can see the dirt on the lower left back corner......all of the foam seat swabs were in good condition and with a bit of work and new over foam added they were re used....

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This is the back and the inner foam striped down and ready for repair and the cleaned cover put back on.

A close up shot showing the wear and split in the foam seat swab.......a easy repair and it be as good as new.

There is the back ready for strip down you can see the writing that makes this cover special.

The seat striped down needing some new piping making up in matching vinyl and sewing in,

This is the back laid out with the outside back panel removed also the piping removed read for cleaning and new piping fixing on...Time for a cuppa.....

This shows the piping cut and sew ready for re sewing....

Here you can see the new piping sew in place a very close match to the original.

The old piping laid  out next to the new....you can see were the old one has worn !!!!!

This is a close up shot of the hand stapler clipping the outside back to the newly washed inside back with the new piping fixed.

A close up shot of the sewing process.......with the piping foot on the sewing machine allowing the piping to be sewn.

All done......wow what a difference a good clean and a new foam layer....it looks as good as new.......Hope you all liked the photos....if you have any questions please feel free and email me....

Thanks....Colin. 

BMW R1150 GSA Moter Bike Seat Re Cover...................



Hello  to you all.... well this is a bit of a different job.......A BMW  motor bike seat as you can see the original cover was in two tone colour ,The customer needed major adjustments to the seating height, as he has  long legs the seat height had to be adjusted as you can see in the pictures bellow, I hope you all like.

You can contact me on :

email : incavilla@aol.com 

tel : 07794978914

The angle of the front seat showing how low this made the seat.

                 

Here  you can see the shape that has to be reproduced when add extra foam

The cover all removed ready for my artistic side of me to have fun sculpting ....

This is the very first stage of gluing and shaping the foam.....slowly and carefully till it starts looking right.

There you can see the new foam shaped and ready for the foam topping to go on..... I used a specialised foam cutting electric cutter but a cheap and easy way is a electric calving knife.... dose the job as good.....Remember to ask mum before using...lol.

There all done ready for the top covering. again preparation is key to the finished look.... any lumps or hollows will show up now....very hard to put right.

All done.....just like that.... well not quite.....a few hours of stretching and gently heating the vinyl to help it stretch round the shape.

I hope you all can see the extra shape and height that i achieved..... if you need any help or advice please feel free to ring me or email me.

cheers Colin