body and interior Cutting carpet set.

['76mintgrün'02]

Speaking of threads, I would love to see one like this from the do-it-yourself upholsterers among us.  

 

It is inspiring to see the work of such capable crafts(wo)men.

[stricht8]

What thread size did you use for those lovely stitches?

Yes and was it nylon or polyester?

[nbcbird]

Esty--the "blue" carpet is actually charcoal German wool blend from World U (photo hue a bit off). I ordered it several times. Imagine the blend must have some polyester (or is the carpet content misrepresented)?

Edited February 6, 2015 by nbcbird

[Grover]

I use 92 weight nylon thread. I've tried both thinner and thicker, and have found that 92 is most pleasing to my eye. It's an aesthetic choice though. If you are thinking of doing some DIY upholstery, I think one of the first things you'll need to look at is the machine you have available to you. I sewed some covers for my center console side panels a while back with a borrowed home machine. While the machine was JUST capable of doing this, it really struggled to maintain a nice constant stich length as it was not a walking foot machine. Doing much more than a couple of layers of vinyl, or perhaps a layer of vinyl and some foam, and a home machine will really struggle. The machine i have now is easily capable of four layers of vinyl plus two layers of scrim foam, or trimming carpet, or the like. 

[esty]

Esty--the "blue" carpet is actually charcoal German wool blend from World U (photo hue a bit off). I ordered it several times. Imagine the blend must have some polyester (or is the carpet content misrepresented)?

i've used that type carpet a few times and although i don't claim to be a scientist nor did i send it to a lab for analysis,  just doing the burn, sniff test tells me that it's synthetic...my opinion is that if they are selling it as wool, they are being deceptive

 

 

this was taken from World's website a few years ago when i wrote the following...

 

 

....according to World Upholstery's web site and their description of domestic loop and imported loop,

they say that domestic loop carpet is tufted (manufactured) in America from acrylic fiber

and their import loop carpet is tufted in germany of synthetic fiber

 

(acrylic fibers - synthetic fibers....semantics)

 

http://estycarpet.blogspot.com/p/fwiw_7.html

 

 

 

grover...you should open an upholstery shop....sigh...i'd love to have the time to do work like that...i quickly discovered my patience limits when i leather covered a dash

Edited February 6, 2015 by esty

[Grover]

Thanks for the kind words Esty. I really enjoy doing upholstery, but don't think I could swing it as a career. I tend to really like doing the detail work, which is inevitably very time consuming, and doubt many folks would be willing to pay that much for my time. I may try to do the odd job here and there for friends, but think it's probably just as well I keep it a hobby.

[stricht8]

Here's my first piece of carpet. Sewing the binding was no picnic as Esty warned. It's not perfect but I think acceptable for a first try.

[stricht8]

And it fits!

[bluedevils]

look really nice, congrads. I need to start practising this.  

[stricht8]

Thanks! I'm really enjoying it. Never thought a sewing machine would be so much fun!

[eurotrash]

really looks great... less some speakers, of course.  

[stricht8]

Bit by bit I'm making progress on my carpet. The piece along the edge of the front seats is clearly the biggest challenge yet. Between cutting and sewing on the binding, I'm at two hrs per piece! As previously discussed, sewing the pre-made binding material (what factory used) with stitching visible (again in line with factory technique) has proven to be difficult and time consuming. Going around tight curves with this inflexible binding is the most difficult part. It seems as if the factory workers were challenged with this as well as some areas on the factory carpet were sewn over a couple of times to get it right. This, plus the tightening up of stitch length around the bends in order to better tack down the buckled up binding in this area leads me to believe that it was done without the help of a specialized binding feeder.

In order to both duplicate factory technique, and keep the binding better adhered to the carpet, I decreased stitch length in these areas as well.

Here are some pics of the passenger side not yet installed.

[stricht8]

Here are some pics of driver's side installed in car:

[esty]

fwiw...the factory, like all of the places you'll get carpet online use binding machines...it has an attachment that carries a roll of the binding material and the machine and attachment folds and feeds the binding as you sew...the machines are big and very expensive but it doesn't require much skill to drive one

 

i applaud you for your efforts

[stricht8]

I don't know about their use of binding machines. Attached below is a corner of my original carpet. If you look closely, you will see where the area was stitched twice, perhaps becsuse they didn't get it right the first time- I'm not sure? This doesn't seem consistent with what a binding machine would do. Additionally, the stitch length was decreased at the tight curves. In my opinion, this attention to detail is inconsistent with what a non-skilled worker operating a binding machine would do but who knows, I've never operated a binding machine so I lack the ability to comment with any certainty. These are just my observations.

Edited April 13, 2015 by stricht8