DIY seat upholstery

Tom · Post by **Tom** » Sat Apr 07, 2012 8:45 pm

Well, let me preface by saying I'm very happy with the Stella for the price.
But man, some of these materials are cheap cheap cheap. I'm not bitching in the least. In fact I love Genuine's choices when it comes to balancing keeping down costs for us, and making sure they give us quality.

This seat cover is one thing that I didn't like though. I always complained about the color (yeah but then wait till you see what I've replaced it with, lol) but more than that, mine was just falling apart. The sun was taking its toll. It hadn't torn through yet, but I wanted to replace it before it was open and I was damaging the foam under.

Aside from all this, I have a recent new hobby. Leatherwork. I'm not very good at it, but it's been fun and like a lot of 'expensive' hobbies, it seems expensive when you leave the store, but not so much over the hours you spend playing with it. I was at the local Tandy's lately getting some advice from the guru on some other project I was doing, and I happened upon a stack of upholstery leather on sale! Yikes the color is not great (especially on the dijon scooter) but it was cheap, and I'd have lots of practice on cheap leather. So I bought it.

Taking the seat cover off, it started really falling apart in my hands. I started to get scared that this wasn't going to work out and I'd be seatless come Monday. But in fact, it was really easy!

I took the cover off, took it apart with the seam ripper and then cut out similarly shaped pieces (there are only three). I left half an inch all the way around each piece, but drew a red outline (on the soft side of the leather) to mark where the original piece extended to. This way I could have extra, but a guide in case I wanted to trim later.

Stitching the leather required using an awl tool to poke the holes ahead of time, because the needle can't go through it. This is kind of awkward in a way that's hard to explain till you do it. Basically the best way I found was to place the pieces over the foam seat, stitch them together in about four places (just four single stiches) then take it off and you have it holding together while you stitch just behind that (to make it a little tighter).
When you're finished, flip it over so that the edges are inside where you want them.

My edges are a little funky, but I'm proud anyway. After all, I did it myself cheap style and as long as I can handle the color, it should last!

Here's pics. I'll put one of it on the scoot up when I've stapled the extra material under the seat.

Lokky · Post by **Lokky** » Sat Apr 07, 2012 8:52 pm

Great job! My seat is starting to rip too and I am considering either an upgrade or redoing the cover.

I really wish there was an easy way to fit a split seat to the stella, a springy seat for the rider would be much comfier.

Tom · Post by **Tom** » Sat Apr 07, 2012 8:54 pm

AND on the bike. Horrible color combination! But wow, talk about individualized.

You'll definitely know it's me if I ride past.

With the price of the leather being so reasonable, I'll probably re-do this in a color I like down the road.. Just didn't want to spend too much till I knew I could pull it off.

Would be great on one of those Army green Stellas though- Maybe even a cream?

*Pictures edited after stapling in and adding the strap back on.

Tom · Post by **Tom** » Sat Apr 07, 2012 9:03 pm

Lokky wrote:Great job! My seat is starting to rip too and I am considering either an upgrade or redoing the cover.

I really wish there was an easy way to fit a split seat to the stella, a springy seat for the rider would be much comfier.

Thanks!

Yeah, I was thinking a single seat would be best. Unfortunately the black plastic underneath kind of ruins the classic illusion for me. So much so, I'm not even sure I'd like it if somebody came out with a solution for that.. I'm also thinking about how feasible it would be to cut the foam so that you get a racing style seat. The problem I can imagine with that is that it would take a very complicated pattern to cover such a seat. The shape of the seat it came with is VERY easy to reproduce.

If anybody wants to try one, let me know. I'll cut out a pattern for you. Heck I even have enough of this funky green leather left to make an entire scooter cover. Maybe I need to start taking apart the bench seats in the datsun. HMmmm..

lorenajack · Post by **lorenajack** » Wed May 30, 2012 8:42 pm

Nice Job and good tips!! Replacement seats are expensive. My Stella came with a 'girly-looking' cover over the cracked black seat! I made a quick and dirty cover using a towel type material (one piece), then threaded elastic inside, put over the girly seat and pulled the elastic tight.
Seat no longer snaps in place, but that's OK. At least I don't look like a pussy going down the road!!

ThreeSheets · Post by **ThreeSheets** » Fri Jun 15, 2012 1:44 pm

great job. Looks good! love to see the innovation Stella and buddy owners come up with to make their rides unique.