Show Off Your Upholstery

[HighWing]

Quite true but, if I were looking for a sewing machine to do upholstery, I'd start by looking for a old commercial walking foot or compound feed machine. (I'd first check to see if a sewing machine shop would rent me one.) Years of making boat canvas has spoiled me.

This is just like deja-vu all over again. In the early 80s I restored a genuine antique automobile - 1923 Marmon 34 Four Passenger Coupe also known as a Dr's Coupe. I rented a walking foot sewing machine for the upholstery and after two rental periods it was love and I ended up buying it. It is a great machine and when I was talking to the guy at the shop, I asked how thick a piece of leather I could sew with it. The answer was, "what ever will fit under the foot". I sewed quarter inch thick leather for the handles of the steamer trunk that rode above the back bumper. I used it in my Kitfox upholstery.
Lowell

[Tom Waid]

This is just like deja-vu all over again. In the early 80s I restored a genuine antique automobile - 1923 Marmon 34 Four Passenger Coupe also known as a Dr's Coupe. I rented a walking foot sewing machine for the upholstery and after two rental periods it was love and I ended up buying it. It is a great machine and when I was talking to the guy at the shop, I asked how thick a piece of leather I could sew with it. The answer was, "what ever will fit under the foot". I sewed quarter inch thick leather for the handles of the steamer trunk that rode above the back bumper. I used it in my Kitfox upholstery.
Lowell

Absolutely first class!!

[HighWing]

No one guessed the source of my fabric, but tj was very close. It was the fabric used in the First Class cabin of United Airllines in the late 80s and early 90s. I worked there during that time as a SOR which translates into the guy who puts all the passenger, baggage/freight and fuel info together to provide the Manifest which incudes W/B info for trim - a real challenge on the wide bodies with the multiple arms designated for each container. My wife still is an international FA. We found the fabric while shopping once and had to buy it with no real purpose in mind than the family thing.

tj - PM me your address and I will send you something I make for a son's shop in St. Augustine. It will make a Christmas gift for a lady in your life.
Lowell