Badlander Seat

[King's X]

My best friend has an 07 harley with a badlander seat that his wife wants me to recover in two types of leather for his upcoming birthday. She had the leather and one of her selections is alligator. I know that this leather was expensive, so I am really hesitant on taking the job, but I do not want to let him or her down. Is there seat guru's that have experience recovering a "badlander" seat that can help. She wants it to carry on the same design and pieces that are on the seat now. The top will be plain black leather and the side panels are going to have the alligator leather. She is not looking for any lacing (which I don't know how to do anyways), just reguarly stitching. The deadline is June 13th. If any seat guru can help, I would appreciate it!

Appreciate any help in advance....thanks.

[Ian]

My best friend has an 07 harley with a badlander seat that his wife wants me to recover in two types of leather for his upcoming birthday. She had the leather and one of her selections is alligator. I know that this leather was expensive, so I am really hesitant on taking the job, but I do not want to let him or her down. Is there seat guru's that have experience recovering a "badlander" seat that can help. She wants it to carry on the same design and pieces that are on the seat now. The top will be plain black leather and the side panels are going to have the alligator leather. She is not looking for any lacing (which I don't know how to do anyways), just reguarly stitching. The deadline is June 13th. If any seat guru can help, I would appreciate it!

Appreciate any help in advance....thanks.

I guess the first question would be - do you have a walking foot sewing machine? If you do, then recovering an OEM seat is pretty much unpicking the stitches, carefully ironing the sections(with a WARM iron and a piece of cloth on the vinyl). Spray a very light coat of adhesive on the back of the sections and adhere them to poster board. Then, trace around the sections (including the register marks) Cut out your cardboard pattern pieces and transfer them to the leather (you can use a ball point pen, since it will not show) Then cut out your pieces and sew them together.

There are a million small things like doing the top stitching, etc, but without knowing your experience, it would take a small book to detail everything. But, thats a start. By the way Euro Leather has a nice matte finished crocodile embossed leather that works well. It's the same as what Corbin uses.

[King's X]

Ian....I appreciate the quick response, but no I do not own that type of machine. All the leather work that I do is done by hand to include the sewing. thanks.

[whinewine]

Atx:

check out the previous posts by Outcast & by Beezachoppa to get an idea of how to construct a similar seat. The only difference would be the sewing vs the lacing. I've also done a similar seat & I have a few posts, also, on its construction.

As far as using the vinyl as a pattern, well, good luck... I can't speak for all vinyl seats, but when I tore the one I did apart, I found out that the plastic was stretched & no matter what I did, I couldn't get the pieces to lie flat. I used hair dryers & a heat gun & still couldn't get it flat. At that point, I thought "OMG, I'm screwed! The seat's in pieces & now I gotta make my own pattern" (which Outcast definitely walked me through the process). I don't want to disillusion you, but just expect some surprises & think this out well and thoroughly. For the sides I used 3-4oz veg-tan, which, when wet, will mold nicely around the curves- I don't know if the alligator will mold when wet. If not, you may have problems with the fitting around the curves. It's a big project, but it can be done. Check out all the posts first, though to get an idea of what's involved.

good luck

russ

[Roger]

that will be a tough job to do by hand and a short deadline.

it should cover rather easy though.

as ian said use the original cover as a template

[King's X]

Whinewine & Beeza

I appreciate the response. Your comments about being screwed is what I am afraid of. I didn't think about wetting and forming the top. As for the alligator, it is going on the side and no real bending will be required. I may look around here for a seat maker to see if they can do it.

Thanks for the help and comments.

ATX

[whinewine]

Whinewine & Beeza

I appreciate the response. Your comments about being screwed is what I am afraid of. I didn't think about wetting and forming the top. As for the alligator, it is going on the side and no real bending will be required. I may look around here for a seat maker to see if they can do it.

Thanks for the help and comments.

ATX

Atx:

the top is not a problem- the sides are what need to be stretched, pulled, molded, fit in order to be nicely tucked underneath. That's why I used thinner veg-tan for the sides- that's why my caution about the alligator sides- will they stretch? can they be molded? Or will you need to sew on a piece of thin veg-tan below the alligator, just so you can wet/stretch fit it under the seat in order to be fastened? If it's embossed VEG-TAN alligator, & thin enough, you can probably do the wet/stretch...

Again, it certainly can be done, & once it's done, you'll say, wow! lookin' good- i did that! But for your first, you'll have a lot of second thoughts & gut-wrenchers until it's finished. And once it's done (done being the operative term), you'll say to yourself- 'it wasn't that bad'.

good luck. don't be discouraged but keep your eyes open about this.

russ

[King's X]

Atx:

the top is not a problem- the sides are what need to be stretched, pulled, molded, fit in order to be nicely tucked underneath. That's why I used thinner veg-tan for the sides- that's why my caution about the alligator sides- will they stretch? can they be molded? Or will you need to sew on a piece of thin veg-tan below the alligator, just so you can wet/stretch fit it under the seat in order to be fastened? If it's embossed VEG-TAN alligator, & thin enough, you can probably do the wet/stretch...

Again, it certainly can be done, & once it's done, you'll say, wow! lookin' good- i did that! But for your first, you'll have a lot of second thoughts & gut-wrenchers until it's finished. And once it's done (done being the operative term), you'll say to yourself- 'it wasn't that bad'.

good luck. don't be discouraged but keep your eyes open about this.

russ

I appreciate the help!