Saddle Seat Cover..flying By The Seat Of My Pants, I'm Having Sum Design Issues.

[KSbabbs]

I decided to try and make a seat cover for my saddle to dress it up but could not find a pattern to go off so i decided to wing it. I made a similar one for my daughters saddle out of fabric but that would not hold up for how hard I ride in my saddle so I decided to use some heavy duty suede. I do not have a whole lot of experience with leather but I consider myself fairly crafty and figured I could come up with something. There are a few problems I am running into that I hoped someone could give me some ideas to maybe help me out with. The first and most testing thing I've ran into is how to make the suede gather around the back of the saddle seat in a clean look. The two things I've debated on doing are 1) to add eyelets and lace the back of it up, but I'm concerned with tensile strength of the lacing since this will be partially what keeps the cover in place while in use. Plus it would be nice to have that whole area to customize and add a name or something blingy too. Or 2) was to add a draw string around the base of it but I don't really know how that would work with suede. I'm afraid it will look bulky and ugly. I've also debated using pleats and/ or a zipper down the back but once again my lack of experience with leather has me unsure of the best course of action. If anyone had any ideas of what I could do to solve this problem, it would be great.

The other issue I'm having is how to keep it tightly secure to the seat without sliding around. I've made a loop at the front that goes through the hole in the front and back up over the saddle horn and then however I end up securing it in the back but I'm not confident that will hold it in place. Maybe this will just have to be a trial and error thing.

The one last thing that I'm concerned about as well is the suede leaving dye on my pant seat. It's a black suede and just working with it the little I have I noticed it leaves a bit of color on my hands. The last thing I want is my rear end and expensive jeans covered in black dye when I get out of the saddle!...lol Is there something I can treat the suede with to keep it from doing this?

Thanks again for all your help and suggestions!

[BillB]

I would suggest you look at quality rain covers for motorcycle touring bike seats. These covers have to be able to slip over seat area and the draw tight below the seat which is a smaller area. Because the area below the seat represent a small area than the set you will always have some gather, especially around the back to accommodate that area difference.

I would also suggest you change the material you are using. If you are having trouble with the dye rubbing off on your hands and are worried about it rubbing off on your pants, why are you not also worried about it rubbing of on that saddle you are trying to protect. I would use some 2 - 4 oz natural leather.

That is my opinion at least.

BillB

[$$hobby]

I decided to try and make a seat cover for my saddle to dress it up but could not find a pattern to go off so i decided to wing it. I made a similar one for my daughters saddle out of fabric but that would not hold up for how hard I ride in my saddle so I decided to use some heavy duty suede. I do not have a whole lot of experience with leather but I consider myself fairly crafty and figured I could come up with something. There are a few problems I am running into that I hoped someone could give me some ideas to maybe help me out with. The first and most testing thing I've ran into is how to make the suede gather around the back of the saddle seat in a clean look. The two things I've debated on doing are 1) to add eyelets and lace the back of it up, but I'm concerned with tensile strength of the lacing since this will be partially what keeps the cover in place while in use. Plus it would be nice to have that whole area to customize and add a name or something blingy too. Or 2) was to add a draw string around the base of it but I don't really know how that would work with suede. I'm afraid it will look bulky and ugly. I've also debated using pleats and/ or a zipper down the back but once again my lack of experience with leather has me unsure of the best course of action. If anyone had any ideas of what I could do to solve this problem, it would be great.

The other issue I'm having is how to keep it tightly secure to the seat without sliding around. I've made a loop at the front that goes through the hole in the front and back up over the saddle horn and then however I end up securing it in the back but I'm not confident that will hold it in place. Maybe this will just have to be a trial and error thing.

The one last thing that I'm concerned about as well is the suede leaving dye on my pant seat. It's a black suede and just working with it the little I have I noticed it leaves a bit of color on my hands. The last thing I want is my rear end and expensive jeans covered in black dye when I get out of the saddle!...lol Is there something I can treat the suede with to keep it from doing this?

Thanks again for all your help and suggestions!

welcome.

im not sure if it will make a dif to some, but what type of saddle are you speaking of?

Most of my riding has been done in an english saddle w/o the suede seat. So, i know how well a non sueded seat/breach can buff a saddle. I would belive that a suede seat on the saddle will help in minimizing the buffing action of the cover. however, if one is more sticky then the other, i think that some laws will come into affect. the one with the least stickyness will be the one to slip sooner.

i think youre going to have to deal with this issue in steps.

1. make patterns of whatever you do so you can replicate it when you wish.

2. do it by T&E.

3. dont worry about making it "pretty" or for "blinz" in the beginning. theres time for that AFTER you get your pattern down pat.

Securing it to the saddle is going to be limited. If its an english saddle, there isnt alot of attachment points other then some D rings in front/back. You can try to make it slip over the Skirts and use the girth/stirrups to hold it on the sides.

i think youre going to have to do some T&E testing in the saddle. I would make several samples and spend some time trying them.

afa the staining on expensive jeans. i like to look at a nice tush and if it has a saddle wear pattern, it makes it better imo. but if you dont want to attact that type of attention, there was someone that gave info on how to minimize that rub off of the black.

> i do have an idea the construction tho. Instead of using 1 type of material, why not make it using 2 or more? if you make the back/cantle part out of leather (weight?) and follow the shape/contour of the existing cantle, and stitch/attach the suede to it, it should be rigid enough to hold your blingz and strong enough to hold some fasteners to attach to any D rings if any.

when it comes to making things that havnet been done or seen, you have to think outside the box and do alot of T&E.

Edited September 10, 2011 by $$hobby

[KSbabbs]

I would suggest you look at quality rain covers for motorcycle touring bike seats. These covers have to be able to slip over seat area and the draw tight below the seat which is a smaller area. Because the area below the seat represent a small area than the set you will always have some gather, especially around the back to accommodate that area difference.

I would also suggest you change the material you are using. If you are having trouble with the dye rubbing off on your hands and are worried about it rubbing off on your pants, why are you not also worried about it rubbing of on that saddle you are trying to protect. I would use some 2 - 4 oz natural leather.

That is my opinion at least.

BillB

Thanks for your input guys. I should probably make myself a little clearer on the project itself and maybe add some pictures. I am making this not to protect the seat of my western saddle but to add some removable customization and flash to it without ruining my saddle. I have sewn a maltese cross to the seat of it in my horses colors and plan on adding some rhinestones to the back of the the cantal eventully when I resolve the design issues. My biggest thing is I want this to be removable when styles change (or if I just want to change my horses "outfit") but secure under my rearend when riding. I see examples of "tush cushes" for saddles made out of fleece all the time but I have enough of my own "cush" and I just want something that looks classy. The seat on the saddle is already a dark suede so I am not worried about it staining that so much but I really dont want to ruin my nice jeans when riding. The whole purpose of this project after all is to dress my horse and myself up. I had someone sugest Tomsons water seal...Is that a bad idea? I will browse around on here some more and see if I can find that info if someone has posted on keeping the dye from rubbing off. Thanks so much again for putting up with my newbie butt.

[electrathon]

Kelley,

This is Aaron, I was talking to you today at Tandy.

LMK if there as anything you neeed help with.