Motorcycle Seat - Patterning

[Richard Wasnock]

There is at least 1 tutorial on putting together a motorcycle seat around here, but I had more specific questions. My issue, and probably the issue of most people, is making the seat pattern, and then lining up your holes correctly.

Pretty much every seat I've done (5), I Mickey Mouse my way through the pattern design, and wing it on the holes.

Every seat I've done so far has a bottom pattern that is larger than the top due to the curve of the seat, and the foam. I also end up mounting the bottom and leaving it bigger than intended with no holes punched, then awkwardly getting the right size and cutting a bit away at a time as I repeatedly line up the top, then I punch holes of which 90% line up because of the size difference. I account for this and space the bottom holes a tiny bit wider than the top holes, which helps make everything work, but it's not perfect.

I've come to the conclusion that in order to line up my holes on two pieces of leather that are of different size, I should punch all my holes in the top piece, then lay it in the center of the bottom piece which is slightly larger(top side to top side/inverted) and draw a line out to the edge from the top holes to where the holes on the bottom piece should be (or guess), and this would both give me an exact number of holes, and exact spacing.

To accomplish this I need to stop the Mickey Mouse work of mounting a bottom piece with no holes punched.

*deep breath*

So, what's the best way to pattern out your top and bottom first? I saw a post saying they wrapped the seat with a plastic bag, then put tape all over it, drew the cut line, and cut along it. After that you just add a bit more if you want an overlap at your seem. This seems like a good way to do it, and would bring me another step closer to changing my ridiculous process. In fact I'll be trying this on the next one, but just wanted to check in if anyone had any other suggestions.

[longtooth]

There is at least 1 tutorial on putting together a motorcycle seat around here, but I had more specific questions. My issue, and probably the issue of most people, is making the seat pattern, and then lining up your holes correctly.

Pretty much every seat I've done (5), I Mickey Mouse my way through the pattern design, and wing it on the holes.

Every seat I've done so far has a bottom pattern that is larger than the top due to the curve of the seat, and the foam. I also end up mounting the bottom and leaving it bigger than intended with no holes punched, then awkwardly getting the right size and cutting a bit away at a time as I repeatedly line up the top, then I punch holes of which 90% line up because of the size difference. I account for this and space the bottom holes a tiny bit wider than the top holes, which helps make everything work, but it's not perfect.

I've come to the conclusion that in order to line up my holes on two pieces of leather that are of different size, I should punch all my holes in the top piece, then lay it in the center of the bottom piece which is slightly larger(top side to top side/inverted) and draw a line out to the edge from the top holes to where the holes on the bottom piece should be (or guess), and this would both give me an exact number of holes, and exact spacing.

To accomplish this I need to stop the Mickey Mouse work of mounting a bottom piece with no holes punched.

*deep breath*

So, what's the best way to pattern out your top and bottom first? I saw a post saying they wrapped the seat with a plastic bag, then put tape all over it, drew the cut line, and cut along it. After that you just add a bit more if you want an overlap at your seem. This seems like a good way to do it, and would bring me another step closer to changing my ridiculous process. In fact I'll be trying this on the next one, but just wanted to check in if anyone had any other suggestions.

[longtooth]

I watched Alligator Bob from Antioch, Ill. do a seat when I worked for him. He foams the seat then he black marks the the way he wants the seat to look. He then cuts out pieces of fabric to follow the black marks he made. Then I took his sample cuts and traced them on the leather allowing for a 3/16 stitch. Most of the time predicated on if he was going to use an exotic skin he had three to four sample pieces to cut out of the leather to make the seat. If, you go to his web site alligatorbob.com. you will see the seats he makes. I hope this helps!