relic rider Report post Posted March 5, 2012 I am new to the forum and leatherworking , what got me interested in leather work is that i wanted to make a seat for my bike , so i got a kit and made some belts ,walleta ,key chains ect. Now i am doing my seat ,just recovering stock seat for my bike, i cut my top peice punched the holes , then i cut my side piece laid out the holes and punched . I then did my tooling and dyed both peices and then laced together, the reason was that i was doing two different colors tan and dark brown. Now i am putting it on ,i glued the top part to the seat foam and i am trying to pull the sides tight but cant seem to get them tight. My question is should i wet the sides to help shape or form them and if so how wet should i get them? S ince it is already dyed should i wet from the back side ? Hot or cold water or does it matter. I will try to post pictures of what i have done if i caan figure out how to do it i am not very good on computers so it may take me a while Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
benlilly1 Report post Posted March 5, 2012 Sounds like the plan was good right up to the glueing. You can't get it tight because it's stiff? I would try wetting only the back. I only make solo seats so I only deal with a top and bottom. Post some photos...maybe someone else has a suggestion. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Cyberthrasher Report post Posted March 5, 2012 If you used a water based dye, I'd be pretty worried about wetting the front. I'm having troubles picturing the exact problem though, so I don't want to tread where I don't really know. I've seen comments both ways about the gluing of the top. Some say it will never form right if you glue, while others say it will sag in the future if you don't. If you can manage to get some pictures up of the problem, that would help a lot. I'd be willing to post them for you too if you want to email them to me. Send me a PM if that's the case and I'll get you my email address. There are quite a few excellent seat builders here so I'm sure someone will have an answer for you. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Iron Pounder Report post Posted March 5, 2012 I am new to the forum and leatherworking , what got me interested in leather work is that i wanted to make a seat for my bike , so i got a kit and made some belts ,walleta ,key chains ect. Now i am doing my seat ,just recovering stock seat for my bike, i cut my top peice punched the holes , then i cut my side piece laid out the holes and punched . I then did my tooling and dyed both peices and then laced together, the reason was that i was doing two different colors tan and dark brown. Now i am putting it on ,i glued the top part to the seat foam and i am trying to pull the sides tight but cant seem to get them tight. My question is should i wet the sides to help shape or form them and if so how wet should i get them? S ince it is already dyed should i wet from the back side ? Hot or cold water or does it matter. I will try to post pictures of what i have done if i caan figure out how to do it i am not very good on computers so it may take me a while Can you upload some pictures off how you are trying to do the seat? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
relic rider Report post Posted March 6, 2012 As i said earlier i am not to good on computers every time i try to upload or send a pic it tells me it is to big , cant do it . Sometimes it will work others not . After posting this i found a thread on here that is exactly what i am doing ROGERS SEAT TUTORIAL . I have my tooled seat top that i laced to the seat skirt (which is one big peice ). Then i glued the seat top to the foam just a little in the middle to help hold it in place , my seat has quite a curve on it were you sit . But now i am haveing a hard time to get the sides tight because of the seat shape , i see from his tutorial that he wets his to help stretch it , but he does it before he dyes it though Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Scary Leatherworks Report post Posted March 6, 2012 As i said earlier i am not to good on computers every time i try to upload or send a pic it tells me it is to big , cant do it . Sometimes it will work others not . After posting this i found a thread on here that is exactly what i am doing ROGERS SEAT TUTORIAL . I have my tooled seat top that i laced to the seat skirt (which is one big peice ). Then i glued the seat top to the foam just a little in the middle to help hold it in place , my seat has quite a curve on it were you sit . But now i am haveing a hard time to get the sides tight because of the seat shape , i see from his tutorial that he wets his to help stretch it , but he does it before he dyes it though since you can't upload pics I'm assuming from your description that your seat is something like this if so, they are difficult to form into that deep seat area. You must wet the "sides" or skirt as you put it and wet form it. it takes several times and your fingers will hurt from all the pulling when you are done. I find when I do a seat with a deep curve that it's better to make 2 "sides" that fit the curve of the seat. That way you dont have to try and pull a flat piece into a shape. I hold a stiff piece of construction paper next to it and trace the seat curve then transfer that to my leather adding for an overlapping seam. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
relic rider Report post Posted March 6, 2012 THANKS SCARY that seat is pretty close to what mine is , that deep curve in the butt area. I thought of doing the skirt in two peices before i started but all the other seats i have seen that are similar have a one peice and i didnt want to screw it up with two so i went with one . Now i have the one peice and will have to make it work , i will wet it and do as you say just keep pulling it until it is good THANKS Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
