Making Truck Seat Covers

[albertacountrygirl]

I just got asked if I could make a set of pick-up truck seat covers. The gentleman has tanned elk skins that he wants to use. The headrests he wants in a tooling leather with some hand tooling done. That is not a problem because I've done tooling for years so I can figure out that part. Also, he wants some fancy lacing to show, and he hasn't explained this part to me yet. I'm thinking that he wants the elk skins joined in places in a nice pattern of some sort and using fancy lacing to show the stitches.

My question is (okay - a few questions!): How would I go about doing something like this and how do I figure out how much to charge him? What would be the best way to lace the skins together and using what sort of lace that wouldn't tear apart the skins with a person getting in and out all the time? Should I make the covers to fit exactly like the original or would they look better with "uneven" edges hanging down the front so they just look as if they are laying over the bottom part of the seat? Do I leave on the old seat material and just make a "removable cover"?

I've never made anything such as this before but am willing to try. Except that I don't want to go in totally blind and stupid! And, I definitely don't want to abuse or wreck his elk skins. Also, I have never done anything for someone where they have supplied the leather. I know what to charge for my normal things but this has me stumped.

So, if any of you have suggestions on how I would complete something like this I would much appreciate it. Help with some sort of instructions would be awesome too if any of you can help there.

[electrathon]

I would be very afraid of doing my first seat cover in leather, especially emotionally attached leather. Chrome tanned elk is a very stretchy leather too, making it far harder than normal.

If I were you I would want to do at least a half a dozen ot more covers before I tackled this.

Aaron

[Beaverslayer]

First off, welcome to the forum albertacountrygirl....

It's all about confidence in your own abilities to take on a project like this. There is quite a bit involved whether you machine sew or hand lace these seat covers together. The first thing you need to know, is it a "Bench Seat" or "Bucket Seats", is there a "Console" between the buckets?

Once you've found out what kind of seat is in the truck, then you'll want to purchase a set of "Manufactured" seat covers from Canadian Tire or Wally World. You can then disassemble them and use them as a pattern. (Be sure to include the price of the seat covers in your cost)

The head rests should not be a problem, even if you tool and carve them. You can lace them together and they will become an outer skin for the factory material. Have him leave the head rests with you, so you can use them to measure and fabricate the pieces.

If it were me making the seat covers, I would use a veg tan leather on the sides and about three inches from the sides on the "Seat" part as well. This will allow for the "Wear" that usually occurs on the side of seats in pick-up trucks. It may be advisable to actually make the sides and fronts from veg tan leather, this will also allow for easy cleaning of the fronts of the covers...(we both know how muddy guys get the cabs of their trucks)...

So now that you have the front and sides made from veg tan, his elk hides can then be used for the seat and back rest areas, this should greatly cut down on the amount of hide you need to use from his hides...and allow for a mistake or two....lol...You can cut your own lace from his elk hides and use this to lace the covers together. You could also make some tooled/carved centre pieces for the top of the seat back and lace them in as well.

You'll have to use the "Securing Straps" that are attached to the covers you purchased, and machine sew them into place the same as they were on the store bought ones. This way he'll be able to remove them as needed.

I see no real problems with you taking on this project, as long as you feel you are capable with doing them. It's not like your making a saddle for a working horse. As long as you get the right seat cover as a template, disassemble it and make templates of the pieces, mark the templates as to which part and how they align, I see no problems.

The issue of what the cost would be, depends on whether you machine sew the entire thing, or if you hand lace and machine sew. Myself personally, I would most likely charge in the neighborhood of $500.00 to $800.00 per seat if they are buckets and $700.00 to $1200.00 if it was a bench seat. The low end of the price range would be if the "Back of the seat does not need to be covered fully, the high end would be if the front and back was completely covered.

I just checked, and a set of leather seat covers for a 2010 Dodge Ram (which has bucket seats) retails for $499.95 and they are only available in black. So that's basically $250.00 per seat and they are not "Custom Hand Made" or "One of a Kind" seat covers.

[Jimbob]

You be in a hole in a hurry prize wise if you dont watch it....I am doing a Buick 1950 two door all four seats in veg tan and all seats tooled to the top!

This will run easily 3 Grands or a bit more....so be aware, there is a huge amount of labor involved!!

And take my advice....practice on ur uncles old golf card bench first!!!!!

James

[albertacountrygirl]

Thanks for the help so far. I do intend on practicing before making the covers. I recently designed and made my own motorcycle seat covers for the front and back seat of my bike. I am currently making my own saddlebags (without a pattern). But - these are things for my own personal bike and not something for a paying customer so I plan to be super careful and - practice, practice, practice! I like to live by my fathers teaching me - measure 4 times and cut once!

Aaron, I have explained to the customer about elk being easily stretched out of shape but he is adamant about using it. The elk skins he has are from animals he personally has killed and had the hides tanned.

Beaverslayer - I like your ideas a whole lot, especially about using a purchased seat cover as a template. That would make things a little easier for sure. And that's a good idea about using veg tan for the front and sides giving it a more custom look. The head rests I don't think are going to pose a problem at all as you say. His seat is a 40-20-40 split style. I like your idea of inserting a few tooled pieces too. Thanks for a sort of 'pricing' idea. I think its a decent one. The guy said that this is his "dream truck" and dreams are not cheap! Also, I don't have a sewing machine and have for the past 40 odd years done all my leather sewing by hand! So, that means more labor intensive pricing.

James - wow! That sounds like one heck of a project and something I would like to do to my own truck! I fully intend on practicing though on a couple of old benches that I have laying around in my garage. I have a few small pieces of elk and deer hides that I can use for practice.

So, if anyone else wishes to give me more hints and suggestions, I would love to hear them all. I have no idea what the gentleman wishes to pay and we are meeting up in the next week or so. I do know that he said there is no rush at all on getting them done, he is hoping that someone can do them "in their spare time" is what he said. That might just mean that he doesn't want to pay a proper price too - we will see when we get together I suppose. If he thinks that someone will do what he wants for a couple hundred bucks - well then, sorry fellow - it ain't gonna be this cowgirl!

[billymac814]

Here's my only advice. Whatever you think its going to cost times that by 1.5 or 2. That's a pretty big job and its easy to forget alot of the time that will be spent. If he's looking for you to do it in "your spare time" that either means he's looking for it on the cheap or he's ok with you taking your time and fitting it in, if that's the case you may be better off doing an hourly rate on a project this large that you've never done before. If think a job like that with tooling and lacing would be in the 2 k range at least.

Also if you use seat covers as a template make sure they fit first and if need be do some alterations to them to get a nice fit, some of them fit on tha baggy side depending on the size of the seat. You may even want to make it a smudge small so that the elk skin will stretch over for a nice tight fit, baggy won't look good in leather.

If it were me I'd be inclined to stitch it and do an appliqué lacing, I can't say for sure but it would be a consideration.

[stelmackr]

...some of them fit on the baggy side depending on the size of the seat. You may even want to make it a smudge small so that the elk skin will stretch over for a nice tight fit, baggy won't look good in leather.....

A tannery I visited, also made jackets, pants and other clothing item from deer and elk skins. They took the finished leather, wet it and stretched them before cutting and sewing. They said it minimized stretch later on. I tried it and it worked for a set of running shorts I made. I stretched the deer skin on a sheet of plywood and stapled the edges to the plywood.

Bob Stelmack

www.pslac.org