Hand Sewn Motorcycle Seat with Pleats?

[Mattsbagger]

A 5/6 Latino probably work well. It the weight of a wallet body so not to heavy.

[doorty]

I'm thinking for the internal backing of the pleats to use marine grade vinyl. Thoughts? If I use leather, I won't have access inside the seat to maintain it and eventually it'll dry out and be uncomfortable to sit on.

[eglideride]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8nVyPiPvR2g

 

[LatigoAmigo]

22 minutes ago, eglideride said:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8nVyPiPvR2g

What a great find this video is. You'll never wonder "How to Make a Pleated Seat Cover for a Motorcycle" again. Thanks for sharing.

[battlemunky]

Yep, that video does it. May be a bit more difficult with leather depending on the temper. Some milled veg may work perfectly.

[doorty]

1 hour ago, eglideride said:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8nVyPiPvR2g

 

Thanks. I saw that a while back. (I actually linked to that in my original post.)

Unfortunately, I don't have a sewing machine, so I have to get creative. The best technique I've heard so far is sandwiching two pieces of leather with foam, but I don't want to use leather for the internal part of the sandwich because I won't be able to access it to add oils/waxes after it rains and drys out.

Edited July 5, 2018 by doorty

[battlemunky]

I would do it exactly the same way as the video but sew by hand.You'll be sewing one side blind but it'll be fine.

[doorty]

5 hours ago, battlemunky said:

I would do it exactly the same way as the video but sew by hand.You'll be sewing one side blind but it'll be fine.

Hmm.. How would you find the stitch hole through the foam? 

[battlemunky]

follow the lead thread

 

for instance, from the leather side, go straight through and try and pierce the sharpie line and then on the return trip, squish it down to get close and probe until you find the hole.....(super want to make a joke right now)

Does that make sense? I'm seeing it in my head really well and may not be putting it in words well enough at all. The toughest hole would be the first one on each start.

Edited July 6, 2018 by battlemunky

[doorty]

On 7/5/2018 at 5:35 PM, battlemunky said:

follow the lead thread

 

for instance, from the leather side, go straight through and try and pierce the sharpie line and then on the return trip, squish it down to get close and probe until you find the hole.....(super want to make a joke right now)

Does that make sense? I'm seeing it in my head really well and may not be putting it in words well enough at all. The toughest hole would be the first one on each start.

Okay. I think I understand now, in theory. In practice, you'll be poking blindly several times to find the right hole and then hoping not to pierce the lead thread. I don't know. To me, this sounds harder/riskier than the leather-foam-vinyl sandwich technique. Maybe I'm missing something. It's a good suggestion and might be worth a trial run to know for sure.