Ever have a customer come to your shop with a project that he first tried to do himself, only to wind up butchering it instead? It’s usually pretty funny. More often than not, the materials are subpar, the craftsmanship is shoddy and the mistakes are amateur – all, of course, for good reason.
While there certainly is no shame in trying, I’ve always wondered what it is about auto upholstery that makes some people think that any dimwit can do it. The answer, of course, is DIY articles, books and videos that downplay the skills and artistry of the craft.
Take, for instance, this article recently published by Custom Classic Trucks: “Installing a Chevrolet C10 Interior – An Inside Job.” The author brazenly writes:
If one was to look through a ’73-’87 C10 LMC Truck catalog they would notice that they cater to the DIY weekend warrior. Ranging from suspension, trim, body panels and much more, the array of products runs deep and rampant. In fact, LMC even dabbles in a DIY taboo, upholstery. Between those pages is everything needed to do an entire interior in the cab of ’73-’87 trucks.
[U]pholstery and interior work can be another project in the garage, which means no more shopping around for the right price and the right look at an interior shop. Instead, one can pick up a catalog, have parts delivered to the door, and the wrenching can begin. A week later, a truck emerges from the garage with a whole new attitude.
What kind of “whole new attitude” do you suppose baggy seat covers project? Carelessness? Mediocrity?
To be fair, most ready-made seat covers are easy to install. But it takes an experienced auto trimmer to install them properly. After all, what if the seat frame is broken or the foam is beat and rotted out? And how about if the covers fit too loosely? Only an auto upholstery professional is properly equipped and trained to deal with such things.
But lousy work isn’t only the fault of inexperienced do-it-yourselfers. It’s also due to teachers who give poor instruction and discount the level of artistry and skill needed to complete a project. Hot Bike, for example, recently published an article titled “Wrap it Up: Custom Seat Covers on the Cheap” in which the author teaches readers how to create a custom motorcycle seat cover for only $16.66 (including fabric, foam, glue and hardware).
So what kind of material can you buy for less than $17 that’ll make your motorcycle’s seat pop? The author explains:
After searching for a suitable cover material, we looked through our stack of old T-shirts for something good, but ended up employing a small Mexican blanket. In the past it was used as a bedroll until a section of it got caught in the rear wheel and tore it in half. The remaining part of the blanket fit the bill and was free, so we had that going for us.
Shocked? It gets even worse when the author instructs his readers to screw the “Mexican blanket” to the seat pan like this:
Clearly, the only way this bike is going to look “hot” is if the owner lights that horrible seat on fire.
You see – the problem with articles like these, and DIY auto upholstery projects in general, is that they don’t take into account the natural artistic talents of professional auto trimmers, nor the years of apprenticeship that they put in to learn the ins and outs of the trade. What’s more, these articles mislead readers and insult auto trimmers.
In the end, however, I suppose it’s not all that bad – because those who attempt DIY auto upholstery projects eventually fail and realize that they need to employ a professional to complete (or fix) the job. Though, unfortunately for them, it usually ends up costing more than if they had just taken it to a pro to begin with.
Actually, I’ve had a couple of friends try this and their results were both excellent.
Don’t you just hate it when a DIY’er buys 5 bucks worth of Vinyl covering and makes a better looking seat than you can……
Eventhough in a lot of cases you guys are correct but I think there are some talented guys who can do good diy jobs.
“Professionals” always charge so much though. When I shopped around the quotes started at expensive and then skyrocketed from there. I’ve shopped around for a leather-fabric conversion for my car seats and the quotes ranged from 1600-5000 which is discouraging.
If you are going to attempt an upholstery project yourself at the very least pay a shop $20 bucks for 5 minutes of their time for them to give you some pointers and recommendations on type of materials to use. It may still not come out great but you can avoid making some really dumb mistakes that will cost you big money in the long run.
The worst is when someone tries their own headliner, realizes they can’t do it, break a bunch of plastics, then they throw the headliner board in the trash. Then they come to me and I have to tell them a new board itself can cost $500 to $1,500!
I’m glad you pointed out that a lot of people don’t realize the experience and artistic talent needed to make an auto upholstery project look good until they try and fail to do it themselves. My car needs to have the seats reupholstered, and I was going to try and do it myself. I’m glad I read your article first; I’ll definitely take your advice and leave the job to an experienced professional!
What if I don’t want a 500$ interior? What if the 20$ interior suits my rusty old vehicle just fine? Suddenly I’m a subhuman according to the author of this blog post.
DIY suits some vehicles fine, I don’t need someone with years of training to put a cover over my busted open seats.
My favorite thing about advisory articles is the condescension…
The whole mood and tone of this article is ridiculous, just like the cost of so-called “professionals”. Of course DIY’ers may not be experts, this does not bar them from quality work.
Did you ever consider that the reason you see so many failed DIY projects come to the shop is because those that succeeded wouldn’t bring successful projects in? In other words, perhaps it only looks like many DIYs fail because you don’t see all the ones that succeed.
Also, practice makes perfect…
And there are resources to learn…..
But no, let’s write an article blasting failed DIY projects…. that’s real success….
I kind of think youre a bit egotistical about the whole thing. “Professional” Give me a break. Half these upholsterers dont know their ass from their elbow but charge a fortune. Ive done cars, banquet seats and awnings without having a clue about upholstery.
Reminds of a story when my puppy dog chewed my bathroom vinyl linoleum and I thought it would be the easiest DIY ever. After 8 hours of profanity, cutting, reworking – I finally woke up and hired a professional. When he saw my “handiwork” he laughed and said “I’d never come down to your place and tell you how to do your job…..not sure what made you think you could do this one”. He was right….!!! I’m having my car seats re done with leather by a professional. The cost is far outweighed by the years of having it done right…!!!
I’ve been a DIY’er for over 30 years. In that time I’ve learned that It almost always take longer than you think, cost more than you think, and takes several attempts times to get it right. But thats ok, I enjoy learning new things and adding to my skills. I really appreciate the skills belonging to those in the trades. I’m certain I will never reach the skill level of someone who does a type of work day in and day out but sometimes I find that I can do a thing well enough after some good instruction, the right (or at least adequate) tools, and most importantly – practice.
I liked your article, I try to know the basic of a car’s mechnicial functions; however would never attempt to work on it. The upholstery is the same.. I have spent my life sewing, tailoring,, quilting and making fabric art. Still I would never attempt a project without proper instruction and practice. Might as well just buy the materials needed and shred them. No project, no matter how well intended, ends well without knowing what to do. So many of these DIY projects are obviously done by amateurs and result in inferior end products. Regardless of all I’ve said here, there is a sense of pride and accomplishment in trying, learning and improving, Unless it adds to the expense. Some things are just better budgeted to the professional.