Upholstery

Today I bit on a sewing machine and am now looking to make my interior of my -8. My question is if anyone on here has the patters for the two seats of the -8.

If anyone has attempted this task too I'm interested to hear how you did. I see that most builders get the seats and other interior items finished from other professional sources. So I am interested to hear from others how did it all with there own sets of skills.
Thanks

Patterns

I don't know how much of a hurry you are in but I have the patterns for the seats. They with at the upholstery shop with my seats, I should get them back some time this month. When I do I would be happy to loan them to you.

Bird

Thanks. I sent you an email

Dare the seats

I did dare to try the unimaginable.
Never thought I would do anything like that but so did I think about building an Airplane. But now I do. I write this because I am sure that there are builders out there that may think, can I do this?
I have never in my life sowed one peace of fabric. I just watched some YouTube guides, read about some things online and bought a sowing machine.
I also bought the foam and the patterns from Van's and hear I go.
Yes, it is not professional but so is the whole airplane. There is a learning curve, I bought some extra fabric and did a little practicing. Started on things you don't see right away and work my way up.
Just like the rest of the plane, it is a wonderful satisfying task when you look at the work you just did. Hear are some samples of my work.
If you have questions feel free to contact me. I am happy to help, now that I have a little feel how things go.



Cheers

Michael, that looks very nice, good job! What kind of sewing machine are you using and how much do they cost?

Bird

Sowing machine

Don't laugh
I found my machine on eBay.
It's a sixty year old "Singer". Reminded me of one my Grandmother use to have.
Payed $60 for it and works fantastic. It's a heavy duty upholstery machine.
I saw newer once there and you can spend as much as hundreds.....
Mine works just fine.

Tempting

I'm tempted to try my hand at seat cushion upholstery as well. Were the instructions/patterns from Van's easy to follow?

The patterns are working very well so far, though they did not come with any instruction. When I called Van's nobody could give me much advice or help either.
I do understand now why most people let them being build by professionals.
It still didn't deter me from doing it. I watched many YouTube videos and learned a lot that way. Starting now to make a lot of my own mistakes and learn that way too. Yes, it's been hard at times, but when I'm done with another peace of upholstery it is a cool thing. The ladies at the fabric store where i bought all my sowing supplies were real happy to give me good pointers too.
I'm more then happy to give you some pointers as well if you like to go for it.
One example, the patters are made for a very plain upholstery without any design for color changes. So if you should like to use multiple colors you have to do a little planning yourself. It was not hard to do. Just draw a line where you like to have a transition seam and add half inch on each side for seam allowance. Worked like a charm. The sippers where not shown on the DWG so I used my imagination and just added them some place where you can't see them and make them big enough to insert the foam after completion.
So I'm happy to answer more questions. The Internet is a wonderful thing too and you can just about find anything there you want to know.
Happy building!

Seats

Looks great , something about building your own vs laying out cash . Your next set will look even better .Fabric is cheap !
Tom

nice job! other than the color, they look very much like the ones in my airplane. They are pretty comfortable (not that I have anything to compare them to).

As for sewing machines, ebay is your friend. My shop has four of them

Update after 76 hrs of work

....yes, just 76 hours!
I did the seats, all the side panels, the control column boots and armrests.
Very low budget interior, but what counts more is that my wife and I are happy looking at it sitting there all finished in the living-room.
We test set it and it feels very comfortable.
So if you have any questions, please feel free to contact me, it can be done. Happy building because now I will tackle the wings.

Wow. Nice Job! That looks great!

Seat Cutout for Stick?

Great job on your DIY seats and panels. Just one concern...do you have enough clearance between the seat and full aft stick movement?

Nice job Michael. I remember reading your post saying you were going to give the seats a try. Actually making them happen and turn out so nice has to make you feel good.

GHRoss3 said:

...do you have enough clearance between the seat and full aft stick movement?

Click to expand...

Yes, it may look a little tight right now but on final installation the cushions get velcroed down and tugged back nice and snug. That will give enough room for movement.

Thanks for all the nice comments here.
It is a great experience building this plane.

Your seats look great Micheal! Keep up the good work.

bird