Upholstery Help

**Chef** · 12th February 07, 10:27 PM

Ok, I am doing a custom interior on one of my cars and for fun I want to use some tartan in it. Not a lot mind you, probably just the center panel of the seats, but I am not sure what type of material would work the best.

God knows I have been sitting on wool tartan a good part of my life and I haven't had any problems with wear but I wasn't sure if it would be the best choice for a car seat. I am not familair with the poly tartans and didn't know if they would be a better choice. Do the polys come in different weights if they are better or an I better off sticking with a heavyweight wool?

Any ideas are welcome. Also any suggestions for tartan I am looking for one with a predominant medium blue colour. I was actualy considering the Blue Modern but it is only available in wool.

**Dreadbelly** · 12th February 07, 10:41 PM

Actually, the PV tartans were made for couches, chairs, and furniture. Just go with an 11 ounce PV and you should be fine.

**Erisianmonkey** · 12th February 07, 10:53 PM

I'll second Dread, and add that House of Tartan is a great place to get PV yardage. The fabric for my Black Watch kilt is their medium weight PV. It is great quality cloth. They're over at houseoftartan.co.uk

**chasem** · 12th February 07, 10:53 PM

I was considering a custom run of pv a while back. It turns out that it required much more in the yardage department than I could muster.

Anyway, the point being that while talking with Rocky about it, he gave me the heads up that the pv would be good for upholstery and such. That may be a good idea for you

**Chef** · 13th February 07, 05:47 PM

Thanks for all the help folks. Any suggestions on blue tartans?

**Dreadbelly** · 13th February 07, 05:49 PM

Ramsay.

**AL-58** · 13th February 07, 06:14 PM

If the PV fabrics are meant for it thats fine, but I've experienced a few synthetics that pill or ball up on wear areas in the past.

It couldn't be more extreme than a car we did for a charity rally a few years ago. We had rolls of a yellow/white/red tartan upholstery material that were given to us(no clan, I'm sure) It was a 1963 compact Fairlane, all the seats were tartan, the doorlinings were tartan with some red piping, the rooflining was basically red vinyl with two tartan sections/stripes running front to back. It was a fun job or my students, I'm sure it gave the drivers a few headaches though

Al

**Chef** · 13th February 07, 07:48 PM

Originally Posted by AL-58

If the PV fabrics are meant for it thats fine, but I've experienced a few synthetics that pill or ball up on wear areas in the past.

It couldn't be more extreme than a car we did for a charity rally a few years ago. We had rolls of a yellow/white/red tartan upholstery material that were given to us(no clan, I'm sure) It was a 1963 compact Fairlane, all the seats were tartan, the doorlinings were tartan with some red piping, the rooflining was basically red vinyl with two tartan sections/stripes running front to back. It was a fun job or my students, I'm sure it gave the drivers a few headaches though

Al

The pilling was part of my concern but looking at the sites mentioned above it is the Poly blends that suggested for upholstery.

Your tartan car sounds great but mine won't be that wild. The tartan will only be on the centre sections of the bottom and back of the seats (bolsters will solid) and an accent panel on the door panels.

Still open to suggestions for tartans whose main colour is a medium blue, preferably one with minimal green. Thanks

**neo71665** · 13th February 07, 11:44 PM

Blah, baird is beautiful but main colors are blue, green, black, and a red that is close to purple. I might favor it a bit though.

**Chef** · 14th February 07, 10:41 AM

The Baird dress seems closer to what I am looking for, so thanks I wouldn't have found it otherwise. It will go on my list of possibilities. It's main drawback might be availability in a poly blend.

Anyone else?