Automotive Upholstery Handbook

Helpful for my son’s automotive restoration class.

This is a BEGINNER'S book, therefore I'm basing my 5-star review from a beginner's perspective.I'm a weird guy - I enjoy reading instructional manuals. As far as manuals go, this one is pretty darn good. I've read it so far, cover to cover. I DO like the slow-going nature of Mr. Taylor's explanations - I am not new to sewing stuff but I'm new to auto upholstery (doing over my '66 Lincoln and want to do it all myself...yeah, I know, a total gangsta car...it kicks ass...I'll send pics.)So far this book is confidence-inspiring. I do like the different sections that start with basics and move forward to more advanced topics. I would like to see a bit more detail on technique, though I'm thinking I'll learn this as I go.Something I've learned so far - bite the bullet and get yourself an older industrial machine with the proper walking-foot to evenly feed material and give you consistent stitches. All is for waste if your finished project looks like shazz, right? There are options online for second-hand machines...look for them.As for the book, it's well-worth the twenty bucks or so that I paid...I'll use it for years.

Just my opinion, but the simple fact that this publication is in B/W takes away from the utility of the book - look I could do a pie chart in color or B/W with graduations - at a quick glance the colors are easier to detect deviations - hands down - and that's the big gripe against using B/W for teaching material - it takes additional attention to see the details and lets face it, we are a society that is very short on time so when I have to read the illustration over again - THAT'S ANNOYING!.The other con against this book is - a good amount of the material is out of date - if you are trying to restore old auto's - maybe this is GOOD? or maybe you would rather do the work more efficiently with state of the art materials (also more readily available)?Your decision.

This book is great for getting started in the basics of Auto Upholstery. It explains the very basics, the tools needed, terms of the trade, and even gives you a project to try out your skills and tools. It is plainly written so is easy to understand. The only things I did not like were the black and white pictures and that the book only really dealt with working with vinyl, and it has many sections on replacing vinyl tops on cars and convertables when I was hoping for more basic projects like normal car seats that are out of fabric instead of vinyl. One plus is it does have a section on boats seats and motorcycle seats. Overall, it is a good book to have especially to get started with.

I THOUGHT THE BOOK HAD A LOT OF USEFUL INFORMATION. THE PHOTOS COULD BE BETTER QUALITY; AN UPDATED VERSION OF THIS WITH COLOR PHOTOS WOULD BE WONDERFUL! I DON'T KNOW ABOUT MORE MODERN TECHNIQUES; THOSE DESCRIBED, IN DETAIL, IN THE BOOK SEEMED PRETTY STRAIGHT FORWARD. THAT BEING SAID, THE AUTHER SPENDS MOST OF THE BOOK SHOWING YOU HOW TO TRIM OLDER MODEL CAR SEATS. YOU REALLY WANT TO HAVE A KNACK FOR SEWING IF YOU WANT TO DO THIS. HE WALKS YOU THROUGH SOME REALLY BASIC STUFF, BUT IF I DIDN'T ALREADY HAVE SOME BACKGROUND SEWING, IT WOULD HAVE SLOWED ME DOWN TRYING TO GRASP ALL OF THAT TOO.THAT BEING SAID, I THINK THIS IS THE BEST BOOK AVAILABLE FOR SOMEONE WHO WANTS TO TEACH THEMSELVES THIS CRAFT.

I do mostly marine upholstery for a living, but have a fair amount of customers asking about their car seats, so I bought this book.It's good for beginners as well as those who have experience in other forms of upholstery as well. He's clear and concise in his explanations. The picture are ok (they're in black and white), and I would say that the book is a little bit dated. I wish there were examples of more modern seats. Hopefully there will be a revised edition in the future.The basics will always remain the same, however, and you will learn lots from this book, including how to sew on an industrial sewing machine.If you want to learn auto upholstery, then this is the book you need to get started.

Great, just take a look of what it has on the inside (thanks AMAZON.com for this feature). I covers all you need to know about auto upholstery... try it! it's easy... The only thing is that you will need a good sewing machine, but who cares if you are going to earn a lot with it!If you are planning to do your own designs, and see them come true in all kind of cars, this is your book. It's a great step-by-step guide!It just don't get the 5 stars because all photos (exept those on the cover) are Black and White... I just can't understand why there are still books like this in B/W.

Haven't used this yet but there is a '65 Fairlane waiting for new seats. Just looking for the perfect fabric to make this a show piece. This book does cover the basics of doing upholstery work. Beginning chapters teach you how to seam, make curves etc. Basic seat covers with additional tips for more modern seats. It also covers tops, headliners, door panels and carpets.There are also chapters on making boat seats, motorcycle seats and van interiors and more. Nice book. He recommends doing some practice work and yes, I have been sewing for years does not mean I will skip this step.

Really comprehensive in terms of the projects it covers - it is exactly the book I was looking for as someone about to start a number of the projects contained for the first time. It would be five stars but the content is relatively old so it's possible there may be materials in use today.Some of the content wraps (or page breaks) a little strangely, sometimes halfway through a table which doesn't make it as nice to read as a physical book.In general though I would say the book is well written, interesting, engaging and gives enough but not too much detail to be baffling.

I would love more information on how to do certain things on motorbikes and this book only helped in parts.

I bought this book as we're renovating a car from 1938.it has a few good tips but I expected more guidance

Very disappointing, it fail to cover the basics well like bindings for carpets etc and quite frankly most of it is restating the blindingly obvious, the picture quality is also very poor.

A little dated but still a huge source of information, ideas and detailed descriptions