DIY Seat Upholstery In VW Bus – Part II

In Part I of my take on cheap seats in my Volkswagen Camper Bus, I showed the remains of the driver’s seat, the bare frame of the seat, and listed the products and items I am using to redo my front cab seats in my 71 Westfalia Camp-Mobile Bus.

Here in Part II, I’ll be showing the process of how I sewed a burlap cover to overlay the springs of the frame; which was not done in the original seat upholstery process. Originally, the coconut hull cushion was just lain right over the springs; which to me seemed haphazard. –Especially since the springs had, of late, been piercing through all the ragged layers and ripping my clothes. I felt it was a very necessary step.

Then I cut-to-fit (cutting quite big, at first…so as-not to undercut; since I have limited supply), the carpet padding and glued two layers (wrong/rough sides together), to give my driver’s seat plenty of firm cushion. Then…I went even further and stitched the cushion to the under-springs with Hemp Twine (see pics below).

I hope this tutorial will inspire some of you VW Bus enthusiasts to re-upholster your own seats, and let your creativity be your improvisational guide. Thanks for reading my Blog. Stay on the look-out for Part III, where I hope to finish this project with success! : )

Peace .V.. & Love!

The Process (in pictures) of the 1st Phase of Re-upholstering (Driver’s Seat): PART II

*Click on Pics to Enlarge*

: Using Old Coconut Hull Cushion, Cut Burlap to Fit Frame

: The Layout of Burlap on Frame

: Cut Both Burlap Covers for Seat Springs

: Pin In Place on Seat Back and Bottom

: Using Regular, but Sturdy, Needle…Sewing Burlap to Frame With Heavy Duty Thread

: Burlap For Driver’s Side Seat Back, All Stitched!

: Back View

: Pin Burlap Over Driver’s Side Seat Bottom and Repeat as Before

: All Done With First Layer of Driver’s Seat Redo

: Optional Step: Smear a Line of Glue Over Burlap Stitching to Reinforce

: Up Close of Glue Over Stitching of Burlap

: Cut Padding a Bit Large (You can Trim Later, if Needed…but You can’t make larger if cut too small), using old Coco Hull padding.

: Cut 2 Each of Seat Back and Bottom, From the Make-shift ‘padding’

: Spray Glue to Rough Sides of Padding to Double Thickness, Then Weight with Bricks or anything Heavy ’til Dry (I allowed 24 hours to dry)

: Once Padding is Dry, Spray Glue to Burlap (topside) and to underside of Padding, then weigh down to adhere.

: Seat Pad During Seat Gluing Process

: With an Upholstery needle, this time using Hemp Twine, stitch through thickness of padding an tie two ends of twine to seat spring on underside

: Natural Hemp Twine

: Repeat in Stitching Pattern of choice ’til both top and bottom pads are secure to frame.

: First Stitch – Back View

: Second Stitch at Back

: 3rd Stitch at Back

: Bottom/Last Stitch of Seat Back

: Finished Pad Stitching of Seat Back Piece

: Stitching Pad to Seat Bottom Springs

: Finished Secure-Stitching Seat Pad to Spring

: To be Continued in Part III

: Using What’s Left of Old Seat to Create New Template for Upholstering. Still Waiting on Fabric to Arrive from Baha, Mexico! Aye, Aye…!

Family Adventures

Posted by gypsyvinrose

Banana Bend on the San Jacinto River —

It had been 30 years since he’d last seen the place, but my husband Nico insisted on taking Baby and I on a family adventure to see Banana Bend on the San Jacinto River. I was a bit skeptical; picturing a run down, or shut down, remnant of what once had been a fun party place on the bend of the river. Boy…! Was I ever surprised! –In a very good way.

I had already found myself quite charmed by the tiny ferry boat that had carried our crew of three across the ship channel, quite a ways inland and up the waterway from Galveston Island. Able to carry not even 20 cars at a time, The Lynchburg Ferry was like stepping back in time, in a way. Unlike the Bolivar Ferry — which we’ve ridden often — The Lynchburg Ferry looked a bit unstable at times, and traveled much slower than its much larger neighboring ferry (Bolivar Ferry).

So I snapped one-after-another photos of our crossing, and we were on our way…yet-again, down the road, searching for that place Nico had left in his past…until this day. Bumping down the two lane road in our old VW Camper Bus, we stayed on the look-out for a sign…any sign, to let us know we’re heading in the right direction. Then…we spotted it! — Banana Bend…Just Ahead. The sign said, in a nutshell; though Nico was going too fast for me to read the small print.

A few miles down the road, we came to an overpass that Nico didn’t remember ever seeing decades ago when he last visited Banana Bend. So…we turned around and went back to the sign he’d sped past in such a hurry at last pass. Sure enough, in small print, it had listed the street where we should have turned before.

Making our turn onto a much smaller road — a Farm to Market road — we continued on our adventure, searching…searching. Then…there we were: facing two yellow kayaks planted vertically in the ground, reaching up into the sky, with a sign in the middle telling us we had arrived.

A nice little man was working the entrance gate, and let us in to look around since they were soon to close down for the day. I felt like we had entered an island hide-away…on the river! Palm trees everywhere, along with tiki palapas style cabanas and picnic tables. And it was all so secluded, you’d never know it was there…unless someone told you. I was thankful to Nico, for bringing us to such a charming island escape as Banana Bend.

And even though we were only able to stay for a short time before dark was beginning to fall and we had to head back and try to catch the last ferry, we had already began to plan a day trip to our new island escape (or escape from the island). Having recent bouts of island fever, I know Banana Bend is just the place I’ve been needing all along.

*Here’s to new adventures, inland…and beyond!*

**NOTE to Families** Recommended Family Days – Saturday/Sunday Afternoons & Weekdays (off-season): After careful research, it seems that BB is quite the party place during summer months and on weekends. We visited late on a Saturday during the off-season, and all was peaceful and quiet. It’s best to do your homework before visiting, to know of which events are taking place on any particular day or weekend. Visit Banana Bend on Facebook.