Austin Ruby seats

["Slack Alice" Simon]

If you are making one piece seat covers, then make one from scrap fabric first.

Your fabric needs to be a reasonable weight, not an old sheet but maybe an old curtain.

They need to be tailored:

cut the fabric to the approximate shape
pin it over the padded frame, the pins being on your eventual sewing line
make adjustments until the fit is good
cut off the excess to leave you the appropriate seam allowance
sew it together, and fit.

Work out where and why it went wrong

Make adjustments, and repeat.

Unpick the result to use as a pattern

Cut and sew your cover in the correct fabric, using all you have learned to get it right.

[Malcolm Parker]

The seat cushions need to be comfortable.  In my view this is more important than whether they look perfect.
Many professional upholsterers over-stuff the cushions so they are convex rather than concave.  When you sit on them you feel that you could slide off.  In a saloon the front of the seat cushion needs to be quite a bit higher than the rear for comfort on long journeys.
The only seats I have done are for Ulsters using the leathercloth covering kits from one of our cherished suppliers.   I took advice from a local upholsterer and purchased a sheet of rubberised horsehair, about 1" thick.  This can be cut with good scissors and if a piece is fitted under the seat covering it will work wonders.   Having stripped down several Austin 7 seats over the years I would think that a layer of the rubberised horsehair glued onto the steel seat back is all the padding you will need.  Cover it with some thin scrim (the stuff that is like a roll of cotton wool). The seats are narrow and if you provide too much padding they will be uncomfortable.
Go for it!   The hardest part is starting.

[Jeff Taylor]

Rubberised Horsehair and other upholstery materials including springs should you need them are available from J. A. Milton.

https://www.jamiltonupholstery.co.uk/pro...air-fibre/

Not relevant to your Ruby seats but worth mentioning re entirely sprung seat squabs - the totally original bucket seats in my 1936 Morris 8 Tourer have wedge shaped sloping backwards squabs constructed entirely from different height springs all linked and fixed together by a wire grid with a chicken wire type mesh covering the tops of the springs with lots of horsehair on top of that then the pleated leather cloth outer covering. The sprung interior is quite a complex structure and would take time and effort to replicate. Interestingly the single back seat base of the M8 Tourer used Moseley Float-on-Air inflatable bladders.

[antfos]

Again, thanks for all your help. Keen to get going now I’ve got an idea how to go about it. I’ll make a start and add some pictures when I get stuck. Lots of useful tips which’ll take a while for me to digest being “a bear of very little brain”. Just wanted to say how friendly this forum has been to a newcomer and not even an Austin 7 owner! Regards, Tony

["Slack Alice" Simon]

Plus one for not over-padding.

The seats on my special have 1" foam over a similar seat shape to yours, and 1/2" foam in the back.

Fluted top covers made by stitching through 1/2" foam.

I have twice sat in these for twenty-four hours at a stretch. 

Any discomfort was down to the rest of the car, not the seats.

[squeak]

Further to the excellent advice given by others, Simon mentions stitching the pleats onto half inch foam. This is available as carpet underlay which has a scrim backing to hold your stitches. I  mark the fabric pleats half inch wider than intended on the FACE and use a very light spray of contact to hold your fabric onto the underlay. After stitching ALL the topsides, each pleat is folded on the stitchline and backsewn  very close (say 3mm), in this way no stitching is visible on the topsides.
This advice works well on Ruby seats with their narrow pleats but the wider, fuller pleats on a chummy are better done the more traditional way where they are hand stuffed using stuffing irons or a plank and strap.

["Slack Alice" Simon]

It's no good, I have to ask .....

An ex-upholsterer myself, though usually more at the staple and foam end of the trade.

Explain "plank and strap" please, Russell.

[squeak]

You used to be able to buy glazed cotton batts in various widths on a continuous roll, this for inserting into pleats that are formed by sewing your cover to calico. The pleats are open ended and are hand stuffed by first laying the batt into a lightweight sheet metal channel that is covered by an identical channel. Shove the whole lot up the pleat and you can slide out ONE of the stuffing irons. The batt now grips the fabric and you can slide out the other iron, job done.
I used to staple the end of a strap of 1mm clear plastic (leftover from sidecurtains),  to a strip of plywood (plank).  Lift up the strap and lay the batt (or cut width of 1" foam) onto the plank, shove it up the pleat, peel out the strap cos it's flexible, batt grips your cover and you can pull out the plank.
Not sure if you can still buy batts but cotton wadding is still available in thicker sizes. One could unroll some and spray a light mist of contact on both sides to stiffen and THEN proceed to cut your batts.
You will have to experiment with your batt (width and thickness) to pleat size, the wadding is usually peelable.
With some practice if you are using 1" foam, you can achieve a tapered edge batt by spraying the edge with contact and depressing the edge with your index finger and simultaneously  pinching using your other hand.  One edge at a time.
I should add the stuffing irons can be used in a closed end pleat, the plank and strap can only be used when open both ends.

[Malcolm Parker]

Slightly off-thread but possibly of interest.   On the Pytchley saloon,  on which no expense has been spared (!), I have made the rear seat cushion and backrest out of layers of 1/2" thick foam carpet underlay glued onto a plywood base. The curved ends of the seat back were easy to do as each layer of foam bends easily.  The cushion has five layers of underlay and provides just the right amount of support.
I have also used the foam underlay for sound-deadening on the lower body.  Instead of gluing it to the panels I cut it slightly oversize so that it is a push fit between the ash frame members.   My local carpet man has a skip that is full of offcuts of the underlay and he was happy to let me take as much as I wanted.

["Slack Alice" Simon]

Thanks.

So that is how the fillings are so nice and even.   Simple, when you know how.