interior sewing

What's up everyone. I'm new to the forums and had a couple of questions about sewing automotive seats. I did some research about reupholstering my seats and found the site. There were other threads I've read and helped a lot but some things were unclear. What kind of sewing machine is best when sewing tweed fabric for a back seat? Will a Wal-Mart sewing machine work? I don't want to spend $800 for an industrial sewing machine when I may only do this a few times. What size needles are used? I completely wrapped the whole interior in tweed and have done many interiors in the past yet I never (until now) wanted to attempt doing a bench seat. It doesn't seem that difficult and I have extra material and a seat I can practice on so I figured I'd give it a shot. Any and all help is appreciated!

Heavier needles are going to be needed. The guage I don't recal off of the top of my head. Ask the local clothe store/Wal-Mart person what guage to use for drapes. The material should be about the same thickness and strength. It may be best just to ask them what size needle and thread to use for tweed. Thinner and more lower end threads will tear more easily under the temperature changes and stresses of some one sitting on the seat and it going through turns.

When uncertain, I just ask my friend who ownes and auto interior shop (he also does classic restorations). InteriorsbyDean.com. You may could e-mail him on his website. Often, he'll just be happy to answer generally questions like this. He'd rather see some one do it right the first time around than not.

For thread I'd use uphostery thread, it's a thicker thread and it's though stuff. It's a bonded polyster thread. For needle size I don't know off the top of my head. I'd go to a sewing store and show them the mateiral and get a recommendation on the needle size. It's a hefty needle though. A small home machine should work until you have to sew on the listing (plastic that you use to hog-ring the cover to the seat). For that something more powerful than a home machine will be needed to shoot through the plastic. I've done vinyl, suede and leather on a home machine to get it done and taken it back to the shop when I worked in uphostery to stitch on the listing.

I'd take the thread and material to a sewing store and find out what sized needle they'd recommend. I think I got the biggest they had for the home machine when I used it. I've used 2 different home machines with the biggest needle I could find for them. One I did a suede cover with and the other a vinyl cover. I did em when it was a weekend and I wanted them finished (cuz the shop was closed). It was smaller than the needle at the shop but it worked. For some reasohn the number 18 sticks in my head. I'd actually have to hunt the needles down to look though, lol. Also, I've made posts on here before about stitching seats, make sure to use the witness marks to line up the pieces when u stitch. Also, if you've never stitched before it might not hurt to pin the edges of the pieces toghter when you line up the witness marks so they don't slip when u stitch.

Here's the thread I'd recommend using, choose your color.
http://www.perfectfit.com/product.asp?Product_Id=154563


I hope this helps a little.