Comments

  • Vinyl Dyes
    Body shop suppliers & many parts stores with a paint division will mix custom colors of the SEM. Pints, quarts or gallons. Many have the ability to put it into aerosol cans for you, too.
  • Customer
    I've never razor bladed a finished project. But I have taken them apart.
    Covered a dash for a Pantera. Leather. French stitched everywhere. Hours of work.
    Customer says he's not paying. "Too much $$$".
    "Wait a minute. You agreed to the final cost. You're signature is on the bottom of the quote agreeing to that."
    "Yea... but I've decided that it's only worth 1/2 that."
    "Huh? What? YOU decided? How does that work? This is MY shop!"
    "Here's 1/2. ...and you should be happy with that."
    "Hang on a sec."
    Walk back into the shop & mercilessly tear the leather off of it.
    Hand the dash back to him
    "Here you go. Keep your money. There's the door. See ya."
  • Customer
    Looked at this guy's Jeep seats about 3 months ago. Last I heard of that until he showed up on Tuesday afternoon.
    "Remember my project?" "Well...sort of, but not really. I look at seats everyday. Remind me."
    PIcks his materials. That took 2 hours! Just some black & white vinyl for a couple of CJ-5 seats. Ordered that Wednesday AM. Material's in Winnepeg. Won't be here till Tuesday AM..
    Phones Thursday & wants to know if they're done. WTF???
    I told him that I do not carry stock before I took his deposit. All project materials are special ordered.
    He wanted to pick the seats up today!!! Now, he's bummed out. Tried turning it around so that this is my fault, via a pouty little whine.
    Check the attitude, l'il buckaroo. Or...you can pick up the seats, today, as they were dropped off, at the end of the driveway.
    I do not care if you want to drive your vehicle this weekend. If you wanted it for now, should of dropped the deposit back then when I looked at them 3 months ago. Up until I get that deposit, it's all just talk. And talk is cheap.
    I am only 1 guy. I can only do so much. I have other projects that I'm working on, which were booked in way ahead of your's. Months before!
    I am NOT dropping & stopping work on their's to to put your's in front of them.
    Que up like everyone else.
    How would you feel if the tables were turned?
    A lack of planning on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part.
  • Why is the auto upholstery industry so mysterious?
    *Edit* After writing, then re-reading the following, I realized I got on a bit of a roll with my mumbled ramblings. Apologies for it's length.

    I've been in this trade for over 38 years now.
    Self-employed for the majority of that time.
    As a result, I've had to repair, design &/or fabricate many products outside of the Auto Upholstery realm. If I could get it into the machine, I'd sew it. Many of those projects I had never done before, or have since.
    Whatever it took to keep the lights on & the door open.
    People would ask the wrong questions.
    "Can you do this?"
    "Yes."
    Right answer to the wrong 'Q'.
    What they should be asking is..."Have you ever worked on one of these before?"
    "Well...no."
    And because of that, I've sewn some weird stuff! Production-line manufacturing to custom one-offs. From starting off with Taxi interiors, to managing a production hot tub cover facility, (100-120 covers a day. 16 staff) designing & producing interiors for customs, hot rods & restorations, including a Ridler Great-8 finalist, ('97) to lead-hand in a shop refurbishing & customizing interiors for Corporate Aircraft.
    I've always had that confidence that I could get the job done, and do it well enough that I would be proud to put my name on it in order to justify the end cost to the customer.
    If I wouldn't be happy with the project in my own vehicle, then why should my customer?
    Where did that confidence come from?
    I had great instructors! They instilled a great foundation of 'the basics', along with a sense of quality. "You'll do 1000 Volkswagen Beatles before you'll ever work on a Ferrari. But, produce on the VW as if it were a Ferrari, when it comes time to actually get to work on that $150,000.00+ machine, you'll have the chops already down. You're confidence in you're ability will get you through."
    30 some-odd years, I can still hear those guys, hanging over my shoulder as they walk me through a procedure that I'm now doing for the bazillionth time. Or some other one that I haven't done in 20 years.
    Over the time I've been doing upholstery, I've attained a certification as an A.M.E. Aircraft Mechanical Engineer. Multiple certs for various aircraft. Specifically Corporate Jets. A great job in an amazing environment. A good crew. Tons of advancement opportunities. "...and you're paying me how much?" A dream job!
    Then...9/11.
    Like a dog hitting the end of the chain in a full-tilt gallop. The work just stopped.
    Most of the U.S customers (Our bread & butter) had turned to in-country maintenance Co.'s as their primaries. Many cancelled contracts & appointments within days if not hours of that fateful date.
    So I went back to school.
    The goal? A Bachelor's Degree in Education.
    I had taken a 9 month pre-apprenticeship course when I began all this, way-back-when. The course was still being offered at the local college & the instructor was wanting to retire.
    You can see the direction I was wanting to go with this.
    2 months before I was to graduate & receive the degree, the college pulled the pin on the Automotive Upholstery/Trim Course. Auctioned the contents of the upholstery shop. Re-purposed the space.
    This was the only interior trim course offered in Western Canada. It may of been the only one of it's type in the whole of the country as I've never been aware of any other. Don't take my word on that, though.
    So...(& I said that a lot over the next few months! Lol!) I still needed to eat.
    Back into a one-man home-based shop once again! Working for a select clientele on their various higher-end HotRods & concours restorations. Many are repeats. The one in the shop now is project #7 for this customer.
    And I've been mentoring a few of the local 'rookies', too.
    Still, I feel somewhat frustrated. I have the knowledge. The background. Along with the formal education in order to pass that along in a concise manner.
    The local colleges have shown no interests. They know I'm here. I've made that abundantly known. Their definition of a trade consists of banging nails, hanging drywall, pulling wires, equipment operation etc. etc.
    They consider upholstery as an 'Artistic Endeavor'. As opposed to a builder of the economy.
    No matter how a vehicle is powered, people still need to sit in them. There will always be repairs required at some point over the vehicle's lifespan. Or customizing & personalization for those that wish. There are employers out there crying for suitable people with at least some basic training that can fill their immediate needs while also learning & advancing their skill set while on the job. (Which is were the education really begins.)
    Like I said. Frustrating.
    But there's still a few pokers in the fire. Ideas. Plans.
    Somebody's got to do this. I haven't given up yet.