Upholstery Unthreading

[Overlord34]

Hi all,

I noticed a small spot where the upholstery on my boat is coming undone. Is there any way to fix this, or at least prevent more from coming apart? Would it be cheap to have it professionally fixed if possible?

[Orion Jim]

Take it to a fabric store, find something close in color, sew on the patch. The alternative is to bring it to a marine upholstery shop and get ready to have a heart attack.

[senormechanico]

After zooming the pic to full size, imho the fabric looks like it's reaching end of life.
You can have it redone in lots of places; it doesn't have to be marine upholstery.
Any decent shop can do it.
Try an auto upholstery place?

[Tantalus]

I know it's a dying craft, but, try Googling "how to darn a sock"

[wingless]

A patch would look horrible.

If you are patient, then re-doing the weave is possible.

The best option would be to undo this exact fabric to get the repair thread. It might be possible to sacrifice the back of a cushion, maybe one permanently screwed to a seatback.

It looks like only tan thread is required.

Weave past the damage, use only one long thread, if possible.

[JPA Cate]

I have to agree with senor mechanico about the condition of the fabric.

It really depends on how you choose to solve the problem. I see you are in New York. Surely there are fabric stores there. If you sew (or your partner does) perhaps selecting new fabric and replacing the plaid is in order. Cushions are easy to sew, and it is not difficult if you want to make piping for the cushions. That is a matter of taste.

In our cruising from Mexico to New Zealand, we saw lots of "island" fabrics used to cover cushions. And sarapes.

If you are concerned about re-sail, then get new marine upholstery fabric, but you will pay a lot more for it than IMO it is worth.

If it were me, I'd go look at discount fabric shops and see what I thought I could live with, and do all the cushions the same. Pick colors that will hide ordinary grime.



Ann

[MarkJ]

Originally Posted by Jim Walsh

Take it to a fabric store, find something close in color, sew on the patch. The alternative is to bring it to a marine upholstery shop and get ready to have a heart attack.

Instead of a marine upholstery shop (where the heart attack is guaranteed!!) i found a shop that reupholsters old bus seats and car seats.

It was in a third world country where its common to keep vehicles much longer.

The reason I suggest car/bus seat recoverers instead of normal household upholstery shops is that boat cushions often include compound curves. House cushions do not, but car seats do!

Have a look for an auto seat recover business..... As far from water as possible!


Mark