Posted: 6/18/2026 11:05:04 AM EDT
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I do custom body and paint and our shop farms out the upholstery. The major shops here have a 6-12 month wait time so I'm thinking of getting a sewing machine and learning to do it myself as a weekend and evening side hustle. What they charge for seat covers alone is pretty crazy seems there's a shortage of talent here for upholstery or the guys that do it aren't training enough apprentices to keep up with demand. Anyone here do upholstery and have some tips on getting started? I already know how to fabricate door cards and center consoles and whatnot. Do all that at work. I'd mainly be learning to sew seat covers and to lay vinyl on things |
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I have not done seat covers but I have made a few shift boots. I bought my wife an industrial walking foot machine that never gets used and I said what the hell it can't be that hard. Honestly it wasn't. Our machine is a consew rb 255-3. It is pretty bad ass, you could probably sew a baseball mitt with it. She did use it to recover the sunvisors in my camaro, they came out great. Attached File Attached File |
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My step dad was an upholstery man. It’s a strange trade. Lots of odd people in it. Almost no one goes into upholstery. It’s truly a dying trade. I guarantee you can make bank if you went after it hard and heavy. My step dad made a very nice living doing upholstery. |
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Originally Posted By ark-and-spark: My step dad was an upholstery man. It's a strange trade. Lots of odd people in it. Almost no one goes into upholstery. It's truly a dying trade. I guarantee you can make bank if you went after it hard and heavy. My step dad made a very nice living doing upholstery. I don't really want to run a whole business I don't like the stress but if I can bang out a few grand a month working a Saturday or a few late nights it would fund a lot of racecar stuff . |
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Originally Posted By victorgonzales: The main guy out shop uses is a two man operation and he grossed 850k last year. Any idea how much he spent on materials? |
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