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Re-trimming interiors leather vs leathercloth

I'm thinking about retrimming my interior seats and door cards and in looking for suppliers have noticed that there seems to be not such a difference in price between leather and leathercloth. Certainly there is a much bigger price discrepancy in the cost of a retrimmed leather and vinyl seat. Am I missing something here? I've found leather at between £10 and £15 per square metre (links below) while leathercloth costs £8 to £10.

I would do the work myself so would only be buying the raw materials, unpicking the old seats and using the old bits as templates.

So is leather much harder to work than leathercloth or vinyl, any caveats in working leather vs vinyl. Also, can anyone recommend the companies below or others who have provided good service?

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All the best for the New Year.

D Peters

Reply to
Darren Peters
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You must have a cheap source for leather !

Leather is a market for rip-offs, that's for sure. However much of the difference is in how you measure that "square foot". Leathercloth comes on a wide roll, and you can use every inch of it. As it's wide, layout is easy.

Leather comes from surprisingly small cows (usually young bullocks, actually) and your wastage is huge because it's so difficult to get good utilisation from such a small and odd-shaped hide.

if you're sewing your own, then don't be afraid of leather. It's quite easy to sew it, despite the mystique - any basic leatherworking book will give you the basics, although I've not seen anything on car upholstery. The main problem for the amateur is that you have to make things "right first time" - no unpicking seams and re-sewing with leather.

Reply to
Andy Dingley

Not only that, but the stupid animal has usually snagged itself on a barbed wire fence right in the middle of the bit you want to use.

Ron Robinson

Reply to
R.N. Robinson

Andy Dingley wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com:

Or an expensive source of leathercloth! :) Any recommendations on leathercloth suppliers?

The leather sources I found were:

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Bearing in mind the awkward shape of leather I was thinking of tuck-and- rolling the seat faces (and using leathercloth for the other bits) so I would only need thin strips and get something that matched the original style of the car.

Reply to
Darren Peters

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