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MG MGB Technical - MGB Seat Upholstery Patterns?

Are there any sources for patterns for MG seats upholstery? Would like to replace the covers on front and rear seats for my '73 BGT, but kits are getting a bit expensive.

Pat
Patrick Callan

Pat. You can look at the existing pattern of your seat, if it is original. You can look at Clausager's "Original MGB" for seat patterns. If neither of these are sufficiently detailed, you can travel to an MG car show and physically examine some original and original type replacement seat covers. But, my experience, mostly on the later model cars (i.e. rubber bumper) is that the fabric used in the factory and aftermarket seat covers is impossible to find here in the US. The exact pattern was never used on a US made car and would have to be special ordered from the UK if you can find a source there.

I have had custom upholstery done on two MGBs, my 79 roadster and my daughter's 77 roadster. Two other cars (79LE and front seats of a 68GT) were reupholstered using commercially available kits. All four were done in a professional upholstery shop. Cost to do the sewn up seat covers was almost identical to the cost of purchasing the Moss seat cover kits. Thus, in initial cost, there is little difference between the two unless you have the capability of doing the sewing yourself.

There are two significant areas of difference between the two methods.

The Moss covers accurately duplicate the original patterns.

The shop made covers are more attractive, are made with better materials, and are holding up much better than the Moss supplied covers.

The upholstery shop recommended that new foams be used when going to the expense of reupholstering the existing seats. After a minimum of 29 years of service live (as long as 36 years of use for your car), the seat foams have gotten old and broken down. They can be expanded by the use of a steam injection process (steam from something looking like a small vacuum cleaner attachment which forces steam into the foam and causes it to expand back to its original size and shape) but this does not hold up all that well as the original foam itself has been damaged over the years. If you use the Moss supplied foams, we found the backs to be fine and the seats to need cutting down if a proper seated height was to be obtained.

Les
Les Bengtson

Les,
Thanks very much. I was afraid that might be the answer. I do have access to someone who can do the sewing, but without an accurate pattern, it might not be as cost effective as just getting a good quality kit. My GT is a driver, and is not all "original" but it looks terrific, and I would like to get the interior in better shape.
At any rate, your advice is appreciated, and kind of points me in the direction that I expected. Now to figure out how to save some $ in this economy.

Thanks again,
Pat
Patrick Callan

Hi Pat,

What you could do, and I have done this in the past, is to remove the existing upholstery and carefully unpick the seams. This will give you all the parts to the cover and you use them as templates for new ones.

Herb
H J Adler

Hi Pat.

I have my own machine and often do as Herb suggested by unpicking the covers which gives you your patterns. Alternatively if you are confident it is possible to trace around the individual panels without pulling the covers apart, but remember to allow 1cm extra for stitch allowance.
Dave ( spoggy )

Herb & Dave,
All good notes. Guess it will come down to how much time and cash I can/want to devote to the project. I have been putting it off for a lot of years for just those reasons. Maybe a "New Year's Resolution."
Thanks all,
Pat
Patrick Callan

My late father-in-law ran an upholstery shop for many years. Did mostly furniture but occasionally autos. He always cut apart and used the existing covers as his patterns. Never saw him do anything but.

G Oakes

This thread was discussed between 26/11/2009 and 27/11/2009

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