Houndstooth Seat Covers…

[Canadian694x4]

So I’m shopping for a new upholstery for a seat I need to redo. Looking for recent recommendations where to find the best quality, factory original look, wait times and price etc. Any info/pics for reference and recent experiences with suppliers appreciated.

Thanks!
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[CAMAROBOY68SS]

Well depending on the color of houndstooth you are wanting can really skew the wait times. You can easily get the black/white and black vinyl most places. Used a PUI bench seat cover in 71 and it was decent cover that fit well. I currently have a blue pui cover in my 68 and its a slightly off blue vinyl. I am converting to 69-72 style bucket seats and no parts house had any bucket seat covers and when I emailed and called around (this was a year ago) none them had a ETA on getting blue in. I ended up going to Rick's custom upholstery https://ricksupholstery.com/

Took about 6 months to get the covers due to their wait time. Got them back in late October/Early November and that are super nice, high quality. Plus you can pick and choose your colors. So I was able to get a brighter blue vinyl that matched more of the rest of the blue pieces in my truck.

[dmjlambert]

It was 5 years ago so I don't know if that is recent enough, but this is what I did. I shopped around for an auto upholstery shop and picked the houndstooth and vinyl colors out of a sample book they had, and described how I wanted it to look. He used my old worn out cover as a template and custom made the covers. It ended up being about $150 more than buying ready made covers, but the shop installed the covers and the price included extra of the fabric and vinyl to keep on hand and do visors, dash pad, and door panels to match, and that extra work I had done by another shop last year.

[Canadian694x4]

I should have stated I’m personally looking to do the Orange factory houndstooth/parchment or white I guess. I’ve seen a lot of custom black vinyl and whichever Color you wish covers seem to be quite readily available
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[CAMAROBOY68SS]

Your then gonna have to go through an actual shop to have them custom sewn up. Are you looking for orange/white houndstooth? or the orange/black fabric (think 69 Camaro pace car) then with white vinyl around the inserts? I dont think I have ever seen houndstooth fabric that was a orange and white combo.

[Canadian694x4]

I've edited the original header to this thread. I confused Houndstooth as Highlander Plaid

So to clarify, I'm looking for Sources of Highlander Plaid/Parchment Vinyl seat cover upholstery.

Thanks to everyone who's chimed in already though!

[Canadian694x4]

This is what I'm looking to replicate...perhaps maybe one of the moderators can edit the thread title for me I can't seem to figure out how to change that

[CAMAROBOY68SS]

You can get the fabric through SMS here:

https://smsautofabrics.com/collectio...er-plaid-cloth

Cars Inc looks like they list that seat cover pre made

https://carsinc.com/1955-1994-truck-suv.html

[Canadian694x4]

Perfect, I will check those out. Thanks!

[jocko]

It's worth noting that GMC literature shows the dominant plaid color stripes horizontally oriented - but chevs were vertically oriented. There's been some discussion on here in the past about whether GMC highlanders were indeed horizontal or if it was just the literature. Might be worth confirming with a member that has an original GMC highlander before you order.

[Canadian694x4]

In my research I did come across that discussion about vertical vs. horizontal patterns depending on whether it was Chev or GMC. It is for a GMC so I would want to try and do what was most likely specifically period correct first for it if I can. Like the brochure pic I have in post #7

[jocko]

Originally Posted by Canadian694x4

In my research I did come across that discussion about vertical vs. horizontal patterns depending on whether it was Chev or GMC. It is for a GMC so I would want to try and do what was most likely specifically period correct first for it if I can. Like the brochure pic I have in post #7

I would do the same - just wanted to mention because I doubt any distributors that make highlander plaid seats make them that way off the shelf, probably would need to be a special order or a local custom job with the materials from SMS or something like that. SMS does carry the material and covers - and now, after a lot of begging when I had them make mine several years ago, they can do the vinyl with the proper scrollwork. Good luck, it's a great looking seat!

[mrein3]

$459 for a seat cover?!? Uff-duh.
It has been a very long time - maybe 25 years now - but I finally got sick of my 30 or so year old ripped up seat cover.

Back then my dad was still working at the now bull-dozed St. Paul Ford Assembly Plant. Or he recently retired. I forget the exact time line. My dad knew the guy that did upholstery work there when a seat got damaged during assembly.

I bet you didn't know they did that.

Anyway, the guy did work on the side. I took him the remains of my factory cover (not that it matters but it was a 1968 golden anniversary seat) and he told me how much vinyl and fabric I'd need for the job. There was an upholstery shop in St. Paul where I bought material and brought it to him. I think it only cost me $100 for the labor for the guy to make it. The material was WAY under another $100. I do recall the fabric shop guy complaining that for the time he spent to make the $5 he made on my puny order he could have filled two or three $1000 orders. Whatever dude NMFP, (not my problem).

The reason I'm boring you all with this story is maybe ask around other car guys in your area. I mean, if you watch car shows on TV or YouTube "channels" you see on these shows that there are local places that do seats and automotive upholstery work. Maybe you can get one made for less than $459.

When I did my seat LMC and all the other suppliers didn't have pre-made seat covers. And maybe if you find a guy it will cost more than $459. But for $459, I'd at least ask around. An if you do find a local shop you keep the money local which is good for everybody.

Since threads are worthless without pics I'll include one. Other than a little more dirt visible on the white, my seat still looks like this.

[leddzepp]

Take it to an upholstery shop, show them a pic of what you want, and let them do their job. You will be sooooo much happier in the end.

[Richard]

Have some blue highlander fabric from SMS on order now, seem to be the only source I could find. Waiting for current order. Was told it sells out quickly. Not sure if the orange is high demand as well. Would not wait to contact them.

[Grumpy old man]

Originally Posted by mrein3

$459 for a seat cover?!? Uff-duh.
It has been a very long time - maybe 25 years now - but I finally got sick of my 30 or so year old ripped up seat cover.

Back then my dad was still working at the now bull-dozed St. Paul Ford Assembly Plant. Or he recently retired. I forget the exact time line. My dad knew the guy that did upholstery work there when a seat got damaged during assembly.

I bet you didn't know they did that.

Anyway, the guy did work on the side. I took him the remains of my factory cover (not that it matters but it was a 1968 golden anniversary seat) and he told me how much vinyl and fabric I'd need for the job. There was an upholstery shop in St. Paul where I bought material and brought it to him. I think it only cost me $100 for the labor for the guy to make it. The material was WAY under another $100. I do recall the fabric shop guy complaining that for the time he spent to make the $5 he made on my puny order he could have filled two or three $1000 orders. Whatever dude NMFP, (not my problem).

The reason I'm boring you all with this story is maybe ask around other car guys in your area. I mean, if you watch car shows on TV or YouTube "channels" you see on these shows that there are local places that do seats and automotive upholstery work. Maybe you can get one made for less than $459.

When I did my seat LMC and all the other suppliers didn't have pre-made seat covers. And maybe if you find a guy it will cost more than $459. But for $459, I'd at least ask around. An if you do find a local shop you keep the money local which is good for everybody.

Since threads are worthless without pics I'll include one. Other than a little more dirt visible on the white, my seat still looks like this.

25 years ago is a long time and prices have climbed thru the roof on custom made seats , upholstery supplies foam/glue/thread / vinyl / cloth keep climbing every day . $459.00 is for a cheap chinese made cover , The chinese vinyl is thin and where a local shop would use foam across the entire seat cover the premade covers are only padded under the cloth section , they are made to "Look like the originals " A local shop is going to fix the bad foam on your original seat / maybe replace broken springs ,Replace the burlap backing and I'm not even talking about painting the frame . Lets not forget the costs of shop space . If you find a local shop to rebuild your seat back to original style at $1,000.00 /$1,200.00 you better go after it . or buy a cheaply made chinese cover at $459.00 and do it all yourself .

[CAMAROBOY68SS]

Originally Posted by Grumpy old man

25 years ago is a long time and prices have climbed thru the roof on custom made seats , upholstery supplies foam/glue/thread / vinyl / cloth keep climbing every day . $459.00 is for a cheap chinese made cover , The chinese vinyl is thin and where a local shop would use foam across the entire seat cover the premade covers are only padded under the cloth section , they are made to "Look like the originals " A local shop is going to fix the bad foam on your original seat / maybe replace broken springs ,Replace the burlap backing and I'm not even talking about painting the frame . Lets not forget the costs of shop space . If you find a local shop to rebuild your seat back to original style at $1,000.00 /$1,200.00 you better go after it . or buy a cheaply made chinese cover at $459.00 and do it all yourself .

100% agree, I paid just under 400 bucks in just labor to recover my bench seat in my truck and that was with my providing the new cover and a ready to go frame with new foam. Learned my lesson and with the current bucket seat swap I am going to cover those myself, since I am already in pretty deep in just parts with the swap.

Upholstery work is not cheap anymore and can be pretty hard to find someone that wants to tackle older rigs.