A couple of recent magazine articles have acknowledged that trimming is an unappreciated dying art that requires extreme skill. None more so than hand fitting a seat from scratch with just a fibreglass shell without any patterns.
Below is a step by step pictorial of a race seat we've recently made with the brief being the cover must be removable. To be honest, we're not a massive fan of removable covers as a lot we've seen look like a sack of potatoes. But with a bit of skill and a lot of time & effort, you can get a cover that looks just as good as a fitted one.
1. The fibreglass seat shell with no patterns
2. A paper pattern is made of the base and upright cushion, then transferred to 1" foam
3. The foam is inserted into the fibreglass shell to make sure it fits correctly
4. Vinyl fabric is laminated to 1/2" scrim backed foam, deep fluted, cut to the same size as the 1" foam cushions and sewn together
5. Using off cuts of left over fabric we have in stock, a pattern is made for the wings of the seat by marking out, cutting and sewing many times and until it fits correctly.
6. Once the pattern is right, it's taken apart marked out on the material of choice, sewn together and offered up to the seat for final fitting
7. The completed cover ready for fitting where...
8. ...Durable dot fasteners are used all round to hold it in place.
9. The cover fitted ready for some 1/4 mile action