Sorry if these seems off topic, but its for my 300SD and this is the best forum on any Mercedes board!
I need to restitch the rear seat back for my '82 300SD. The stitches came out. The leather is not torn. I have treated it with leatherique to soften it up so it doesn't tear when I reassemble. I need to restitch three areas--the center section at the top of the seat, all the pleats ( the backing rotted away, and the fabric that secures the cover to the frame. All places look to be straight stitches at about 7.6 stitches per inch. I am thinking that if I can find a machine that will adjust to that stitch length, I can simply use the old holes. Has anyone tried this? Any ideas on thread to use? I may have to do it by hand, but would rather use a machine. Is this stitch length common? Since I want to reuse the old holes, is a walking foot, or commercial machine really required. Seems to me that most of the work ( punching thru the leather) is already done.

When I recovered the seats of the 560 I used excellent leather from a wrecked 420. The only thing was I had to install my seat heaters, which required sewing in the heating pads.

Based on that experience I would offer that you need to take the leather off the seats, replace the old muslin liner with new heavy muslin and simply resew by hand. A bit time consuming but once you get the hang of it you can resew right in the existing stitch holes, plus if you encounter any torn hole just make a new one. Once you are in the groove you can probably sew one pleat in 20-25 minutes.

I used a heavy leather needle and carpet thread in a color that matched the leather.

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Mike Tangas
'73 280SEL 4.5 (9/72)- RIP
Only 8,173 units built from 5/71 thru 11/72

'02 CLK320 Cabriolet - wifey's mid-life crisis

2012 VW Jetta Sportwagon TDI...at least its a diesel

Non illegitemae carborundum.

A Pfaff is a really good comercial/semi commercial machine and made in Germany. With that said, I would agree with Mike that you can probably do a better and nicer looking job by hand. It is very hard to stay on a perfect line let alone hit all of the holes right on with a machine running at any speed at all.

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1961 190Db retired
1968 220D/8 325,000
1983 300D 164,150

DO NOT USE A SEWING MACHINE!

You need a curved needle like upholsterers use and some nylon thread. Auto and boat upholsterers use nylon because it stands up to sun and weather, the kind used in household upholstery won't last.

Use the curved needle and thread to restitch the material thru the old holes. If you are careful you can do this in the car, but for a real good job you need to take out the seats and take the covers off.

Once the covers are off, it is possible to restitch on a sewing machine but you need to have the stitches exactly the same length so the needle goes thru the same holes. This requires moving the machine very slowly and carefully but if you have the dexterity of a brain surgeon it can be done. Not worth the bother though. It's easier and safer to do it by hand.

You don't want to make a new set of holes or your leather will be perforated like toilet paper and tear just as easy. If this happens there is nothing you can do to save the leather.

Any good auto upholstery shop can do this for you, for a price. But it's not hard to do yourself. Buy the needle and thread at the upholstery shop and they will probably show you how to do the job. They don't want to do it, it's too slow and fiddly a job making it hard to justify the labor cost.

I would recommend taking the seat cover off and finding an auto upholstery shop to have it sewn. I can't imagine it costing very much, and sure would be worth it.

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Jimmy L.
'05 Acura TL 6MT
2001 ML430 My Spare

Gone:
'95 E300 188K "Batmobile" Texas Unfriendly Black
'85 300TD 235K "The Wagon" Texas Friendly White
'80 240D 154K "China" Scar engine installed
'81 300TD 240K "Smash"
'80 240D 230K "The Squash"
'81 240D 293K"Scar" Rear ended harder than Elton John

I am with Ganaraska on most of his suggestions...
I am sitting within arms length of a Pfaff 145... a compound walking foot synchronous feed needle wonder of a sewing machine... but would not even consider trying to use it for the situation you describe. Sewing leather is hard enough when clean and new... but old and stretched ? No way to do it correctly for mere mortals....
You can get a needle assortment pack at Tandy/Leather Factory....a real bargain.. which includes a nice curved needle.... Nylon is the correct thread...and the standard is ' type 69' which is the size.
I suggest you use two needles ... on each end of the same piece of thread.. this is standard hand sewing technique... and means that if one gets cut or broken you still have a continous thread holding everything together...
Usually contact cement is used to hold leather together for sewing... but in this situation you may need to do it without. The cement is used before holes are punched in other situations... and keeps the holes matching all the way.

Geez a Pfaff 145! All I ever had was a Juki or a Chinese copy of same (retch). I did have an old Pfaff for a while but could never get it to work. Good to know I'm not completely off base, thanks.

It is nice to know that someone recognizes this model.... I found it on Ebay a year ago... we have had a 29K-60 long arm patcher with 360 degree head for about ten years...and that is what I sewed TCane's special hood pad with.. it is walking foot...but on slick stuff like that it was not enough...thus the synchronous feed needle on this beauty.... the needle moves in an arc with one of the two walking feet and pulls everything along with it... and with two walking feet spongy things are held down... I got it to the front door for $800 and have another $100 into tuneup and accessories like welt foot...
Now I need to learn how to use it... LOL

I find this all very interesting as this may come in handy for me someday in the future....

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Proud owner of ....
1971 280SE W108
1979 300SD W116
1983 300D W123
1975 Ironhead Sportster chopper
1987 GMC 3/4 ton 4X4 Diesel
1989 Honda Civic (Heavily modified)
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Section 609 MVAC Certified
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"He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a monster. And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you." - Friedrich Nietzsche

I'd recommend against the use of a sewing machine, even though I have no experience with "automotive habidashery." I have done quite a bit of sewing (HEY! Finally, my "girl skills" come in handy on the forum! Anyone need a recipe? Vacuum cleaning tips?). I can tell you from numerous experience that a slip of the hand is MUCH easier to fix than a slip of the sewing machine. I would think with the right needle and a lot of patience, hand stiching would be the best bet. You're talking to someone whose stiched a mini authentic MLB jersey for a beanie baby cardinal by hand (well I used a machine for parts) ...

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1987 300D, arctic white/palomino--314,000 miles
1978 240D 4-speed, Euro Delivery, light ivory/bamboo--370,000 miles
2005 Jeep Liberty CRD Limited, light khaki/slate--140,000 miles
2018 Chevy Cruze diesel, 6-speed manual, satin steel metallic/kalahari--19,000 miles
1982 Peugeot 505 diesel, 4-speed manual, blue/blue, 130,000 miles
1995 S320, black/parchment--34,000 miles (Dad's car)

OK, thanks everyone for the info.
I agree that machine stitching could ruin the leather by punching too many holes.
I also asked a local auto upholstery shop who said $50 for the two 6 inch seams at the top, center. After I showed him the pleats, he said, "NO" .
So I got a spool of upholstery thread and some needles. I started today. Its going to be a slow process, but it'll get done.
Thanks again

To me the Pfaff machine that I had, resembled a Mercedes in the intricacy of design, watchlike accuracy of the parts and overall beautiful quality and workmanship. It was a pleasure just to look at it. It compared to the Juki like a Mercedes compares to a Hyundai or a Rolex compares to a Swatch.

LOL.. I forgot to mention... when I did some research I found that my Pfaff is a 1960 model... but like Mercedes.... it is basic and well made...and parts are still available...the later model... the 545 has a larger bobbin...but is pretty much the same machine.... with many interchangeble parts between them.

I use an old '20's Singer "walking foot" commercial machine,prized by leatherworkers and automotive upholsterers.

One of the best features in the ability to line up pre-existing holes by releasing tension on the presser foot {with a foot pedal} and shoot a stitch exactly where you want it.

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