I just bought a used truck in great shape, except for a nasty hole in the bench seat. Thankfully, that's pretty easy to fix. Of course, this isn't for show cars, but a work truck doesn't need to be pretty; just functional.
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First, you need some material to to use as a patch. Denim is my favorite patch material, because it's strong, and it's easy to get. Everyone wears jeans, and they all wear out eventually. When they do, save them; they may have holes in the knees, but there's still plenty of good fabric there for patches. This patch came from the back of a leg from an old faded pair I stopped wearing months ago.
Just lay the pants over the damaged area, and cut around it. I like to leave about 2" of material past the edges of the hole on all sides. This allows some extra for the hem, plus it makes sure that when I sew it down, I'm sewing into good material, and not part that's about to fall apart. Next, make sure you have rounded corners. If you leave a sharp corner, it will tend to get caught on things, no matter how well you sew it down.
The other three things you will need are curved needles, ultra-heavy-duty thread, and some foam (I used a mattress topper). You will also need a sewing machine and regular thread. Oh, and you'll need a truck with a hole in the seat ;-)
Just lay the pants over the damaged area, and cut around it. I like to leave about 2" of material past the edges of the hole on all sides. This allows some extra for the hem, plus it makes sure that when I sew it down, I'm sewing into good material, and not part that's about to fall apart. Next, make sure you have rounded corners. If you leave a sharp corner, it will tend to get caught on things, no matter how well you sew it down.
The other three things you will need are curved needles, ultra-heavy-duty thread, and some foam (I used a mattress topper). You will also need a sewing machine and regular thread. Oh, and you'll need a truck with a hole in the seat ;-)
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--shamelessly stolen from my hero, Red Green
Let me know how it turns out if you decide to go for it :-)
A couple of idea's first you might try the die on a patch of the material and check it against seat first. And if it's a good match treat the patch before installing it.
Then another idea more in the line of cosmetics. Recreate the stitch between the top piece of the seat and the side piece in your patch. It will look less out of place.
Add about a half inch to the top and bottom of the patch material. Invert the patch and place it across the seat on the other side of the vehicle and trace the line of the seam. This should closely approximate the curve on the torn side.
Cut the patch on this line. Place the left half on top of the right half as if you were folding the piece in half. The curve of the cut should match. Sew about one half inch in from the cut sewing the two pieces together. Open the piece up like a butter fly and you may wish to iron the piece open at this point. Sew a hem around the piece as shown in the instructable. Match up the patch with the seem and sew the patch over the torn area following the instructable.
Great idea wished I had thought of doing that in some of my vehicles.
As far as making an unneeded seam to imitate the seam that would have been there, that's a brilliant idea, and I just wish I had thought of it :-)
Hell blue looks a heck of a lot better than yellow...