The Upholstery Forum

Hi, I'm new to the forum, and to auto upholstery. I am researching sewing my own seat covers and have a question about 'listing wires'. The fabric channel that the listing wire runs through on the bottom of the seat cover...what is that fabric generally? Secondly, what is a good source for 'listing wire'? Thanks for the guidance.

When I see old upholstery that has the cloth and wire; the cloth is usually muslin, and the size of the wire seems to vary depending on how long it is and how much load it has to take.

Now a days it is more common the see velcro type assemblies or j clip/rail to replace the cloth and wire.

Pretty sure you can use almost any material to hold the listing wires. I'm using some Sunbrella type material for my current project. If you happen to have an old boat cover made of similar material or canvas that would work too. You could even use vinyl but I would be careful of that since it can tear easily. Like JimmieJoe says, muslin would work too but the thicker the better. The muslin I found locally was very light weight. For the listing wire, I've heard you can get hardened wire at your local home center. Remember that some work was done with a twisted paper type twine. For sections that you want to keep shape like seat inserts, I would stick to a wire. The plastic J strips works great but you have to be spot on with your pattern, at least with listing wire you can always snug things up with a tighter hog ring or loosen with a longer one.

I use denim mostly buddy and can the wire. If the seat ages 30 years the fabric will rot and the the wire will help hold the cover on but I do not see too much worry NOT using wire.