Both front seats on the old Rover have got splits in the leather. I've had a couple of quotes to have them sorted, and they seem pretty high to me. It's not a difficult job to remove the cover. It consists of a ribbed central part which is fine, and wide 'bolsters' either side, which is where the splits are.
I'm thinking of unpicking the stitching to remove those side panels and use them as patterns for new leather - I've bought a complete hide from Ebay which looks very good. Slightly too light a grey - but I've used a Woolies colouring kit before with success.
I have an ancient 100 year old hand operated Singer sewing machine. That had no trouble going through four layers of upholstery grade vinyl in the past - so will it be ok with leather? I don't care how long it takes to do the sewing.
Of course to a skilled machinist with the correct machine it would only be a few minutes work. But where to find such a person?
Anyone got any pointers?