This was the original seat in my Avid Flyer. There is nothing fancy about it, light weight, simple and "so and so" comfortable. But apparently it was very tasty to some rodent that really liked the stuffing...
So I took it to an old style shoemaker near the airfield who I knew made seats for old cars and bikes. Really nice a cool guy so when he asked I told him it was for an ultra light aircraft (and not a private Lear Jet). We looked at different materials and he told me that leather (that was what I wanted) would be expensive and suggested some synthetic alternatives. So how much would it cost... Well he said, while he got euro symbols in the eyes, about 1.000-1.200 euros depending on the material... No point in asking for the price in leather...
And believe me, he was seriously thinking I would pay that kind of money. Where do they come from? Who made them think people who fly have money left?
It was too cold to work on the plane anyway so I bought a big piece of leather for 50 euros, took my old hand cranked Singer sewing machine and, with the seats from my long gone MGB in mind, I did the work myself. It took me a few hours and while the result is not "pro" it is good enough for me - particularly for thousand euro less - and it will look better when "worn in"!
You're obviously a wizard with the old Singer... Impressive result :-)
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