Re-upholstering an antique horse buggy seat?

by Merv
(Ottawa, Canada)

I have a buggy seat. The actual seat part is in good shape. I have to repair the bottom part. It broke but being in wood, that part is no problem to me. This seat as you can see was tufted. I have tried without success to find someone to reupholster this. I have suggested that I simply cut a backboard and bottom of plywood 3/3 to 2/2" thick and they upholster to that and then fit it in my seat. The costs have come back at over $1000. This is ridiculous. There seems to be approx 3 yds of marine grade vinyl in this so let's say 4 plus the foam etc. I have estimated a top value of $150.00 materials
Tell me. How difficult is this? For that price I can try this myself and fail approx 5 times or more... smile and still be under 1000 I figure.(of course, experimenting with cheaper material)
Would/could/should a person actually sculpt the foam on the back? Would that help? or simply place the foam and pull in with the buttons?
I realize I am asking a lot but a general idea would help in my decision.
The pictures show a pretty rough seat. I will be stripping the upholstery and refinishing the outside myself then sending to an upholsterer.

Thanks,
merv

Hi Merv

$1000 seems a bit much to upholstery a buggy seat.
I have done 3-4 in my 25 years of upholstery.

You have to drill holes in the foam to allow the buttons to sink in. And you have to allow for extra fabric from button to button. So you can see there is a fair amount of measuring to do.
But again I have been raving about this new DVD out on upholstering. The instructions are very clear and there is an excellent section on tufting. You can find it on EBay at listing 360222169395
Send me a photo after it is done

PS But the way I am from around the Sherbrooke area

Steve