How to sew/ rebuild visors?

[85 Cutlass Brougham]

I am thinking about sewing my own sun visors and replacing the wasted cardboard backers. Only thing is, I have no clue how to go about it. I will be using the same headliner material I am doing the headliner with. I am at a loss though as to where to get the cardboard or backer to make the visors from, and how to do the edges. Also, how do you get the vanity mirror off the passenger's side cleanly and then reattach it to the new visor when it is done? I have never done this, but am ready to try it to save a few bucks. I will be using my mom's 30+year old sewing machine if I can figure out how to make it work properly. It's out of adjustment and I have to fix it if I want to use it. Once again, there are no easy projects on my car....

 

[mr evil]

google this, I would but it's bedtime, lol
I saw a writeup on this quite awhile back, I may have saved it, I'll post back if I find it.

fwiw I installed the visors out of the s-10 I wrecked. Not a perfect fit, but with a little massaging they look pretty good. Lighted vanity on d/s so I can maintain hotness while driving, lol.

http://www.wlsheadliners.com/tutorials/visorrepair/
best I could find right off

 

[JrJohnston]

Go to walmart or your local hobby store and get a piece of poster board to make the backing out of, use your old visor card board to make a pattern for your new backer's. Lay them on the piece of headliner material and spray some glue around the backside of the new pattern's, then after letting the glue tack up. Trim the headliner material down to 1/2" away from the cardboard, then fold the headliner material around the cardboard. As for the mirror, what I do on them is take a razor blade and slice the melted plastic t*ts off to remove it, then I use a real strong super glue to glue it back on. But you have to install it before you can sew them up. And unless the sewing machine you are gonna be using is a industral type machine your better off haveing a upholstey shop do them for you. You need 1/2'' to 3/4" under the foot of the sewing machine to get the visors under it, and be able to sew threw 6 layers of material( 4 headliner material and 2 of the poster board), and most home sewing machines will not do that without tearing up the machine.



Hope that helps, and if you need anymore help just let me know and I'll be glad to help if I can.

 

[85 Cutlass Brougham]

I may start shopping for a used industrial sewing machine just to see if I c an ever find one real cheap (like $50 on craigslist). Sew far, the cheapest I have seen is about $250 with the table, a bit too much for me to afford.

 

[JrJohnston]

I may start shopping for a used industrial sewing machine just to see if I c an ever find one real cheap (like $50 on craigslist). Sew far, the cheapest I have seen is about $250 with the table, a bit too much for me to afford.

At $250 for stand and head, thats a steal. I have 3 sewing machines and I have over $1,000.00 in the 1 used machine I have, and close to $2,000.00 in my 2 that I bought new.

 

[83Cutlass2181]

check out year one's website. they have very good reproduction sun visors in a lot of colors. 2 for $100.

 

[Geesie]

I may start shopping for a used industrial sewing machine just to see if I c an ever find one real cheap (like $50 on craigslist). Sew far, the cheapest I have seen is about $250 with the table, a bit too much for me to afford.

Craigslist and ebay should serve you well. I always see sewing machines on there (industrial and home) for less than $200.

 

[kingcolbert83]

you could also try the handheld ones since it is a small project. You may be better served getting the home or industrial one. I cant recall how many times somebody asked me to do their interior when they found out I did my own.

 

[gprimm]

Prior to taking my sons 1978 wagon out to him in July to Colorado Springs, my wife used her standard sewing machine to redo the sunvisors. She found the same material as the original at a fabric shop for $3, and it took her 1.5 hours to complete. Perfect match.