The Subaru SVX World Network - Handstitched leather seat gap repair

I have been slowly working on my leather drivers seat this summer, it had seam torn away on the bottom. I took off a spare passenger seat bottom and had the drivers side rug pieces sewn on at an upholstery shop. However when I went to put it on, I saw that the fabric on the front which held the metal rod was severely deteriorated. I probably should have taken back to shop to replace it, but instead I installed it and as I feared, it ripped away when I clipped it on.

The same thing was occurring on the upper bolster on the side that faced the sun. As the leather shrunk and the fabric around the metal rod disintegrated it caused a gap between the seat back and the side where the hog ties were no longer attached to the leather. Sounds familiar right? I've seen this on several older SVXs.

I decided to give it a shot with a needle and thread. I found an old tote bag in the garage made out of canvas and cut some strips from it. Using a sturdy curved needle and thick thread, both from the craft store, I stitched it up. Let's just say a career in auto upholstery is not really in my future, however both these areas are covered and won't be seen, and it seems like it worked really well, very sturdy. I didn't put it all back together yet since I am doing a little conditioning, but thought I would post a few pictures of the repair.

Disintegrated fabric
http://i644.photobucket.com/albums/u...pscfp58r2q.jpg

Curved Needle for Leather
http://i644.photobucket.com/albums/u...psulox08k2.jpg

Side repair - pretty sloppy, forgot to fold over the edge, but hey it's functional.
http://i644.photobucket.com/albums/u...psw0vtiy2k.jpg

Front repair - much cleaner job, can you tell I did this second
http://i644.photobucket.com/albums/u...psrgzrp6u8.jpg