I guess this can be applied to pretty much anyone with a convertible that's willing to spend a little time and elbow grease to recover their vinyl top. Here's my deal: The stitching on my vinyl top was coming loose due to 3 years of cleaning maintenance and/or poor upholstery thread disintegrating. Although the Vinyl "skin" is in near perfect condition, it's not much of a top if the stitching starts eroding and coming apart. A few calls to some local upholstery shops, and what I was quoted for a new top installed ($1200-$1500!!), convinced me that this was gonna be a DIY effort. No upholstery shop was remotely interested in restitching the top for me, only New and complete installations. I asked the upholstery shop guy why, and he said that if the stitching starts to give way in one spot, it's more than likely to give way in other areas too....and he was right!
So for liability purposes and overall quality of the job, upholsters would rather just install a new top and hardware and be done with it!
I researched basic upholstery techniques via youtube and armed myself w/ a nice curved upholstery needle, heavy duty upholstery thread, and a small pair of needle nose pliers, and I went to it! THERE IS A LEARNING CURVE the first inches of re-sewing the seams. Be patient, and follow the existing stitched holes as guides. Dont make your own pierced holes unless that part of the seam needs it. Im in no way a tailor or upholsterer, but I do have some strong hands to push that silly needle thru that thick vinyl. Use the pliers to push/pull that needle thru and Respect that needle! You'll learn quick after the first near-fatal stabbing! So, 18 hrs broken over 8 days, $12 in upholstery needle and thread and some pretty sore finger tips, I restiched 90% of the seams and I pocket the $1,500 it would've cost for a new top! Im not letting the wife know that though.... ; )

 

Nice !! You did a good job. I want to get rid of my white top for a black one