Hello Everyone,

 

So after looking at prices for interior kits, full retirms and the like I decided to bite the bullet and go at it myself. I sewed a picture of a bird when I was 7, so how hard can a car interior be?... I have a tenancy to try and make things rather than buying them, for better or worse the experience is always great and learn a lot.

 

The plan is to retrim the arm rests, door cards, gear and handbrake gaitor, steering wheel and seats. First off, the Center arm rest which was trimmed in a crappy leather/vinyl.

 

So I ordered a bunch of Italian Leather, needles, thread, Calico Cotton, and went guns ablazing. I borrowed mums sewing machine but quickly found that it wasn't up for negotiating thick leather, and trying to do smooth stitches was impossible!! So ordered something new...

 

 

 

The old, but heavy weight Singer 211U566A Industrial Sewing Machine with a Walking foot and needle feed, both crucial for thick slippery material! And also a Servo motor, which allows very steady slow slowing!

 

So far the shopping list looks like this:

 

- Sewing machine £550

- Leather £85

- Alcantara Samples £ Free

- Original Steering wheel £25

- miscellaneous sewing bits £40

- Spray Glue £10

- Foam Lining £8

 

Here is the results of tonight's first try, using the original arm rest as a template.

 

Original Interior:

 

 

 

testing top stitches:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Actually really pleased with the first try. And I must say that the sewing machine makes ALL the difference!! Spent hours setting it up just right for my thread weight, but well worth it.

 

I will try and use this as a record of my lessons learned and see who far I get!

 

Thanks for reading, William.

Edited August 22, 201510 yr by wchestnutt

Couple of tips: you either haven't left enough seam allowance for topstitching on your armrest cover... or you've cut the seams back. If you're going to put French seams on it (topstitching either side of the seam), you really need to leave enough seam allowance to enable you to pull the two pieces of leather tight.

 

When the leather's pulled tight at the seam and topstitched, you don't end up with the slightly wavy seam that you currently have. Everything's straight (as long as you've sewn it straight) and looks as it's supposed to. :thumbup1:

 

Massive kudos for giving it a go yourself. The industrial machine will make a world of difference! This is NOT an easy skill to learn, but you should end up with a huge feeling of satisfaction at the end of it all.

 

I have strong visions of you wishing you'd never started when you get to the seats though... Z32 seats are fiddly little buggers in certain places!

 

If you need any help, just drop me a line :)

 

*edit* Did you really ask how hard can a car interior be...?? Let me know your answer on that one...! :biggrin:

Edited August 22, 201510 yr by Mondo

haha I was just kidding, massive respect to guys like you who do this as a living, and it is from an admiration of those skills that I just have to give it a go! Your work has been a big inspiration.

 

Thanks a lot for the tips. You have a keen eye - indeed I cut the seams back as I wasn't ready for a top stitch yet and could fit them without cutting back. It is VERY fiddly sewing a topstitch with the seam underneath - do you cut any slits in the seam or allow it to wrinkle? The leather I am using is reasonably thick so it becomes quite obvious.

 

Feel like I ehave acomplished a lot just by having something that doesn't look utterly rubbish (still just the first attempt) but you are right it is so rewarding!

 

Haha the seats I am cheating slightly - my sister has been doing dressmaking for 25 years and I am hoping she will lend a hand with the seats! :p

 

Ps. If you were in my neck of the woods I would have just given this all to you haha.

 

Thanks, W

Edited August 22, 201510 yr by wchestnutt

haha I was just kidding, massive respect to guys like you who do this as a living, and it is from an admiration of those skills that I just have to give it a go! Your work has been a big inspiration.

 

Thanks a lot for the tips. You have a keen eye - indeed I cut the seams back as I wasn't ready for a top stitch yet and could fit them without cutting back. It is VERY fiddly sewing a topstitch with the seam underneath - do you cut any slits in the seam or allow it to wrinkle? The leather I am using is reasonably thick so it becomes quite obvious.

 

Feel like I ehave acomplished a lot just by having something that doesn't look utterly rubbish (still just the first attempt) but you are right it is so rewarding!

 

Haha the seats I am cheating slightly - my sister has been doing dressmaking for 25 years and I am hoping she will lend a hand with the seats! :p

 

Thanks, W

 

When you make French seams on your armrest cover, you need to have it inside-out (sort of).

 

When you've sewn your two main seams (in black thread), you leave the cover so that it's the reverse of how it is when it's fitted. So it's dished inwards at the ends, rather than dished outwards when fitted.

 

Make sure you have the "edge" of the cover closest to your right hand, so the other edge and the large centre sections are held in your left hand. Start slowly at the end and topstitch the right hand side of the seam that by your right hand.

 

This will undoubtedly be the side where it "bunches up" underneath so you can either take it very slowly and keep manipulating the seam allowance with every stitch... or you can snip little triangular sections out so, when it's laid flat, there's no bunching. :thumbup1:

 

Rinse and repeat for the three remaining topstitches.

 

When you do the French seams on the large centre piece, you won't need to worry about bunching as the curve is going away from itself on that piece, whereas the curve is coming back on itself on the two side sections.

 

Hope that makes sense!

Edited August 23, 201510 yr by Mondo

Doing myself out of a career here...!! :lol:

Thanks for the tips Si I'm off to get a sewing machine too :lol:

 

Nice work William!

Thanks for the tips Si I'm off to get a sewing machine too :lol:

 

 

:lol: I'll just retire now.... :biggrin:

Digging out my other half's industrial overlocker and singer sewing machine as I type........ lol

Singer, that brings back memories!

Thanks for the tops Si, They will help when I revisit the center console for version 2 next week!

 

So today I practiced my top stitch and the outcome is s set of new Gear and Handbrake Gaiters. reasonably painless, although the end of the handbrake gaiter was a bit of a pain to stitch, so I will need to tidy it up a little bit by hand. Kudos to the machine though, this wouldn't have worked on a domestic! Not so much due to it being leather, but the consistency of stitch due to the needle feed.

 

Next up will be a steering wheel attempt i think! haha.

 

I'm not going to give all my tips and secrets away as I really will be out of a career! I also gave a fair amount of help and advice to an aspiring trimmer a few months ago and I was repaid by her openly promoting another trimmer instead of me!! :thumbdown: I'm not suggesting you'd do anything similar, but she's taught me to be very wary...

 

However, if you're going to give the steering wheel a bash, you will need an awl and a curved packing needle. :thumbup1:

Haha thanks Si! Yeah some people can really terrible, but I am a strong believer in what goes around comes around! Appreciated you sharing hard earned tips though.

 

I gave the wheels some tests tonight. A couple of straight lines on the machine and then using the hand stitch to pull it all together.

 

 

First and second test:

 

Third test (getting there I think. Probably doing it wrong, but I don't see why it wont work, stretches around the curves well and holds tight. A bit of glue should help give it a reasonable lilfetime! only time will tell ).

 

Planning on putting a perforated section in the middle! :)

Wow - you're a brave man for trying that mate..... And nice work, I reckon....:bow:

 

....Me, I'd have picked up the 'phone to Mondo:wink:

 

Richard:thumbup:

Thanks Richard! I did get a quite from Si a while ago, but the trouble is he lives too far away for me, plus I am impatient, and suddenly got the bug to try it! And once I have something like that in my mind I have to give it a try!

 

So tonight's work on the wheel. A quick test again with perforated leather, and then the pattern making and sewing... So far so good!

 

 

Now for the hand stitch and glueing... aka the scary bit.

Steeringwheel finished tonight :)

 

 

Edited August 27, 201510 yr by wchestnutt

Nice job watch out Si

Looks like a good job on the steering wheel there! A different method to how I do mine, but definitely looks the part! :thumbup1:

Steeringwheel finished tonight :)

 

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Wow - awesome work matey....:bow:

Love that!!

Nice work. Think you must have an eye for this sort of thing as if this is your first ever attemp at it I'm seriously impressed.

haha thanks guys much appreciated :)

 

I keep expecting to run into trouble, but I think it is a case of patience and the right tools! Never really dont any sewing though (apart from messing about when I was 8)

 

I bought the steerign wheel as a spare as I didn't want to pull mine off and then be left with a horrific mess haha. But will probably end up retrimming the other one using the same pattern and will whack it in the for sale thread - As long as Si doesn't mind?!

 

Hopefully seats this weekend!!

 

Best regards,

You're doing very well so far! :thumbup1:

 

I'd suggest making the seam allowance on the wheel joints a little smaller though, so they're not as obvious once it's all finished. Maybe trim them down to about 5mm or 6mm.

Yeah I agree, they are a bit imposing as they are!

 

So received my seat covers to tear apart from hellraiser! Thanks mate. This looks bloody scary!!!

 

 

I intend to reduce the covers to their component parts, then make some patterns from calico. I will then pin that pattern to the seats to make sure everything lines up, and make any repairs or tweaks.

 

Then transfer the calico pattern to the leather and hope for the best...........

Your welcome fella. Hope they are good enough for what you need.

Sure they will mate! Wont be much progress for a couple of weeks though as I am on holiday in a week woohoo! sun sun sun

 

Gear Knob tonight... Not particularly happy with this one yet. Will probably end up going with a different kind of stitch as this one is a bit untidy in places due to matching up the thread count. See how it looks once the rest is done :) I might just replace it out for a nice simple Nismo one.

 

Your doing well mate. I was over gaz's last week before he sent them out. Gear knob looks bonza.