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

Great job!!!!

Thanks for the comments guys! I have actually decided to go for round to. I am not completely happy with the finish this time around as I used the old fabric as the pattern which meant a lot of fiddling afterwards to get a nice fit. This time I will be making a pattern from scratch.

 

I took a trip around an amazing leather warehouse last weekend, they had all sorts from aligator and stingray hides, to the softest suede.

 

I picked out a really soft smooth black leather which has been used in a number of sports cars, and also found a pretty unique nubuck soft blue leather - it is half way between suede and leather with a really smooth matt finish.

The next build will be using these two leathers on the seats! And I have to finally start the panel retrim in black alcantara!

 

Thanks for reading! :)

Outstanding effort that! Wasn't sure on the colour to begin with but think it goes well now it's in the car

So, finally managed to get the seats done!!!! Hands are red raw and a few bits left to tweak and change but glad to have it all back together! I am going to build the sound system before working on the interior again. Picking up the wood router and cables for speakers and amp next weekend

 

 

Very VERY good work there mate..... I know I could not do anything like that - you should be very proud of the result....:bow::bow:

Well done Will

Hi Guys,

 

thanks again for the feedback!! So been tinkering around the past week, and the interior is starting to come together a bit more. Retrimmed wheel has been installed and I have sourced some quality leather and thread instead of hit and miss ebay stuff. also fit a new JVC Touch Screen stereo which looks pretty nice imo.

 

I have also just bought some new seats which I will be retrimming to fit in the car. I hope these will add a bit of an individual feel and perhaps modernise the interior slightly. I have gone for the bride Gias reclining low max seats (Genuine). They are red cloch at the moment, but this will be changed for a black soft leather with embossed (somehow) Zed logo, Thick Grey top stitching for detail, and a soft blue Nubuck leather for the middle panels. really excited to start work on these!

 

Anyone had experience with the Bride Gias? Seen some pics of them retrimmed in leather for a less aftermarket look and they can look quite flash I think

 

Hi Guys,

 

thanks again for the feedback!! So been tinkering around the past week, and the interior is starting to come together a bit more. Retrimmed wheel has been installed and I have sourced some quality leather and thread instead of hit and miss ebay stuff. also fit a new JVC Touch Screen stereo which looks pretty nice imo.

 

I have also just bought some new seats which I will be retrimming to fit in the car. I hope these will add a bit of an individual feel and perhaps modernise the interior slightly. I have gone for the bride Gias reclining low max seats (Genuine). They are red cloch at the moment, but this will be changed for a black soft leather with embossed (somehow) Zed logo, Thick Grey top stitching for detail, and a soft blue Nubuck leather for the middle panels. really excited to start work on these!

 

Anyone had experience with the Bride Gias? Seen some pics of them retrimmed in leather for a less aftermarket look and they can look quite flash I think

 

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Damn they do look nice, I would just hope that the bolsters do not push your shoulders.

 

Black leather would look sleek and sexy, good choice.

Hi Guys,

 

thanks again for the feedback!! So been tinkering around the past week, and the interior is starting to come together a bit more. Retrimmed wheel has been installed and I have sourced some quality leather and thread instead of hit and miss ebay stuff. also fit a new JVC Touch Screen stereo which looks pretty nice imo.

 

I have also just bought some new seats which I will be retrimming to fit in the car. I hope these will add a bit of an individual feel and perhaps modernise the interior slightly. I have gone for the bride Gias reclining low max seats (Genuine). They are red cloch at the moment, but this will be changed for a black soft leather with embossed (somehow) Zed logo, Thick Grey top stitching for detail, and a soft blue Nubuck leather for the middle panels. really excited to start work on these!

 

Anyone had experience with the Bride Gias? Seen some pics of them retrimmed in leather for a less aftermarket look and they can look quite flash I think

 

 

You're looking at some expense to have a debossing stamp made, William! I had a 370Z one made (just the "Z" logo for that model) and for a 1" x 2" brass die, it was just short of £200...

 

I'm not convinced on the Nubuck hide for the seat centres. I don't think it'll wear too well and I'd be very surprised if it has the UV protection needed to last inside a car.

Hi Si, wow that is pretty expensive! I hadnt looked into it yet, so perhaps a proper embroidered logo would be a better plan :P

 

Thanks for advice re nubuck, I will give it a shot and see how it fairs. The car doesnt get too much use so hopefully it wont get too destroyed and I will treat it with uv protection keralux to try and help!

 

Best, W

Hi Si, wow that is pretty expensive! I hadnt looked into it yet, so perhaps a proper embroidered logo would be a better plan :P

 

Thanks for advice re nubuck, I will give it a shot and see how it fairs. The car doesnt get too much use so hopefully it wont get too destroyed and I will treat it with uv protection keralux to try and help!

 

Best, W

 

Yep, they're expensive to have made. The two I have are absolutely perfect and perform faultlessly, but it's still a big outlay for something that you may only ever use twice (one on each seat)!

 

The other possible issue you'd have is the type of leather you're wanting to deboss. Upholstery leather has a vinyl coating that gives it the grain pattern and some of the protection it needs for being in such a high-traffic application, and the debossing die effectively "brands" the leather as you have to heat them up to use them. Because of the vinyl finish, the die "melts" through that and helps to give the design proper definition and depth.

 

If you heat it too much or hold it in place for too long, you'll ruin the leather around the die. If it's not hot enough or not held in place for long enough, you'll end up with a poor imprint and you'll never get the die in exactly the same place again!

 

Something like Nubuck leather, that doesn't have the vinyl finish, won't stamp very well at all. You basically have to use the right equipment for whatever job you're planning to do, William - I'd honestly recommend sticking with proper upholstery hide, rather than using something else. Nubuck feels beautiful but it just won't cope very well with the cycle of people getting in and out of the seats over and over again.

You're looking at some expense to have a debossing stamp made, William! I had a 370Z one made (just the "Z" logo for that model) and for a 1" x 2" brass die, it was just short of £200...

 

I'm not convinced on the Nubuck hide for the seat centres. I don't think it'll wear too well and I'd be very surprised if it has the UV protection needed to last inside a car.

 

Do you have a photo of that stamp on finished seat Si?

Do you have a photo of that stamp on finished seat Si?

 

This is the first time I used it (on a 370Z Roadster). I had to use a slightly different leather to the rest of the job as the stamp just wouldn't leave a proper imprint.

 

 

And here's the most recent occasion, again on a 370Z Roadster:

 

 

You can see the difference between the imprints as the red seats used a much softer leather and, as such, the result is much weaker.

That Z logo looks great! The main leather I am using is a proper upholstery hide in black, it has a very fine/small imprinted grain and is very soft. The nubuck is intended but for the inserts again to add a bit of contrast, if it fails then I can replace with black normal leather, but my curiosity levels are far too high not to give it a try! Haha (probably the Same reason I started this project in the first place! :p)

 

Thanks for advise about debossing, I think I will be staying clear of that given the cost and time.

here is the progress this weekend.

 

Pattern creation:

 

This is where I made an error I think. The foam backing I used doesnt have any give in the material, so this prevented the leather from stretching easily during the fitting stage. Next seat will be using a softer foam backing.

Will it ft?!

 

Unfortunately the clips on the seat belt holes snapped so I will hav to find a way to fix those. For now they are clamped :)

This was the first test fit. I havn't put on the velcro fasteners which will hold the cover tight yet, and there are a couple of areas on the bolsters where I will add a little extra foam to prevent the pulling that is happening at the moment, probably as a result of the lining not allowing much stretch.

 

 

 

This is the blue that will be used on the inserts...

 

First and foremost, you shouldn't be making your patterns with the original cover still attached to the seat! That will just give you false measurements! The seat should always be stripped down to the bare foam before any kind of patterning is done.

 

The scrim foam you've used to back the leather should have sufficient "give" for this. The scrim backing itself just adds a tiny bit of stiffness to the panel, but there shouldn't be any issues with it preventing the leather from stretching enough.

 

The wrinkles are most likely due to either the pattern being slightly wrong (due perhaps to being made whilst the original cover was fitted) or because the fitting side of it isn't quite right. Might be worth removing it all and refitting it to see if those sections smooth themselves out, William. Padding the structure out with more foam will give you a slightly uneven look, unless you cover the entire seat in an additional layer!

 

As for the harness slots; they're not actually supposed to be removed. You have to cut the new cover once it's fitted and then tuck everything in uniformly behind the slot covers, assisted by either double-sided tape or a little bit of glue here and there.

 

As I said before, this is a very ambitious project for your second stab at retrimming! I did a pair of Cobra Misanos a few years back, which are a similar sort of layout and design, and they were a serious pain....

Hello Si,

 

Trouble is there is minimal foam on the so I wouldnt have been able to build a pattern without going over the top. This cover is stretched using a wire that runs around the back of the chair and is stitched into the fabric, then tensioned on a spring underneath. Once it is off the chair is just a carbon shell pretty much.

Get your point about the fitment and adding foam though, unfortunately I am pretty sure it is symptomatic of the lining not having any stretch so it prevents the leather being able to stretch to a nice tight fit.

 

When I built the pattern I have myself a few mm tolerance to compensate being on top of the fabric. I think the pattern is as close as I would get it, so hopefully the second final fitting will prove more successful. :)

 

So far though finding them less stressfull than the shapes on the original seats!! Haha

Hello Si,

 

Trouble is there is minimal foam on the so I wouldnt have been able to build a pattern without going over the top. This cover is stretched using a wire that runs around the back of the chair and is stitched into the fabric, then tensioned on a spring underneath. Once it is off the chair is just a carbon shell pretty much.

Get your point about the fitment and adding foam though, unfortunately I am pretty sure it is symptomatic of the lining not having any stretch so it prevents the leather being able to stretch to a nice tight fit.

 

When I built the pattern I have myself a few mm tolerance to compensate being on top of the fabric. I think the pattern is as close as I would get it, so hopefully the second final fitting will prove more successful. :)

 

So far though finding them less stressfull than the shapes on the original seats!! Haha

 

The problem with what you're initially saying is that the original cover will already be foam-backed, which will add a couple of millimetres in every direction. So if you then pattern over the top of that, your pattern will effectively be slightly too big... even adding the scrim foam to the reverse of your new leather panels won't counteract that problem sufficiently.

 

If the foam layer on the seat structure itself is quite thin, then you really just need to find an alternative to pinning the pattern into place. You quite simply have to have the seat stripped completely before any patterning takes place.

The problem with what you're initially saying is that the original cover will already be foam-backed, which will add a couple of millimetres in every direction. So if you then pattern over the top of that, your pattern will effectively be slightly too big... even adding the scrim foam to the reverse of your new leather panels won't counteract that problem sufficiently.

 

If the foam layer on the seat structure itself is quite thin, then you really just need to find an alternative to pinning the pattern into place. You quite simply have to have the seat stripped completely before any patterning takes place.

 

The leather layer he put on you can see on another picture doesn't have the red cover under it and is on the foam. But you are right he should measure up the blue bit without the chair stripped fully.

The leather layer he put on you can see on another picture doesn't have the red cover under it and is on the foam. But you are right he should measure up the blue bit without the chair stripped fully.

 

Yes, he fitted the new cover after he'd removed the original, but he didn't remove the original cover when he was making the pattern for the new cover.

Yes, he fitted the new cover after he'd removed the original, but he didn't remove the original cover when he was making the pattern for the new cover.

 

Gotcha

Aha yeah I get you now Mondo makes sense, I cant think how to pattern without going over the top though as the tension around the back is effectively floating due to the wire pulling it tight. Hmmmm. I wonder if I can lay my cover over the top of the original :p

some progress today :) Just need to fasten a few areas and this seat should be complete! Beauty of these seats is that I can put any colour in the middle and not require a complete retrim, so i may do a black alcantara insert set as well at some point to match the black alcantara going in the interior dash and door cards.

 

Sorry I can't help it but it looks like a really happy face :laughing:

haha yeah it does, not so noticabble in the flesh :p not 100% happy with the back panel, but haven't worked out what design would improve it yet.