You will need:
-Enough leather. I will explain how to get it for free but you can buy it if you want a certain look. You can use cloth and other fabrics too.
-Sewing needle(s)
-Fishing line or strong string. Otherwise it will quickly rip.
-Scissors or a needle.
-A ruler or something flat to mark where to cut. You need this to draw straight lines where you're gonna cut.
-Marker or pen to mark your fabric.
-Optional: 3M Vinyl adhesive
You might be thinking how this fits into a budget build when leather costs so much. Well actually, it's free. You read that correctly.
The leather I got is strong, clean, and smells good. It is very good quality. Where do you get it? Drive around on trash day and look for couches. I cut all of the leather off using a razorblade and left the frame. Cut the pieces as big as you can - you can always trim them later. Take the whole back piece as one piece. Same thing with each cushion and so on. One couch is basically enough for one back seat. I found a wallet with $7 in it too!
You might be wondering why I only did the back of my back seat in leather. That was on purpose. The bottom is the old seat cover. I turned the seat into an old school style bench seat and I think the two-texture is very original. I will be redoing the center console and some other things so it flows with the rest of the car but let me tell you, I am so glad I went ahead and made this thing. I am very busy so I would make some progress, stop, go back, etc. In total, I think I spent about four hours. It's actually relaxing.
I made the seat a bench seat for the same reason I am keeping the leather/cloth combo - originality. Of course, the LS400 has nice seats and the center armrest is no longer accessible. However I just really like the thought of a bench seat in the back. I suppose that's what makes your car yours.
The first thing you're gonna want to do is simply lay your pieces of leather on top of the seat and measure where you're going to cut them. You need to trim off the edges so your pieces are perfectly squared.
You need to decide if you're gonna use two or three pieces. If you use two, you need two wide AND long enough pieces. Put em on and see if they meet in the middle.
For my three-piece design, this is how I mocked up the side pieces to see how much I need in the middle.
It will save you time but I think a three-piece looks better but that's just my opinion. That's what I did. In this case, measure and cut the two side pieces, mock them up, and again, mark where the middle pieces are going to be cut.
If your leather already has stitching, be mindful to connect the pieces in a way where these lines flow. Again - look at the first picture and notice how there is stitching going across the whole top of the seat. It's details like that that will set your car apart.
In order to sew these pieces together in a way that looks good, the stitching needs to be done in a certain way. You don't put them next to each other and start sewing. This will create ugly lines. You want the edges of the leather to be folded into the back-side of the cover so you can't see the ''edge." I hope that makes sense. Lay them down like this:
Lay the first piece down with the leather part facing up. Lay the piece you're going to attach on top of it but upside-down. The leather faces should meet. This way, when you line them up and sew them together, you will have a nice hidden stitch. Again, the edges will fold in on each other. Look at how it's done in your car originally to see what I mean or look at the picture below.
Again, line the pieces up perfectly so you can get a nice stitch. Optionally, you can put down a small film of 3M adhesive to give it extra strength where it connects. If you're gonna do this, put the adhesive on the edge of one piece, put the other one on top (be conscious of which way it's facing!), and let it dry before you sew. This will help to hold it together straight while you sew aswell.
Here you can see the 'folded in' part I was talking about as well as how you should line up your pieces - perfectly straight on top of each other. In this picture, I am connecting the middle piece to a side piece.
It's time to start sewing. Don't be intimidated if you have never done it before because it's simple. You put your string through the hole in the needle, pull it through some so it doesn't come out of the needle as you push it through each hole, and begin by pushing the needle through two pieces that you should have sitting on top of each other (be mindful to lay them down correctly because otherwise you may pick up your finished piece only to realize that you sewed the pieces the wrong way and you are looking at the back of the leather on one of them).
There's two ways you can sew this together:
1. Use a straight needle. Push it through from top to bottom, then push it back up from bottom to top a short distance away. Continue until finished.
2. The faster method. Bend a needle so it's a half-circle. This will let you literally hook the string under so you come back up with two holes as opposed to having to insert the needle from the bottom if you are using a straight one.
When you first start, make the first hole and pull your string almost all the way through. On the back side of the leather, you need to tie maybe five knots on top of each other so the string stays there and doesn't pop out. The knot will prevent it from going through the hole the needle makes. You need to do this at the end as well. You don't want your stitching coming out because you didn't knot it.
The first thing you need to do is sew together the outside parts that are going to hold the cover in place.
Line it up straight using some tape and sew away.
You will fold the sides that are going to be tucked in behind the seat and sew them in a way where you can put something in there that will keep them from easily coming out. The idea is that you want something maybe the thickness of a pencil there so that when you push that in the space where the seat ends, it will keep the seat cover in place. That's actually how most seat covers that you can buy work.
Tucking it in. The pieces you should have sewn into these parts will help hold it in place.
Once all that is done, you need to connect all of the pieces. Each piece needs the folded over part that I just explained in the areas where it will be tucked in. Don't worry about the bottom - you're just sticking all that extra leather in between the seat (so cut it a foot longer than you need to cover the seat).
You can do the bottom part the exact same way.
As always, feel free to leave a comment if you have any questions. I will be more than happy to answer them.
If you have skills, you can do two or three stitches at once with a bent needle.
This is how I laid down my leather in order to put some adhesive all along the edge. Having it already lined up and close will avoid making a big mess and will help with lining the two pieces up. You simply lift it a little bit and bring it to the edge of the piece with the adhesive and lay it down straight. Put some heavy things all along the edge to press the pieces together.
Line up any stitching.
K
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