In the beginning, you want to start with small items like the shift knob. One of the first things I did was wrap my old shifter in nice leather and stitch it together. Although lacking in quality just a little, it looked pretty good and helped change the inside of the car.
One perk of upholstering something in leather is that you actually get some of that new car smell back. The new car smell is made up of adhesives and materials used in the making of the car and that's what you're using. My 23 year old car smells like leather inside.
You can go my route and start with seat covers - this way you can always take off what you did if you mess it up. This is opposed to completely reupholstering the seat the proper way which includes taking off the old material.
This skill is easy to learn, hard to master. You have to know how to sew although that is extremely simple. You should be able to figure it out by yourself and if you can't - auto upholstery probably isn't for you. Just saying. I'm talking about sewing. Upholstery is hard and will require patience.
Sewing
To begin, you get the thread through the needle hole first. Pull out six inches or so. That will keep your thread from coming out of the needle as you stick it through your material. There are different stitching patterns but the most basic way is to lay the two pieces of cloth on top of each other and stick the needle through both, come out of the other side, stick it back through to the first side a short distance further, and continue like this. The thread goes down through the cloth, comes back up through another hole, goes back down yet another, and continues to create a sturdy basic stitch.
A sewing machine does this automatically and quickly. It will eventually become a must. You can still create a lot with just a needle and thread. You should also think about the fact that Ferrari, Lamborghini, Pagani, and so many supercar manufacturers still hand stitch everything. That's a nice job...
Make sure to use strong thread. I like to use fishing line although you can't see it. If you want different colors, you're gonna have to go to a fabric store and find some good, strong thread. Simple string will always eventually rip, even if you double up on it.
The same goes for the material you will be using. Try not to use thin cloth as it will start ripping. You can find leather and different types of fabric in the form of couches that have been thrown out by their owners. It's free and the fabric is literally meant to sit on. Not only have I gotten large pieces of good leather but expensive microfiber cloth that looks and feels like velvet aswell. Take a razor and cut the biggest pieces you can. A large couch provided me with enough material to upholstery all the seats in the LS which is a big car. Get every inch!
Some microfiber cloth that came off a reupholstered couch someone was throwing out. I also saw zebra print... Thought about it...
On to the good stuff. There's two basic ways of reupholstering a seat, just to use that as an example. The methods are really a variation of the same thing.
The idea is to figure out what pieces you're gonna need to put together a complete seat, cut those out, and sew them together.
You would typically use the original pieces to stencil your new pieces. You have to carefully separate all of the original stitching, leaving you with the pieces of fabric that make up the whole seat, and trace around those on top of the new fabric.
Here I'm marking a straight line to cut but the idea is the same when you use a stencil. Say you cut your piece from a piece of paper you overlayed, you would place that on top of the backside of your fabric and trace around it in order to create the shape you want. Remember to add that half inch afterwards.
You can also overlay paper, set it on each panel you need (you can do this without taking apart the seat at all), and carefully trace the exact shape you need. In this way, you can actually upholster the seat directly on top of the old fabric. That's something you may want to do on your own cars when you first start.
You're going to mark an extra half inch around each one of these stencils. This half an inch of fabric is what you're going to be sewing to other pieces. It is necessary to make up for the lost length created by the fold you get when you sew these pieces together. It makes up the fold in between layers. If this doesn't make sense to you, well, it takes a certain amount of space to sew two fabrics together and this is it.
It is a good idea to mark which piece attaches to which. A is next to A while B is next to B and so on. Use a marker or something like that and make sure you mark everything on the back side! That should be obvious.
You're going to be sewing inside out. In order to get that hidden, folded in stitch, the sewing has to be done from the backside of the fabric. What do I mean? Let's say I have two square pieces that I am attaching together. Both pieces are black leather on one side and the dull gray part you're not supposed to see on the other side.
To create a hidden seam, I would lay these two pieces leather-face on leather-face. If I then sewed one side together, I would be able to 'open' this piece to reveal a leather rectangle with folded-in stitching in the center.
This illustrates what I'm talking about. The line in the middle is where these two big pieces were sewn together into one. See how it folds in?
I hope I explained this in a way you can easily understand.
That's the half inch you're not supposed to see. Notice also how I have these two pieces laid leather face on leather face.
Like I said, you can also cut your own pieces but you have to measure everything very accurately to have it fit the seat perfectly. Although it IS harder, only somewhat. It takes longer and you have to pay a lot of attention to detail. You will be rewarded with something custom. Something one-off and something that has had sweat and time put into it. Something no other car has. I think that's worth pursuing.
If you want to see what can be accomplished, an inspiration to me was a company called Stitched by Slick. Started by a man who was taught to sew by his grandmother, it is now one of the highest quality upholstery shops out there. Here are a couple pictures but you should really look the man up.
Anybody that steps in that car is at least going to be thinking about it if they don't say anything. Google him, though - he has much better stuff.
Making Your Car Unique
I didn't buy my Lexus LS400 just because it's an amazing luxury car but also because it is suprisingly customiseable. I was able to easily turn the back seat into a bench seat - something that suits my style - but you can do a lot more.
The back seat of my car. The back will stay leather while the cloth will be replaced by microfiber and the leather will flow through the seat even though the bottom will be cloth so it doesn't get so hot or cold.
Have you ever heard of interior swaps? Indeed, people change out whole interiors. Pontiac GTO dash in a 1970 Charger? Sure, no problem. Actually it's amazing what some people can do with interiors.
To switch out a back seat, for example, you have to locate a different seat that has the same measurements as yours or that you can at least fit and secure somehow. Starting with a back seat would probably be the easiest. I don't have much experience doing this but I thought I would bring up something unique that will really make people go "Wait... Is this the original interior?"
Think about other parts. Door panels, headliners, and just about anything can be customised. It takes time, dedication, and imagination.
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