Post by zoona on Jun 15, 2023 13:47:13 GMT
I recently bought a new steering wheel (for my new car, not the 5 - but thougth it might be interesting anyway).
Rather than pay crazy money for one that has been re-covered, I thoguht I would spend way more money and time and do it myself...
So I hvae a new project.
I used some cheap vinyl to play around with to get an idea of how it all works - and it is hard. even harder that i thought...
Steering wheel i bought:
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This was cheap, and recovered ones are about $500. I paid a lot less for this one...
So I started by making a pattern and trying out the vinyl. I knew this would be more difficult as it doesn't stretch like leather, but just wanted to have a play and see how tough it was going to be.
This is copying the same stitch - where you join every other stitch:
It looked prarrie canoe. Party due to the vinyl, partly due to me using a slightly thinner thread than the pros (my machine can't cope with a thicker thread for the straight stich along the edge unfortunaltey) and party due to my skills... After watching loads more videos, i need to be doing this after glueing and stretching the leather into place. So I am hopeful it will look a lot better in the final product.
I also tried linking every stitch, which looked a lot better on the vinyl:
Another problem was just the mechanics of holding the wheel in position and trying to be precise. Again after wathcing videos, i decided to make a stand. Not as fancy as the pros, but will defineitely hep me a lot:
A trip to my local metal supermarket and a route through their scrap shelf and a bit of welding and painting, and i end up with this:
I thnk this will help a lot...
Rather than pay crazy money for one that has been re-covered, I thoguht I would spend way more money and time and do it myself...
So I hvae a new project.
I used some cheap vinyl to play around with to get an idea of how it all works - and it is hard. even harder that i thought...
Steering wheel i bought:
This was cheap, and recovered ones are about $500. I paid a lot less for this one...
So I started by making a pattern and trying out the vinyl. I knew this would be more difficult as it doesn't stretch like leather, but just wanted to have a play and see how tough it was going to be.
This is copying the same stitch - where you join every other stitch:
It looked prarrie canoe. Party due to the vinyl, partly due to me using a slightly thinner thread than the pros (my machine can't cope with a thicker thread for the straight stich along the edge unfortunaltey) and party due to my skills... After watching loads more videos, i need to be doing this after glueing and stretching the leather into place. So I am hopeful it will look a lot better in the final product.
I also tried linking every stitch, which looked a lot better on the vinyl:
Another problem was just the mechanics of holding the wheel in position and trying to be precise. Again after wathcing videos, i decided to make a stand. Not as fancy as the pros, but will defineitely hep me a lot:
A trip to my local metal supermarket and a route through their scrap shelf and a bit of welding and painting, and i end up with this:
I thnk this will help a lot...
le sigh