180sx Report post Posted June 28, 2016 Hey, new to leather craft. Just finished reupholstering a steering wheel for my car for the first time ever. Very hard to do, to get it perfectly measured and the pattern cut out properly, and to do it without a sewing machine. Anyways, after wasting nearly a whole half hide of perforated leather, i finally got a product I was happy with. This is my last issue, the leather, in the corner bunches up and creates these wrinkles, that I'd like to remove if possible, the leather isnt very thick, id say 2mm or so, but here are the pictures anyways. Just wondering if there is a way to massage the leather somehow so its not as wrinkly/bunched up, i tried poling a needle in the perforations to offset the bunching up, but it didnt do much. imgur gallery link for photos: http://imgur.com/a/8pL5V Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
johnv474 Report post Posted July 1, 2016 Once the cover is in place I don't know of any solution because the material is already there. The closest you might get is with a combination of heat, moisture, and pressure. A hot washcloth held in the corners and pressed down with a bone folder/fingers might help. It will likely smooth out some with the heat of the sun and pressure from fingers (over time, that is). Before the material is applied the only way I know is to use a stretchy enough material to lay the inside edge smooth and pull the outside longer. However, since this is perforated leather that could throw off the perforation pattern some. My mentor always reminds me that the "inside of a doughtnut is shorter than the outside of a doughnut". In this case you are trying to get the same amount of material over both distances. To aid in stretching there are liquids/sprays called "shoe stretch" that will make leather stretch (while wet, then stays extended while dry), and that could be of help in future projects. I wish I knew of a better answer for you. Nice work, by the way. I'd be proud of it as-is. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
impulse Report post Posted July 3, 2016 An old upholstery trick is to very carefully use a heat gun on the wrinkled area (for thin leather only). The leather will shrink to mold around the steering wheel. Then apply some leather dressing. Because different parts of a hide are more stretchy than some, nearly all complicated upholstery jobs need to apply this technique. Cheers, Lois Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
