Automotive Door Panel Recovery

[Azryael]

Hi all, new to the site, and relatively new to leatherworking.

Since purchasing my truck about three months ago, I've found myself bringing up to speed and wanting to tailor (no pun intended) to my taste!

I'm skilled in carpentry and metal working, but sewing/leatherworking has always been something I've wanted to do but never quite got around to. My steering wheel in my truck needed to be replaced, so I decided to remove the original leather and pattern out my own replacement skin as my very first leatherworking project!!

Using basic tools, and having no previous experience (I admit I rushed through it a bit, but I've learned a lot already from a few mistakes I made), I feel it turned out alright!

 

I'm going to get a second wheel from a local salvage yard to try again, this time taking my time and being much more methodical about my approach, including taking accurate measurements.

The original owner of the truck removed the door panels to repair and replace the window motors, but broke several of the panel push rivets in the process; instead of replacing them, he simply screwed the panel into the door, leaving various exposed screws! I've discovered that all the retainers for the push rivets are in good shape, and all they needed were replacement rivets. This means that I'm left with random screw holes everywhere! I figured I could use this as an opportunity to practice some leatherworking/upholstery by covering them with some nice leather.

The panels themselves are plastic, with nothing else covering them; this means I must make my own templates for each piece to put together before gluing it down on the panel.

This is where I'm stumped. What is the best method to template the four sections I've decided to make for each rear panel? I've included how I intend to place them by drawing my lines on the panel with a wax pen.

I'm using a ~48 sq-ft. hide that's been dyed a nice, dark gray, roughly 3mm thick.

I've tried using a stretchy vinyl alternative, but can't seem to get it to work the way I'd like to get an accurate template.

I already did the rear armrests, which I'm sure I could improve upon as well, but I'm very happy with how they look. This photo was before I did fine tuning by removing any excess leather and securing the rest of it for a nice, tight fit.

Sorry for the long post, and thank you in advance!

[cjartist]

Jumping in with both feet.  I admire that in others because I tend to be that way too.  

I use mostly veg tan leather, not upholstery stuff.  I have often wondered if masking tape would work well for a template for those curved surfaces, but have not tried it yet. You might want to try it out on the door handle recess first.  Use several overlapping pieces and then when you remove it, you could cut where you think you would need your seams and to get it to lay flat. 

[Azryael]

16 minutes ago, cjartist said:

Jumping in with both feet.  I admire that in others because I tend to be that way too.  

I use mostly veg tan leather, not upholstery stuff.  I have often wondered if masking tape would work well for a template for those curved surfaces, but have not tried it yet. You might want to try it out on the door handle recess first.  Use several overlapping pieces and then when you remove it, you could cut where you think you would need your seams and to get it to lay flat. 

That's how I am with just about everything; I find with a little guidance I learn fairly quickly and do very well.

I'd never built something of this magnitude before, but through my CAD experience, I drew up some plans and built a built-in entertainment center for my parents to go against the living room wall to actually give the living room some definition.

The goal was something rustic, so I allowed for some relatively loose tolerances. Here it is before a few finishing touches:

And after being decorated:

The leather I'm using is one of those $99 hides they had at one of the local Tandy's; loved the color and feel.

I tried the masking tape approach and found it didn't work well for me, but perhaps I was doing it wrong. Those low and high reliefs in the panel are what are really killing me! I'd have an easier time recovering the panels in one of my older Mercedes'!

Should I potentially look into a more... methodical approach where I use a tape measure and get detailed measurements? The engineer in me wants to do this, as tedious and time-consuming as it may seem.

 

[cjartist]

That is beautiful. Hopefully someone with some experience in upholstery will come in here and give you some guidance.  I'm sure there is a trick to do it relatively easy.

[Azryael]

Thank you! I'm hoping so too so I can make some headway on this. My office is filled with leather and panels and tools, haha.

[Mark842]

The best way to learn is to jump in with both feet sometimes. You may get some stuff wrong but you will be able to see why its wrong and what you need to change. I highly recommend you watch some of Cechaflo's videos on youtube. It will help you quite a bit. He has tons of videos that are all shot very well.

 

[Azryael]

18 minutes ago, Mark842 said:

The best way to learn is to jump in with both feet sometimes. You may get some stuff wrong but you will be able to see why its wrong and what you need to change. I highly recommend you watch some of Cechaflo's videos on youtube. It will help you quite a bit. He has tons of videos that are all shot very well.

 

I love his videos! He is incredibly skilled at what he does; I wish I had half of his shop at my disposal!

[Sterlclan1]

I too jumped right in. i used clear plastic and spray adhesive,tracing the lines where i wanted the seams..

[MY63]

I think this video might help you leather stretches more than you think.

 

[johnv474]

I am not an upholsterer but here is how I would approach it.

 

You could take painters tape and some posterboard, and keep cutting and taping and cutting and taping until you have those pieces in the shape you want.  Then, cut the posterboard with scissors as little as possible so that the posterbpard lies flat.  Anywhere you cut to make it lie flat would be an area that you will have a seam (or you will have to stretch the leather there).  In case of a seam there, cut your leather about 1/2" wider than where you cut the posterboard, so you can fold those edges back and make a French seam (see Youtube for that).

 

You will probably either use spray adhesive like the 3M 303 (I think is the name) or a multi-purpose contact cement... Not an all-purpose contact cement, because those do not stick to vinyl.  Renia Colle de Cologne is one brand.

 

You may need to cement in a portion and then let it dry so that you can cement in the next portion while stretching.