DIY Tutorial: Reupholstering your door cards and centre pillars.

[bboyskidz]

Yes yes i know i know. I'm a lazy twat who can't be bothered uploading pics.

anyway, here goes!

So basically the concept behind it was the same as I used when doing the headliner:

1. Take out the trim
2. Lay the trim on top of the fabric and cut it to size
3. Spray the back of both with adhesive spray
4. Stick them together
5. Put the car back together

This is the stitch I used:


Here is the join between the top black part and the existing fabric section. A simple fold sewn along the edge looks sweet. I intend to pull it back somewhat and use some hot glue behind it all to keep it in place (thanks to Ray's suggestion)


Here is the finished front right door card. I chose this one simply because it looks the best at the moment... notice the top starting to come loose? this is what the hot glue gun should fix.


Closer detail of the front right door handle section:


Close up (not too clear) of the door clamp side. Looks good, but could do with some more glue to keep it flush.


close up of the rear right door - this shows the stitching the best:


This is how I managed to do the door pillar. The fabric that I used (faux-suede) has absolutely NO stretch in it whatsoever and doesn't mould around anything easily at all. I found that with these creases, it looks good, and makes it easier to cover the whole piece.



Close up of the trim:


Picture of the front column:


And something I got in the mail the other day. kinda cheesey but i like (^^,)

[rayray086]

Fantastic stuff Lachlan! And that door card piece is 5 star stuff Good thinking with the centre pillar piece too. My fabric was slightly more forgiving though and I was able to get it on without overlap, although I accidentally cut a bit too much off one of them - the bit where it wraps around the seals, a centimeter of it missed out on the fabric I'll show pics once they're on.

One question - with the stitching, did you do it after you stuck the new fabric onto the door card?

[bboyskidz]

Thanks mate Much appreciated.


I probably should have gone into that a bit more seems that it was the tricky part. I used some calico (cheap throwaway fabric) and laid it on the upper doorcard sectio. I then cut one piece out for the vertical part and then another part for the rest. It took alot of trial and error to get it right and in this case it meant alot of sewing, unpicking and cutting to get the pattern to the perfect shape.

Once I was happy, i unpicked the test design for the last time and used each piece as a pattern on the real stuff. After I cut the pattern, I put the face of each piece (the fuzzy side) together and pinned them in place. After that I used a sewing machine to sew them together.

This made the first stiching. I then layed the design out flat and ironed it out so I could do the second row of sitching in each side of the seam.
If that doesn't really make sense, I'll draw and scan some pics and diagrams when I get to work tomorrow.

[rayray086]

Haha I think I get the jist of it! But I suppose you did the middle stitching part cos your fabric doesn't stretch very well?
And also, the fabric is just basically stuck on to the door card right? Using the spray adhesive?

You definitely have a lot of patience to get it all right I can just see myself not giving a **** after a few tries!

And I can't believe this ain't getting any love! Where's the rest of the replies?!

[bboyskidz]

bump? i can has comments?

[The_Hawk]

The photo's don't look half bad, but I think I would want to be able to sew THROUGH the door card to get it on how I want... problem is I don't know that I have the right sewing machine for that

I want to see it in real life.

[Mrk_Mickey]

It's looking good dude, the pictures you've posted makes the fabric look really soft and CUDDLY (you used the fabric softener didn't you!)

I too want to see it in real life!