Suede Interior Project
 

Well...when you're out of money you learn to improvise! Since I could not afford to pay Redlinegoods for some interior products, I bought a couple yards of microsuede (material that I will eventually wrap my entire interior in) and made my own custom suede parts. For the record, I had no prior sewing skills and in total I spent about 10-12 hours making these things; 2 hours were spent figuring out how to use my grandmas sewing machine. I ended up making a shifter boot, ebrake boot, and console cover and because of this I appreciate redlinegoods for their services a lot more.


SHIFTER BOOT

By far the shifter boot was the most difficult to accomplish. I removed the original leather boot, wrapped it with my material and pinned it so I can mark where the seems are and the cuts I would have to make. The shifter boot is made out of 4 cutouts sewn together. For each part, I had to cut the material, put it together, sew it inside out, and run it through the machine two more times in order to achieve that sewn look that they do. After I finished w/ the piece I hand sewed the slot, but it wasn't tight enough, so I detached the original elastic leather band by cutting each thread off of it and hand sewed it onto the new suede shifter boot . I used black threads because I like subtle touches and it's always a safe choice. Once I was done this was my product.







http://i631.photobucket.com/albums/u...m/DSC02392.jpg

http://i631.photobucket.com/albums/u...m/DSC02383.jpg












CENTER CONSOLE COVER


Next up was the center console.... I first took apart the plastic backing, the release button, and the hinge. Then, I wrapped the center console lid w/ my material and marked where the bends were w/ pins. this is where I planned to cut to give the piece some relief on the sides and to achieve a similar look to some center console covers out there already. I then proceeded to cut the material and ran it through the machine, just like the shifter boot, where I ran it through three times (once flipped and twice from the exposed side)....... It was pretty much all the work I really needed to do. I bought a rubber cushion to put underneath that was about 1/4" thick..but it just made the material stick out too much. I just hate seeing our console lids being far more thick than the rest of the lower console..sure it's a tad bit more comfortable, but it looks ugly as sin! So I glued it onto the center console lid and and wrapped it under the plastic backing. I made a couple of cut to stretch around the bends and I used 3m 90 aerosol adhesive spray. this was my finished product.




http://i631.photobucket.com/albums/u...m/DSC02380.jpg

http://i631.photobucket.com/albums/u...m/DSC02379.jpg

Here's a close up shot of the seams

http://i631.photobucket.com/albums/u...m/DSC02382.jpg








HAND BRAKE BOOT


Lastly, was the ebrake boot. I had to do this twice because the first one came out a little too short. It was kind of difficult to measure everything (the slack and tightness around the entire piece). Looking at pictures of other's ebrake boots I had an idea how big to make it. This piece is made out of three pieces. I made two seems on top, an inch apart from each other and one seem on bottom...all ran through the machine. I made it about 11 inches tall and I think 9 inches long. This gave it enough slack for it to be pulled all the way up and for it to go back down. For the slot that slips over the ebrake handle itself I brought it to the car and hand sewn it around the tippy top of the handle. Since the handle gets wider as it goes down and I didn't have any more elastic (I don't even think the other ones have elastic) this method was a sure way to get it to stay on the handle. It came out fantastic and although I didn't have enough time to make the slits on the bottom of the material to slip over the notches underneath I love having an ebrake boot over not having any at all and it makes the car's interior look great. Here's a picture to showcase how it came out...




http://i631.photobucket.com/albums/u...m/DSC02390.jpg







And all of them together...

http://i631.photobucket.com/albums/u...m/DSC02389.jpg











** I am just so proud of myself for making these things, they were extremely difficult pieces to make, especially for an amateur. My grandmother showed me how to run it through the machine and pretty much how to operate the machine...by feeding the spool of thread into the needle and shit like that. Redline Goods is a great sponsor and you guys should take advantage of their services. There has been nothing but great feedback about their products. I just couldn't afford them and learned to make these products on my own. The pictures were spare of the moment pictures and I will eventually post up some more.


- Jam

your stuff came out great man. i need to learn to sew a little bit myself. i'll probably have my mom show me the ways of the machine once i start on the next car. 2 hours to learn doesnt sound bad at all, especially with the results you got. I'm really liking the shifter boot and the console cover. the e-brake boot looks great too, but i REALLY like the way those two look

with this stuff and the new seats, the interiors really coming along nice. I need to step up my interior game in a major way

you dude u did really fuckin good. By all means go with the door inlays and the knee bolsters, i know now they'll come out amazing. You were right, they are redline quality. You may get a few people on here that want u to do work for them. Btw, you have the same shift ball as me.

your project came out great!

It looks really good. Glad I could help, even if it was just a little.

Thanks guys I appreciate all the comments. I worked real hard on these and I'm pretty psyched that they came out the way I envisioned them to come out. It was definitely a learning experience and a very time consuming job as well.

Turned out awesome , and tasteful .

Not a big fan of the seude but you did a damn good job on those pieces. Plus they look to match your new seats good, who knows maybe by the time your done you'll have changed my mind and have me wanting to do mine.

I personally like microsuede because its a durable cloth for an affordable price and when stretched over you can see your fingerprints on it. Those seems I did are going to be the theme throughout the overall entire interior. so whenever I have a chance to use my grandmas sewing machine again I will run the cloth through the machine before I wrap some major pieces....but definitely not the lower pieces like the kick panels..... I'm also contemplating on doing the bottom cushions and back rests of my Recaros...I rested the material on the seat and it looked like a great idea, but I'm going to think about it before I jump the gun. I did my knee bolster/underneath the steering column but some glue seeped through teh material and I'm debating on doing that over again or not. we'll see...... MORE TO COME FOR SURE!! just not any time soon lol.

very very impressive. Hope you do more this weekend, i wanna see what other ideas ill steal :)

Looks great, I want to get my headliner and visors done.

good work, looking real nice, you didn't JAM it up!!

dont care for the suede but it looks like you did a real nice job

Looks good man, nothing like doing your own mod.

THANKS GUYS!! vikingramair, your presence is just overwhelming haha you're like the interior god for Fbodies; you're nothing short of an inspiration.....anyways here's a couple more pics for you guys...



http://i631.photobucket.com/albums/u...m/DSC02420.jpg



http://i631.photobucket.com/albums/u...m/DSC02418.jpg


http://i631.photobucket.com/albums/u...m/DSC02412.jpg



http://i631.photobucket.com/albums/u...m/DSC02407.jpg

http://i631.photobucket.com/albums/u...m/DSC02405.jpg

I also did underneath the steering column... It came out great besides a 1" spot that's hard as a rock because the glue seeped through .. I'm gonna leave it alone for now, but eventually I'm most likely going to redo it because I want to incorporate some seems outlining the curves.......here's some pics on that ...


http://i631.photobucket.com/albums/u...m/DSC02387.jpg


http://i631.photobucket.com/albums/u...DSC02414-1.jpg

and for those with foot fetishes...

http://i631.photobucket.com/albums/u...m/DSC02416.jpg

looks awsome dude. glove box next? then door inserts? its lookin great bro

door panels in the summer... glove box, redoing underneath the steering column, headliner and visors, possibly in 2 weeks.

Wow. . . . . looks way good. . . . . . I love the center console. . . Makes the OEM look like total ass.

Wow dude, I clicked on this thinkin..WTF did he do but THATS BAD ASS! I really like the shifter boot and E break boot. Thats killer! From the pictures it looks really good, I would be suprised if people would be willing to pay for your work! NICE JOB!!

Matches the Recaros very well.

thanks guys it took a lot of time but well worth it. Having something others pay $100 + for and only spending $6.00 on materials is an awesome feeling.

I'm most likely going to wrap the seat cushions and back rests of my Recaros in microsuede. I'm fairly confident that it won't be too much of pita and it'll be pretty easy to finish up; the material on my seats can be pulled off and sewn onto. here's a few pics of the material resting on the seats and a few images of recaros that come in vinyl and suede to show u what it would look like when its done. I'm keeping the bolsters in cloth because recaro cloth is very durable and those are "high wear areas".....


http://i631.photobucket.com/albums/u...m/DSC02421.jpg

http://i631.photobucket.com/albums/u...m/DSC02424.jpg

http://i631.photobucket.com/albums/u...m/DSC02425.jpg






http://i631.photobucket.com/albums/u...camaro_ssi.jpg
http://lh3.ggpht.com/__OT3YJ9o9Ao/SR...0/PIC-0002.jpg

http://media.photobucket.com/image/s.../speed_S_2.jpg

thats what i was thinking for my 6les. hadnt considered the under-wheel panel though

I'm thinking the seats would look good once the insides are done in microsuede. I wish others would come in and gave me their opinions

Looks good man. Ebrake cover looks a bit too long but it came out nice.

thanks man. and yeah I've gotten a lot of pms telling me my ebrake boot is too long...but the reality is that I have yet to take off the OE plastic cover and haven't tucked in the fabric in there. Once I have time I'll install it right and it'll take away a lot of the slack. trust me it's just right :angel:.

I think the seats would look better with the inserts done too

yah i'm thinking the seat inserts will look sweet.

That is sick man. Is that real leather suede or imitation?

Looks good man, matches your seats nicely. I actually pondered this when deciding which way to go with my interior but decided against it b/c it seems like no matter how hard I try my interior gets dusty. And I didnt wanna mess with cleaning the suede properly each week to keep it lookin new when leather could just be wiped down quickly.

It's 100% imitation. It's microsuede. Real suede is very porous and glue will seep right through to it. Alcantara is a little too expensive for me and trent used this type of suede in his t/a so that's why I chose it over ultrasuede.


thanks. I'm eventually going to wrap my entire interior in suede and yeah I know my car is going to be a detailer's worst nightmare: black paint, suede interior, black tips, black wheels, etc. but for the most part I keep my car clean. I like suede because it matches the color of my stripes and it's just an overall cozier feeling in the car.

Jam, I hate you! lol...no not really, awesome work man. My only problem is I don't have a Fabric Shop in my home town. Plus I am currently at the Law Enforcement Academy:bang: Makes things real difficult when it comes to modding my car. Your work turned out amazing! Keep up the good work, and when you get the fabric tucked on that E-brake post up another pic. I would like to see how it looks after :nod:

thanks man and will do on that ebrake boot. and btw I ordered my fabric from an online fabric store, having the material shipped directly to my house.

did you get to take a look at both? i know i want to go a shade darker than you went, but material wise, any advice?

makes it harder to enjoy those mods with a clear conscience too, right? :secret2:

that looks sweet

DO THE SEATS!!! YES that would be awsome!

ummm the only ultrasuede I have ever felt or seen was my old ass hackeysack. It was a lot softer than microsuede IIRC. I think u can see your fingerprints in that a lot more too. I have also heard that microsuede is more resistant to wear than ultrasuede and it's a lot cheaper. I honestly can't tel you for sure the differences without having both of them in my hands. But I CAN tell you about microsuede. the fibers are shorter, it's very stretchable, and cheap. It seems to be durable and when stretched you can see your fingerprints in it. I'm kind of curious to see what ultrasuede looks and feels like now. but i would killl myself if I liked it more than microsuede...:mad:


EDIT: my roommate has a jacket made in ultrasuede. It's definitely softer material and possibly more durable. But i'm still glad I went w/ microsuede, because I got like 3 yards of microsuede instead of just getting 1 yard of ultrasuede due to the difference in cost and ppl still use microsuede in reupholstering their automotive interiors. Corbeau CR1s, under hte option of suede...come in microsuede and so do a lot of other racing seats. So whatever... now I'm satisfied.
yeah I'm definitely going to do the seats. I have some creative ideas of what to do w/ them too.

okay cool, now i just need a reason why alcantaras so expensive and i can decide between the three.. :engarde:

when are you doing the seats, and what else is on the drawing board?

real alcantara doesn't fade in the sun... ever. but real alcantara costs like $120/meter.....there are some places that sell it for $60/meter..but that won't do. alcantara is the smoothest out of choices.. but once again its mad expensive. That's why they use it for lamborhinis.

but I'm doing my seats in two weeks, along w/ the headliner, visors, and kick panels.

Great job Trans Am Jam, good luck with the rest of the project and keep us up to date. :thumb:

,,,stripes look sick bro,,,

thanks bro, but I'm in quite a dilemma. I've just been looking at a lot of custom suede interiors and there's ultrasuede is looking real good to me, but I already spent so many hours doing these things in microsuede. I really wanna see my fingerprints......iuno what do u guys think ...

a) keep the microsuede and do the rest of the interior in microsuede.

b)keep the microsuede and do the rest of the interior in ultrasuede.

c) start all over again and do it all in ultrasuede

HELP ME!! =[

pics to support the dilema?

here's a microsuede interior

http://www.nsxprime.com/forums/attac...1&d=1227122502
http://i137.photobucket.com/albums/q...Picture011.jpg

http://s137.photobucket.com/albums/q...Picture011.jpg




here's an ultrasuede interior
http://www.lundhummer.com/Images/cus..._ostrich19.jpg

http://images.thesamba.com/vw/gallery/pix/434803.jpg

For long term durability and UV stability I would really stick with the brands ultrasuede( yourautotrim.com ) or alcantara ( gulffabrics.com ) . I realize their more costly , but worth it 10 fold . Miamicorp.com allows u to order out the Detroit book , which then opens up the possibility of the ebony ultra lux suede gm uses on the trailblazer ss , Malibu ect. On their site go to samples and scroll down to Detroit book , it's broke down by year and in PDF format. 08 or 09 will have the ultralux in it .

http://www.yourautotrim.com/headad.html
If your going to use adhesive in an aerosol can that's the only one I'd recommend . The 3m super77 , 90 ect will fail you overtime . A brush on version contact cement like welwood dap , or helmitin would most desireable and will give a bond a aerosol can could never match .

well that guy trent said he used microsuede for his interior and that it's been lasting him 4 yrs without any fading or such. do you think I should start all over again w/ ultrasuede ..or keep what i have now in microsuede and do the rest in ultrasuede? also I'm probably going to need like 7 yards to do my entire interior, so that would be a total of $400 of ultrasuede compared to $56 of microsuede. I'm just trying to see if the look of ultrasuede is more desirable than microsuede. Does ultrasuede come in a thicker material than microsued? cause if u see my pictures i'm sure u can notice that microsuede is a thin relaxed material. I mean I personally like the look of ultrasuede...but should I keep the boots I made in microsuede and do the rest of the interior, including the center console in ultrasuede? There are also many different types of ultrasuede....which one should I go w/?

EDIT: yourautotrim.com has a company called Unisuede? not sure if that's similar to ultrasuede or if it's just a ripoff........Also, I called Gulfabrics and TorayUnisuede and neither have picked up their phone lines......they must all be sucking dick or something.

EDIT x2: I found this for ultrasuede. http://www.knoll.com/products/textil...=cat&cat_id=86
...but in no way in hell am I spending close to $90 a yard

EDIT x3: here's a thread in an evo forum...where a guy used $6 suede. http://forums.evolutionm.net/evo-sho...or-thread.html


Gulf Fabrics:
The Alcantara automotive product is currently recommended for automotive applications. The Cover seating fabric is currently priced at $104.95 per yard and the Pannel non seating fabric is priced at $99.95 per yard.

Cheap suede turns purple. I use and recommend unisuede from yourautotrim.com

Agree. I used DAP contact cement. The spray adhesive will melt in the summer heat and the fabric will come loose.

I'm definitely gonna go w/ alcantara for my seat inserts since it's the most durable. but for paneling I think unisuede should do it. I don't really care for alcantara on my ceiling and pillars...but that would be the best it's just that it would cost around $800 if I wrapped my entire interior in that. I ordered the DAP contact cement too . you guys think I should continue using black thread though right?

Thats personal preference man , whatever u like best . I wouldnt chose a color , if it didnt have something else to tie into . Like the NSX u posted , had red seats so the red stitch looked good .

FYI , in the headliner section of your auto trim , they sell suede headliner material that is already foam backed in black . Maybe you already saw it .

thanks, yeah I saw it. but I'm gonna wrap my original one. insaneauto is sending me a sample of that unisuede stuff.. and if it's to my liking i'll do the interior in it.

If u mean your gonna add material on top the factory material , be careful with that one . The 4th gen factory headliners have enuff adhesion issues in the older ones with the cloth separating from the foam in areas . The xtra weight of the new material , plus the fact your soaking the oem cloth with adhesive may create a premature sag issue down the road . Typical method there on a good headliner is to remove the cloth and use a soft bristle brush to remove the remaining foam . Then start over with new foam backed material on the OEM fiber board . The process suks a big fat shlong , but will save headaches down the road . If the factory headliners were of better quality I might be more for going over the cloth without worry , but the OEM headliners are not very inspiring where quality is concerned .

BootsKeep ur boots in micro suede and the rest in ultra suede :thumb:

Well that nsx sure is bad as fuck.. needs an ls..

anywho, i do like the look of the ultrasuede more.. you can see how it kind of holds that grain from when you touch it, whereas it looks like the microsuede does it to a lesser degree. That being said all of the good shit does seem to be surprisingly expensive..

If they do manage to decock their mouths, and you talk to them, let us know fersher.

Also thanks lt4vert for the info.. i have roll on adhesive i was gonna do with my vinyl but i had always used aerosol. ill stay away from that for the long term stuff. may need to rewrap the stuff i carpeted, but oh well.

Im thinking alcantara on the seats, ultrasuede on the doors/misc stuff, faux suede headliner

I guess if you decided to redo your stuff you already have the new templates made, so thats cool... but it does always suck redoing work like that.

yeah dude. this really does suck, cause I had to drive 55 miles to use my grandmas sewing machine and it took me like 10-12 hours doing all of that stuff.. but whatever... second time doing it I'm sure will be faster, and that's if I do decide to replace those. I got in touch w/ Gulf Fabrics, like I said in a previous post, so I ordered a sample piece of both their alcantara and ultrasuede to see if it's worth the penny. InsaneAuto was nice enough to send me a sample of his ultrasuede (by unisuede), which is a knock off of real ultrasuede.....but what's real and what's faux? They really are all synthetic man made materials....so yeah. I'm definitely doing alcantara for the seats inserts...probably going to redo my center console and boots w/ either alcantara or the unisuede......and sell the boots on tech...which is going to hurt doing so, but at least it'll cover the cost of mistake I made choosing microsuede

Well, I was PMing a bunch of ppl from lotustalk and evom about their suede projects to see if they had any extra materials and what do you know ... a guy on the evo forum had 4yds extra of what he says to be Unisuede Ultrasuede from yourautotrim.com and he's willing to sell it to me for $80. If it's what it really is...then that's a whopping deal. He did his entire interior in this material and noted that the two years he's been running it there has been no discoloration in the suede or shit like that...so that's a pretty promising statement that it's legit....
anyways... here's some pics of his headliner and visors wrapped in the material to show you guys what i'm going to be working with. LT4Vert and InsaneAuto86 do you guys approve?


http://i44.tinypic.com/i563p1.jpg

http://i42.tinypic.com/azghs1.jpg

looks great. have any pics/links to their stuff? always cool to get ideas from car guys on the other side.

looks great, I like the NSX, that's what I would go w/.

I'm looking to see how your headliner covering goes, please post pics of the process.

nah thats the only pics that dude had of his wrapped interior. supposedly its this stuff . ...but he just PMed me telling me that it's only 8' x 5'.. whatever.. i'll just get it ..hopefully it is the same material he's talking about...so that when I need more of the material it won't be mismatched...cause that would suck
will do. I'm not going to do my headliner first.. cause LT4vert is right, I need special padded suede to do it right. So that it doesn't sag in the future. I'll probably make new boots, and rewrap the center console cover, visors, glove box, and underneath the steering column.. I will definitely show pics and a how to on w/e work I do. ONe thing for sure is that those visors are going to suck....since you have to hand sew it on and I always end up rethreading the needle.

Ultrasuede shifter and ebrake boots should look fine right guys? I cannot fathom making these parts again haha

Do it! You should get the sample any day now.

Wow Looks awesome jam, My pal Glocklimited9 did the same treatment to his interior but you beat him to the punch with the pics! Good luck with the rest of it!

thanks, but I'm redoing those boots and the center console cover in ultrasuede.. =[

Gimme a day or so I will get you pics of what the stock visors look like taken apart . Unlike a few , this is a stupid easy design . If your machine can sew thru posterboard type paper you can make the seam on it . Explain more later when I have more time . FYI , your gonna wanna the same foam backed material you use for the headliner .

yeah bro, I'm gonna head home tomorrow to see the sample that was sent over to me and then i'll order the ultrasuede (foam backed) material for the headliner and visors. I got my work cutout for me, that's for sure, probably will get back to work on this in the next upcoming weekend. It definitely sucks having a "project thread" and not getting any work done; I have been learning a lot though and I'm sure with the knowledge I've gained from you guys I will be avoiding potential problems. If I did it on my own I probably would have used aerosol glue on my headliner and continued using this cheap ass microsuede. But, I'll have my ultrasuede in this week from that guy on evom, so I'll do the boots and console cover over, the kick panels, the glove box, and underneath the steering column. You guys think white threads would be overkill and I should stick w/ black? or should I go w/ a silver thread?

hey how are you gonna do your console??

viking did a gorgeous job, but i have people in back enough that i wanna keep cupholders. Were you planning on taking the sawsall to them or stitching around the prollemb?

I'm not going to wrap the lower console ... eventually i'm going to do a cupholder/ashtray delete.... and I am going to sawzall the back cupholders and fiberglass that smooth....then I'm going to send out the entire thing to be hydrodipped CF

If u want a light thread , do silver . White will stick out in a bad way . As always though ...jmo .

yeah i keep my sidemarkers in my bedstand too

I must be getting old because my first thoughts were get rid of your faux hawk and clean your room...







seriously though...do it

^^ I get bitches w/ this hawk, so I could care less about your opinion... and I may be drunk, but really dude....that's all you have to say? ... in that case get the "faux" out my thread

Suede looks good Jam. I'm not big on the fingerprint showing look of the ultrasuede but overall it will look good either way. I would maybe recommend doing some textured leather wrapping on the exposed plastic interior pieces. This would def. kick the interior up a notch for sure but I see you have already mentioned you want to do some custom fiberglass work and such.

That center console is asking to be slightly marred due to simple general use and a painted surface, while looking cool, may look like crap just a little bit down the road. Leather or something else would be much more durable and userfriendly.

Looking forward to the completed pics.

everything looks good man. cant wait to see the ultrasuade. i may have to look into this for my interior as well.

When is the lower console ever touched by an object, besides the seatbelt? what do you suggest? to wrap the upper console in suede after I do the cupholder/ashtray delete? And yeah I hear you about the fingerprints...how it can be weird to have it show on objects like the console lid and panels, but alcantara wouldn't be any different, if anything it would be worse because it's more compact and plush. Now, I'm most likely going to wrap the door panels in soft vinyl, but besides that I'm not sure where else I can use it. I'm trying to stay away from wrapping the passenger air bag cover so I can't do the dash. .....maybe I'll do the instrument cluster. Just let me know what you think I should do.



EDIT: I will be doing the shifter/ebrake boots, console lid cover, glove box, and d/s knee bolster...so if anyone has any good advise on what would look best or any designs you think I should incorporate let me know!

hmmm.... doing the armrest/upper dash/shift cover in suede would look pretty cool, but i wonder if that would be too much. probably would wanna cut out the cupholders and stitch around the seam if you did that (faux cf lower, faux suede upper, faux ws6 hood... im seeing a theme jam)

no but really, thatd be pretty cool. Have you seen the 'fingerability' of the roof liner material?

nah I haven't ordered the headliner material yet.. I'll order it after I do this stuff first.. this is going to be at least a solid 10-12 hours of work.

As far as how much to use , check out some newer aftermarket Audi's or a new porshe gt3 . Alot strike a pretty perfect balance . Only items I would add is the steering wheel rim and I would remove the platic trim from the t-tops and cover it to flow with the headliner , other than man , I would call it a day . If u start doing other random things its gonna look like you started a project to wrap the entire interior in suede then stopped 1/2 way thru ...if ya get what Im sayin . You could though , also take a tip from the newer cars( basically the whole top is covered in headliner material) and wrap the a-pillar trims with the headliner material as well . I took that route on my mine , didnt use suede though , its the new woven knit style , but the concept still applies .

Pics of a few things I have wrapped so far to give idea what they look like not plastic . They look ALOT better .

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...m/100_2694.jpg

how breathable is the ultrasuede and microsuede? i have a project i've been thinking about, but i need a breathable material for it to work.

LT4Vert..got anymore pictures??

Subscribing. I'm actually in the process of doing something similar, although, instead of using suede I opted for microfiber. I got my material by ordering a backpanel from a furniture store. High durability and at least some presence of uv inhibitors. Can't wait to see yours done.