First results were really disappointing, the seams looked really poor
However more research and more hammer play sorts that out, once stitched you basically pound it out with a hammer till it sits flat, the difference is amazing. This pic shows the seem hammered out and the finishing stitch marked up
Anyway onto other bits. I wanted some contrasting Alcantara, I was in two minds whether to stitch it in with the leather of do it separately. I did it separately in the end as it's lighter than leather and more difficult to get a good looking stitch in. first was the passenger side
And my first attempt at the binical
This was a real pig to do, I had used impact adhesive and completely cover the material and the binical but could not get it flat to save me. 3 or 4 attempts and about £50 worth of fabric later I found the best way to do it was as follows
1. Cut an oversized piece of material and glue a line about an inch wide down the centre and the same on the binical then stretch the fabric over as much as possible
2. then working from the centre back edge stretch and glue about two inches at a time
This is one side finished and wrinkle free
( I forgot to get a pic when it was complete)
I did try to do the cowl, I tried stretching a single piece and I tried sewing from a template. The most success I had was stretching and strategically folding a single piece and I did fit it at first but I was never really happy with the finish so I decided enough was enough and drew the line under my skill set and decided to spray it as close a colour as I could to the grey Alcantara (pics in the final fitting)
Back to the leather. I used this pic earlier but thought I'd add it again as it shows how the stitch works
Basically it works like a sewing machine, you pass the needle through and as you draw it back it forms a loop (red thread), you then pass a second thread through the loop and pull back. A couple of notes
1. push the needle through the wrong way and the stitch will lock. A pain but you will get used to it!
2. As I went on I found it easier for stitch consistency to make sure the stitch marker only just broke the surface of the secone layer of leather. If you rely on how hard you pull the threads it will be very inconsistent. This may not make sense to the reader but it will if you do this.
3. for the joining stitch use the same thread, colour and thickness as you will both in the seam but for the finishing stitch (you can see my white contrasting stitch in the next pic) I used a really thick thread underneath so it wouldn't pull back through