Center Console

Normally wrapping this in leather shouldn't be a big deal but I managed to make it one. First there's the angle of the front piece that slops back about 35 degrees so the leather wraps at an angle too. Then I wanted some stitching on the corners which lead to a matching stitch on the side..................and on and on. Once again a lot of time was spent standing there staring at the leather and the console, scratching my head and wondering how I was going to do this. It seemed so simple but that angle was making me crazy. It's a good thing I had a big piece of leather as I needed to map this out by laying the console in place and marking out a template by rolling the console from one side to the front and over on to the other side. What I was left with what looked like a giant kite or a stealth fighter or a flying wing.

Here's it from the back where you can see the outline of console in magic marker. The bottom is actually to the left.

Another view with the bottom at the top

Same idea from the front

The front side stitching and a left over chalk line on the right

Once I got this sewed up I had to try and figure out how I was going to keep it all aligned while I glued everything together. More standing and staring took place..............

The first thing I did was to lay the console on the leather exactly lined up with the stitching. The seam on either side of the center panel had to match with the edges of the console or I wasted a lot of time sewing.

Then I stapled one edge to the bottom

And clamped the top edge to the wood trim piece

Once I was sure that side was perfectly lined up I was able to apply glue to the center panel and the front of the console. At that point I just rolled onto the glue covered center panel.

Once that was secure I glued the side that wasn't stapled and clamped and, lastly, removed the staples and clamps to do the third side.

Here's side view showing the stitching and how the decorative seam follows the angle of the front.

The corners actually lined up perfectly! Now all I had to do was trim away the excess, glue the rear section, fold everything over the bottom and the top and make the corners neat. Yea right..............more standing and staring..........

What I've done so far is pretty easy..........all it really required was the ability to sew in a straight line and glue stuff together so everything lined up. The tricky part for me is figuring out how to make the corners look neat. This is where a real upholsterer earns his money. The fit was mostly done by trial and error and if you tackle this project you'll see what I mean. The sides were easy as I just glued them to the trim pieces and rolled the all the way around so that the edges are under the trim piece. Glue holds it all in place. Beyond that you're on your own as I have no idea if I did it the best way possible and don't want to lead you down the wrong path. I'm OK with how it came out but I'm not thrilled with the corners. I know there's a better way........I just don't know what it is.

The bottom was pretty easy as it mostly involved using staples.

And then like magic it was done!

And more magic............the top has appeared and is attached to the hinge!

All that's left now is to put it in the car take a test drive..........

I'm not going to attach this if possible. I want to be able to easily remove it for vacuuming the car or doing any interior work. After a few rides around town, it seems to stay in place just fine.

And the passenger side

Close up of stitching

Lots of room for small stuff like my GPS gear

Pimped out in red suede!