10/3/03
Trimming Carpets, and Sewing More Leather

I put a bevel cut on all the edges of the dozen or so carpet pieces that would need a binding sewn to it. The bevel cut creates a nice transitional area for the binding to be attached. The chalk mark is Frank’s method of showing which piece needed what kind of binding. This depends on where the piece is installed in the car.

I wore a glove to do the cutting with the scissors to keep blisters from forming. You can see all the wool I cut from all the carpet in the trash! The next step will have to wait for Frank to sew on the binding.

I laid out some more leather pieces for cutting into replacement parts. Here is the piece that covers the short piece of the driveshaft tunnel by the rear foot well.

I’m very lucky Frank doesn’t throw anything away! The boot that covers the parking brake was missing on my car, so Frank pulled down a boot from one of the many Ferraris he’s retrimmed in the past. Since almost all Vintage Ferraris have the same parking brake mechanism, the boot would work well as a template for mine. Having original pieces also showed me the detailing to copy in my new leather, like the skived end near the top of the boot. 

As I was cutting out the parking brake boot, Frank found some time away from a boat seat he was retrimming to sew the wheel arch covers I cut out earlier. These will go in the rear of the car, near the armrests, to cover the wheel arch on both sides.

The piece requires a “top stitch” to finish off the panel. I’ll install them next time.

Previous Restoration Day
Next Restoration Day
Home page