How to Cover Something in Vinyl

In the world of theater they say that tragedy is easy but comedy is hard. A parallel truth exists in the world of restoration: leather is easy but vinyl is hard. Here's why: leather is very pliable and stretchy in all directions, whereas vinyl generally stretches in one direction and nowhere nearly as much. If you can cover something like, say, an armrest in vinyl then you are certainly going to do a good job covering the same thing or other stuff in leather. So let's cover an armrest!

Since we happen to have two armrests to cover in our '55 T-Bird project - and they are long, complex-curved armrests to boot - why not show you how to dress them in the red vinyl interior material? Since we're at it, why not pad them a little too? The originals were padded to a small degree and we're going to show you how to bolster them for a softer, slightly fatter look.

Note: Many vinyl-covered parts on cars were not padded. The vinyl was heated and vacuum-shrunk over the raw material using contact cement. Flatter surfaces didn't require vacuum assist, only careful application by hand. This is, in general, easier than covering a padded item, so if you can master this how-to you will have no trouble covering other surfaces.

After cleaning the armrest structure's surfaces of dirt and grease and sanding it smooth (if necessary) you are ready to start with the padding material. Cut the padding material - in this case high-density foam - to the proper size and test fit it to the piece before doing any gluing. Once satisfied, spray or brush contact cement onto both surfaces and let it tack up before joining the materials.

Our T-Bird's armrests are made of fiberglass. We had to fix some cracks with Bondo, hence the pock-marked look of the material.

This piece of foam will occupy the depression in the fiberglass.

It's all glued in place and rough edges trimmed with a razor blade.

The original car's armrests were padded only in the recessed area but we've decided to add bolstering material to the whole thing. This will give the armrest a more padded and soft look. Bolstering material, by the way, used to be loose cotton batting. This is still available, but most upholsterers use nylon batting because it's easier to create a smooth underlayment. Nylon batting is available in any fabric store.

The batting is glued and ready for attachment to the armrest.

Once the batting is firmly attached to the armrest the excess can be cut away from the edges. There is no reason to fold it over onto the back surface of the armrest, as the vinyl will be glued there.

This is now ready to be trimmed. The vinyl, once wrapped around, will form a smooth rounded corner at the edges.

Now we're ready for the vinyl material, in this case a pre-sewn piece that was provided with the upholstery kit.

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