Dusti: Grandmay, can you please sew my sun visor?
Me: What?
Dusti: Sew my sun visor on my car.
Me: What?
Dusti: We are fixing my car and Dad took the visor off. And I want to cover it with fabric, but I need you to sew it.
Me: When? What? Now?
Dusti: Dad is leaving to go to work and he's going to put the visors back on the car tonight.
Me: Really? Now?
Dusti: But Grandmay, it's going to be so pretty. I got really pretty fabric, but I need you to sew it.
Me: Tonight? Now? Oh, come on. This is crazy. Come on.
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| visors in up position |
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| visors in down position |
So now it's 9 p.m. and I've just sent them on their way, two newly recovered sun visors done and supper included. So, yes, we paid them for the pleasure of doing them a crazy favor. Is it any wonder that they come up with this kind of insanity? Well, honestly, Pinterest does not help my cause.
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| view showing the door panels and visors (with mirrors open and lit) |
Once the fabric was cut out, Will and I pinned it around the visors to hold it in place. I had to sew the part that was cut out for the mirror first. There's also a bar that hooks to a plastic piece on the ceiling so the visor will stay in place. The visor has another hole for this bar, so I sewed around that section.
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| the door panels on the driver's side |
Check out that happy smile! Actually, I wasn't as cranky as I felt, and the job wasn't as difficult as I expected. And now I'll admit that it was interesting to see how it would work.
UPDATE 8-17-16: A couple of people asked for directions, so look in my response to Preeti for a breakdown of the steps. Now I wish I'd taken photos of the process!
All photos taken inside the car are from Will (Dusti's dad).
One more project for the Ford Escape--see it here.
Linking up with these blogs--go visit and see what others are working on / finishing up.
Now everyone is going to want snazzy sun visors! Dusty did choose some gorgeous fabric. :) And you are a force of nature.
ReplyDeleteThat, Jenclair, is my great fear...everyone will want one and guess who has the experience! That fabric is beautiful and obviously the peachy pink is her favorite color. She even wearing it!
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure about a force of nature--I think it's more a gullible grandma.
Never thought of doing that. And i am very impressed with the end result.
ReplyDeleteThis looks awesome. I might have to try that in my own car! Thanks for sharing
ReplyDeleteOK, gullible grandma, time to spill the beans. How did you do it? I am really interested in learning the visor makeover process. You did some serious magic with those visors. So neatly done!!!
ReplyDeleteHugs,
Preeti.
That is awesome! You are very good to your family, Mary. Now...what a shame you don't live close enough to do mine. :-)
ReplyDeletePreeti, I didn't do all of the work, but my part was really easy. Will, my son did the mechanical parts--taking apart the visor and putting it back together. I tried breaking down the steps (in case you're serious).
ReplyDeleteThere's one seam that goes all the way around the visor. Rip that open and use the visor for a pattern--remember to leave enough seam allowance (an inch) to fold over the edge.
I left the old fabric intact because it's glued on and gives a cushiony feel. Fit the new fabric around the visor edges cutting where necessary to shape it. Pin in place as you go, trying to keep it nice and smooth in the corners. Those rounded corners were the hardest places to keep the fabric from making angles that showed on the front.
Once the new fabric is pinned in place, it's just a matter of sewing very slowly and carefully where the old seam was. (You can't see the seam because it's covered in fabric, but I felt it easily.)
Dusti's visor had a hole for the mirror, so we cut the fabric to be able to turn it in and I sewed around it to hold it in place. That has to be done before folding the visor back together and making the last seam. Not all visors are exactly the same, so you'd have to plan carefully based on how your visor is made.
Well, Kaja, it's interesting just how often I say no to people...never. I've done some hand-sewing at school because a student had a rip that needed fixing right away. And I've brought home a few uniform items to make repairs. Oh, one year I set up a sewing machine in the library to work on Beta costumes! I'd be quite happy to help you (and apparently quite a few others).
ReplyDeleteWho'd have thought? These are darling, much more fun than the original boring vinyl. Thanks for the clever idea and for linking up with AHIQ.
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