Changing thread stitching color

[joshg]

My JLU (Moab) has Heritage Tan leather seats, but black leather with white stitching everywhere else. Becoming less a fan of the tan seats... now looking at putting in Katzkins seats with black and red leather with red stitching, but I know it will make me want to get the rest of the interior to match.

I've heard people say that's it easy (though painstaking) to use a red fabric pen to change the color on stitching.

Has anyone here actually done that, and did you get good results? Any tips or advice on which pen and how to do it well?

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[MALL R8D]

I looked into that a bit (if I ever wanted to change my red stitching). There are a lot of Corvette owners who have done it and mention specific products (along with images of the results). I think one of the options was a Sharpie Fabric pen, but I wouldn't swear to it.

Basically, Google dying leather stitching, and it should take you to a Corvette forum rabbit hole.

 

[allenn]

I talked to several people about doing and most said it’s not really worth it and super hard ect. I went to a different color katzkins sears and had them change out the sticking in dash doors and console it was a lot easier and cheaper just to have them do it when they did the seats.

 

[Lazygreek]

Go to Carbontastic. they have a steering wheel for a Wrangler, and you can get different color stitching to match your seating.

 

[joshg]

Go to Carbontastic. they have a steering wheel for a Wrangler, and you can get different color stitching to match your seating.

Wow - checked out Carbontastic, and they're amazing. But $850 is a lot to change out the stitching on just the steering wheel!

 

[Loki_Asguardian]

This thread is likely long dead but I did so some experimentation with the sharpie die pens and thought I would share. The theme I am going for with my truck is black with green highlights so I really wish I could die my stitching green. I ordered a cheap leather watch band with red stitching on amazon to experiment with (without ruining my interior) and here is what I found. Red is a very saturated base color so pretty much anything I try to layer over it turns blackish brown. You can make a dark purple by layering blue dye over the red and that is about the nicest color I could make. Starting from white stitching, however, the colors do come out nice and you can even layer to some extent if you start with unsaturated colors like yellow, pink, or orange and slowly add the more saturated tones. Also the dye does not really stick to the leather so you can attack the stitching aggressively with the pen and wipe off the excess with a microfiber towel; the dye will stick to the stitching but not the leather (I wouldn't let it completely dry on the leather though) . The last thing I tried was applying bleach to the red thread with a thin paintbrush; even after several applications it did nothing. You would have to soak the stitching in bleach for 5 minutes to get any results which would ruin the adjacent leather. Conclusion: the dye pens are a good option if you are starting with a white background, and you can make pretty make whatever color you want. Yet, If the stitching is already colored you are limited in the colors you can make (with red you can make a dark purple, brown or black; one would think you could make orange by adding yellow but that did not work for me as the yellow is too unsaturated and is completely overpowered by the red).

 

[viper88]

Here is a video on dying stitching with a Sharpie. I word of caution though. It's not a problem on areas you do not have much contact with. A friend had a problem with staining his clothing from doing the seats.

 

[FFRob2001]

I have red stitching in my Rubicon and I'm looking to change the color. How did you get it to turn brown? I'm doing the bronze accents, bronze rims, and bronze Rubicon logo so I think Brown would look okay. If I can't get brown I'm willing to go to black but I just don't like all the red especially whenever I change everything out to bronze.

This thread is likely long dead but I did so some experimentation with the sharpie die pens and thought I would share. The theme I am going for with my truck is black with green highlights so I really wish I could die my stitching green. I ordered a cheap leather watch band with red stitching on amazon to experiment with (without ruining my interior) and here is what I found. Red is a very saturated base color so pretty much anything I try to layer over it turns blackish brown. You can make a dark purple by layering blue dye over the red and that is about the nicest color I could make. Starting from white stitching, however, the colors do come out nice and you can even layer to some extent if you start with unsaturated colors like yellow, pink, or orange and slowly add the more saturated tones. Also the dye does not really stick to the leather so you can attack the stitching aggressively with the pen and wipe off the excess with a microfiber towel; the dye will stick to the stitching but not the leather (I wouldn't let it completely dry on the leather though) . The last thing I tried was applying bleach to the red thread with a thin paintbrush; even after several applications it did nothing. You would have to soak the stitching in bleach for 5 minutes to get any results which would ruin the adjacent leather. Conclusion: the dye pens are a good option if you are starting with a white background, and you can make pretty make whatever color you want. Yet, If the stitching is already colored you are limited in the colors you can make (with red you can make a dark purple, brown or black; one would think you could make orange by adding yellow but that did not work for me as the yellow is too unsaturated and is completely overpowered by the red).

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