I meant garbage in comparison... the Elmers pen was too liquidy and ran plus the tip was too large. The colours were too gawdy and not professional looking. I like the Uchida because of its quality of dye and precision application.

Hey has anybody tried this with the white leather seats? Or do you think that would be a bad idea?

No, I think that it would look very nice, depending on the colour of the car etc....

I bought a cobalt blue fabric marker from Michael's today and had an embarrassing moment in the parking lot. I was excited to try it, so I started doing the GPS cubby and shift boot right there in the parking lot. Of course, some guy in a Mercedes SL550 pulls up directly in front of me and sees me coloring part of my dash.:wtf2:

He walks by and gives me a thumbs up (I had put the marker away by this point). I rolled down the window and said I liked his car more.

Let this be a lesson. Don't color your dash in a parking lot.

I am glad you weren't out renting a porn movie then!....

Yellow
 

Audibly LOL at work in my office!
 

HA HA HA... FUNNY!!! :icon18:

After a summer of driving the car thru the heat and sun, I can report that I have had no colour fade on my dyed stitching. Still looks fresh!

Thanks for the update. :tup:

On your advice, I picked-up a couple of Uchida dye pens (red) from Michael's last week. I hope to start this weekend.

Awesome! post pics when you're done! :tup:

Just a heads up

I tried the Uchida red and Y&C fabricmate red pens on the back of the passenger seat but they both came out looking magenta. In some lighting it actually looked pinkish.. At least to my eyes.

So I went over it with the Elmer's red (which I didn't want to use since its just a paint pen and not a dye pen) and it looks tons better. I'm sure it will fade in the higher traffic areas of the seats but I'll just reapply. Just try it out in an inconspicuous area before you dive in.

I didn't think to take a picture of the magenta but here's the Elmer's:

http://i1238.photobucket.com/albums/...g/_DSC6814.jpg
It looks a little orange in the pic on my monitor but it really is quite red.

Mandingo - Looks awesome! :tup:

Based on your comments about the Uchida red pen, I did a test this morning. Thanks for the heads up.

What I see is a shade of red that is more to the blue side of red versus the Elmer's pen which leans more to the orange side of red.

From the few stitches I did on the back of my passenger seat, I like the way it looks. I had to make two passes to get the color rich enough, but I like the shade of red; it's a bit understated.

Now I do like the shade of the Elmers pen, it definitely pops. Once I get the interior done, I'll decide whether I want to redo it with the Elmers, or I might just go over it with an orange Uchida pen.

Sorry, I don't think you can really capture the shades of these colors with a camera, you really need to see it in person and decide.

BTW - it's UNBELIEVABLY easy to do this guys; just takes a little patience. The dye literally just soaks into the threads. Like all the DIY's say, just wipe the leather every few stitches.

I like the subtle colours you get from the Uchida pens more than the Elmers. The Elmers pen I used was way too bright purple! I like the results from the Uchida and it really does need to be seen in person!

Okay, I picked-up an orange Uchida pen from Michael's this morning. I've been experimenting on a black cap I have with white stitching.

The Uchida red alone does not have the red pop of the Elmer's pen. Like Mandingo stated, it's got a magenta tone to it when next to bright red stitching.

To counter this, I tried orange over red and red over orange. The orange over red looks to orange, while the red over orange hits the sweet spot for me. It makes the just red threads look pinkish when compared side-to-side.

I'm going to go with the red over the orange base.

I also picked-up a Uchida Fabric Marker pen - has a rounded tip with a white label, as opposed to the black Uchida Fashion Marker dye pen. I found the rounded tip Fabric Marker pen to be a redder shade, but application isn't as accurate. Would work on the leather stitiching, but would be a mess on the Alcantara door inserts.

Again, the difference in the shades are very subtle, and really have to be seen in person. If one were to just do the Fashion Marker dye pen, I doubt if you would really think it wasn't red. It just leans to the bluer side of red.