Im considering dying the stitching in my 3lt. currently grey. either going red or yellow. I see that many have done it, and the marker of choice appears to be the uchida brand. looking at stained by sharpie too.
Im wondering how it stands up over time, Does it fade/wear out over time and with cleaning/leather conditioners? It looks like 2 coats are needed for proper coverage and considering the amount of stitching it will most certainly be a tedious undertaking. I don't want to have to do it over and over..
Thx

 

Pretty sure the dye will wear off over time. Maybe someone who has done it can chime in. I'd be more worried about the inevitable screw up where you get dye on the leather and can't get it off. Tedious doesn't even begin to describe what you contemplate doing.

 

That’s my concern.. I would be sick if red turned pink with wear.

 

On my 2003, I used a Stained by Sharpie pen and it did a great job. Held up very well too.

 

Think I talked myself out of it.. there’s ALOT of stitches in this car.

 

That is why I decided to NOT go through with staining the stitching. I have a Red Mist car with all black 2LT interior and white stitching. Instead of stain, I will be soon adding a "splash" of red by adding a red carbon fiber steering wheel center stripe, and a red carbon fiber surround for the HVAC controls. I'll post pics and soon as I get it all installed...

 

Its a giant pain in the butt since there is so much stitching and it fades after time. I've done it to 2 cars and I would not do it again.

 

Saw one at a local show, looked ok but fading in spots it appeared. Wouldn’t do it personally, too nice of a car.

 

People that did it to their C7’s reported it lasted years (refer to the C7 thread). Those that said it faded admitted they used a simple highlighter and not a real permanent fabric dye pen. I used red Uchida permanent fabric dye pens on my stitching back in late 2020, and it’s now two years later and it hasn’t faded at all. As for getting it on the surrounding leather, it’s not a problem since the leather is plastic coated. Just wipe within a minute or so with a microfiber cloth and it comes right off. And if your seats are black leather, you can barely see the dye against the black leather, even if you don’t wipe it off. All in all, it took about a whole day. I did four hours one day and another four hours the next day. Would I do it again? Definitely!

 

I did mine in a couple hours with a Tulip brand fabric marker. Loved the look... for about 2-3 weeks, then it faded. Decided to do it again, thinking maybe it wouldn't fade as much the second time since some dye would already have been soaked into the thread. Same thing happened. Was pretty bummed. That was in Jan-March timeframe, before the summer sun was even strong. At that point, the stitching just looked sorta dirty, so I was pot committed, and tried another brand, and while the color is slight darker than I originally wanted, it still looks great and I haven't even had to touch it up through 8-9 months.

So long story short, if you get the right marker, it seems to last, and really, you can do it pretty fast because you don't actually have to be very careful. I think most people take a lot longer than necessary because it's freaking scary to color on a $100,000 car's leather, but it really does wipe off easily. I basically scribbled like a 4 year old, and it still worked fine and looks great.

So I would 100% do it again.

is the one I used, which is the same brand but a different "model" than others, but it was the one available at a local store, so I grabbed it. I think red is probably easier, because I have rapid blue and was trying to find a good match. The Tulip brand one match better, but like I said, didn't hold. This blue is darker than I wanted but still looks really sharp.

 

Resurrecting this thread to add that I took the plunge.

My car started with black seat belts and white stitching. A week ago I removed and sent out my seat belts to have the webbing changed to red. The color I chose is a darker red than OEM. Once I installed them on Friday I felt the white stitching looked out of place. So used a Uchida Marvy fabric dye pen in Cherry Red. For those who say there is SO much stitching, honestly, it’s not bad at all. The stitching takes the dye easily, and you wipe the excess off with a rag. It probably took me 2-3 hours total. I’m quite happy with the outcome, all the exterior reds I have added over time are now picked up by the reds I just added to the interior.









As for fading, we will see - but on all car forums across the internet, the Uchida Marvy dye pens get consistently rave remarks for not fading.

 

Seems it all boils down to the quality of the marker/ink. I have a friend whose red is now pink. He used a Sharpie brand, but doesn't remember which particular type/grade he used.
I will recommend Uchida Marvy to him for his redo. Glad my stitching came red.

 

@Kevin A Jones If my threads turn pink I will definitely consider it suboptimal! For whatever reason the Uchida product is very highly regarded.

 

He was asking me for suggestions several weeks ago, and I had none now I do. Thanks!
I assume Michael's or Hobby-Lobby sells Uchida.