Our camper car was like new again after coming back from the doctor. Only the steering wheel was nasty, the leatherette started to peel off. Not something that one would usually fix themselves, but...
I looked at it and decided to give my husband new beautiful steering wheel feeling. It didn't seem undoable. I ripped off the leatherette and tore it off as it was glued to the wheel.
I bought I hope the very same leatherette in some polish e-shop. I tried to make a 2D pattern out of the pieces that were so pulled out that they were very 3D at this point.
I sewed the seams on the sewing machine. For sewing, I left 1cm seam allowance which I then cut to 3 mm (there are grooves in the wheel for the seams, very appropriate). I tried to put it on the steering wheel, unsuccessfully, so I decided to make the upper panel a bit longer. When I had everything prepared, I drew the holes with 1 cm distances and pricked them with an awl so that they are seen from both sides. On the contrary to working with leather, here the holes are not necessary for sewing, leatherette can be sewn like a canvas.
I used a baseball stitch, the same that was used originally. In the end, I was using two needles and made a long way with just one needle, skipping one hole every time, and then I finished it with the other needle. This way, I made a long part of very loosely stitched panel, then came back and just tightened the stitches one by one to close the seam.
Before stitching or before closing the seam, I applied a paper glue to the front part of the upholstery. I couldn't glue on the outer part as I sometimes needed to shift it, and I was too lazy to put the glue on the back part. It was not very easy to reach there.. I was surprised that the leatherette can be shaped a bit. You can pull it out or shorten slightly.
Before mounting the airback back on, I cut out the front pieces with a scalpel
Not perfect, but not easily recognizable, that this is DYI solution :-)
