Make your own DIY seatbelt cover in a few easy steps
Seatbelts are great. And you can thank a Swedish inventor named Nils for them.Nils Bohlin worked for Volvo, and, in 1959, he invented the three-point seatbelt, which is essentially the same design we use today: one that saves thousands upon thousands of people from injury, and worse fates.
Seatbelts are great. And you can thank a Swedish inventor named Nils for them. Nils Bohlin worked for Volvo, and, in 1959, he invented the three-point seatbelt, which is essentially the same design we use today: one that saves thousands upon thousands of people from injury, and worse fates, every year. But one thing Nils overlooked, and car makers since haven’t bothered with, was turning that hard-edged polyester webbing into a thing that is plush and comfortable.
??This is Nils. He is a genius but does not care for comfort.Why should something that’s essentially a safety device be plush, you might wonder. Well, we all know the struggle of finding a comfortable position on a long road trip – one that may include a sneaky nap. Trying to avoid your seatbelt’s edge, to stop it rubbing on your neck while you snooze, is a challenge, except if you’re a contortionist.
And why make a seatbelt cover when you can buy one from an auto shop? Well, they’re generally made from sheepskin (which gets dank very quickly) or feature designs inspired by V8 Supercars – flames and stuff. Where are the fun colours and patterns? So here’s how to get crafty and make your own seatbelt cover in a fabric of your choice.
Hacker level: beginner to intermediate
Here’s what you’ll need:
- Two pieces of fabric of your choice, both 9" x 7" (you can make them shorter or longer, if you like)
- Iron-on pellon or interfacing, cut smaller than the fabric
- Iron-on, stitch-on or self-adhering velcro
- Wadding (optional for extra plushness, but you’ll need to make the fabric wider by an inch or so to compensate)
- Pins
- An iron
- A sewing machine or needle and thread, and the skills to use them. If you don’t have a sewing machine, you can buy a mini battery-operated sewing machine online. It’ll do a surprisingly good stitch, and it’s a cheap way to learn the basics of sewing.
Step 1
Cut two pieces of fabric to 9" x 7". (If you like, you can make your seatbelt cover longer than 9 inches.)
Step 2
Most fabrics have one side that’s meant to be the outside of the garment – generally, it’s the better-looking side. Simple. For this instructional, we’ll call this side the ‘good’ side. Once you’ve decided which side is which, iron the pellon on to the ‘bad’ side of the fabric, which will, once you’re finished, become the inside of your seatbelt cover (because you’ll turn it inside out later).
We used two pieces of pellon for extra plushness, but you can use less or more, or even add wadding. When you’re ironing it on to the fabric, leave enough room around its edge (a little over 0.5cm) to sew a stitch in the fabric.
Step 3
Sew the two pieces of fabric together along one edge of the pellon but not on the pellon (so, make sure your stitch is less than 0.5cm from the fabric’s edge). Make sure the ‘good’ side is facing in and the bad side (the one with the pellon attached to it) is facing out. Here’s where you can use pins to keep the pieces of fabric lined up as you sew. Even the pros use pins, so we recommend it.
Continue to sew up three sides of the fabric, but leave one of the sides un-sewn so you can later turn the fabric right-side out.
Step 4
Snip off the corners using scissors. This makes for neat corners when the fabric is turned through.
Step 5
Now you can turn the cover right-side out by reaching into the un-sewn side, grabbing the end and gently turning it through. The ‘good’ side of the fabric is now on the outside, and the plush pellon is doing its comforting job on the inside. Seems magical, but it’s so simple. Sew the remaining open side to close up your cover. All that’s left now is the velcro. You’re getting close!
Step 6
Cut a piece of velcro slightly shorter than the long side of the cover. Our cover was 9" long, so we cut our velcro a fraction shorter than that.
Pull apart your velcro into its two halves (the hook and the loop), and stitch, iron or stick one half of the velcro down the length of one side of the cover. Flip the cover and stitch, iron or stick the other half on the other side, being careful to line it up so that when the two velcro pieces meet, your cover becomes a tube that wraps around and hugs your seatbelt.
??Did you know? Velcro is the name of a brand. The correct, generic name for the material is ‘hook and loop fastener’.
The finale
Once your velcro is stitched, stuck or ironed on, that’s it! Congratulations, you’ve just made a seatbelt cover that can’t be bought in shops, isn’t made of sheepskin and doesn’t feature flame graphics. Repeat this process as many times as you like to create comfy belts for everyone who rides (and naps) in your car.
See it come to life in our carsales Car Hack video.
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