Branching off the recent patternmaking discussion... I like the undersides of my motorcycle seats to look as finished as the tops of them, so I don't like to just stretch the sides over and rivet or staple to the pan.

Instead, I pattern out a separate piece with a top stitch.. but I'm finding that I dread making this piece. Sometimes I lay my seat pan on the material and trace around it, I've tried pinning clear vinyl and creating a pattern that way... I've also tried laying a piece of trunk material down so you can't see the staples at all.. but I'm still not convinced of any single method.

What are your techniques for dealing with the undersides? Is there any industry standard? What do you think looks the best?

Just for reference, most of the seats that I'm doing are leather and most of them are on plastic pans -- although I do get some steel every now and then.